Show i 7 4 1 g IP 1 g 81 V by wiliam byron s I 1 CHAPTER X continued 22 buzzard dropped dow n sv ung around As the plane sailed over a second time alan drew the island up to him studying the tent sharply he iw n movement of the lap front and dis a man s face upturned peering at them one bandit there at least 1 but the others A guess shot into his and those others had probably gone hunting tor caribou over east at the foule As though that watcher there below realized what this ominous circling meant and had become panicky a puff of white a single puff burst from the flap front confident the man was alone and the others were gone alan decided to take this bandit ache he needed information about the others and information about that pack of furs to clear dave macmillin while buzzard circled at a safe dis tance he tore a page from a memo book and printed a message if you shoot again well splatter you and that island into the lake with our machine guns stand out in the clear no weapons on you don t try any crooked move after we light he wrapped the message around a monkey wrench and handed it to buz zard from wartime practice of drop ping eggs on ammunition dumps and second trench and camouflaged batteries of krupp east of verdun with no aerial sights except two nails and a string along the fuselage buzzard was a good judge of speed altitude and the right split instant to release whirling over the island a few hundred yards up he planted the missile within a dozen paces of the flap front As they looked bach they saw the man run out to it reid the message hesitate a moment and then raise his left arm waving something white A pistol shot off the island the plane lighted buzzard stayed in the ma chine alan and bill got out the canvas canoe slipped automatics into their pockets took rifles prominently in hand and went ashore while bill scabbed the bandit for a hidden revolver alan looked at him curiously was a strange chir acter to fand in this country slant eved his skin olive he looked as though he biad oriental blood in his veins the rag he had waved in token of surrender was a sling nis right arm dangled limp at his side alan demanded are you the fellow we hit in that fight chink woolley nodded are those other men out hunting alan asked or where woolley batted his eyes slowly as though taking thought huntin yes he managed which way ort east that probably means they went southwest alan remarked and his short laugh was not pleasant you he natural and easy like but it won t get by with us weve nailed too many liars in our time I 1 want to know who this party of yours Is where they came from how they got into this country how they know their way about in it I 1 want to know how that pack of otter pelts got into trader Mac storage shed I 1 want to know the min who killed jimmy mont comery there on the midnight sun row get busy he clicked the safety on his automatic and brought his elbow up against his side chink coohey trembled hia knees shook he wilted he guessed that this man must be the baker fellow ie sergent terrible whom betl andre always mentioned in lowered bolce those hypnotic gray seemed to be boring through him that heavy automatic was tilted to make his next he the last and if he turned kings evidence ho might escape the noose it was a strange story that alan and bill listened to there on the island in the heart of many wa tors eighteen months ago on a whaler in beaufort sea the five whites excluding the halt breed andre whom they picked up later had run a buck under jensins instigation but were overpowered by the captain and rest of the crew hung ashore with the skippers sulphurous good wishes at bleak demarcation point on the arctic coast they made their way across the Roman to the new placer fields in the koyukuk headwaters they came too late to get worthwhile claims and they discovered too that hawking in the perpetually frozen subsoil was even harder work than whaling it vas jensen brooding over their predicament who conceived the idea that it was easier to find told which already had been found than to thaw n liole feet down to black sand inart and theu arabe get rioh inc it was judsen who allayed kneir fears and dangled the golden lure in front of their eyes till their mouths watered and they were ready for any thing he planned andre the half breed was a find fitted into the party like a key into a lock they were crassly ignorant of the country they were tv ros when it came to traveling hiding living in the bush but andre the breed was as a weasel and water wise as a muskeg nu mink and he knew the whole north country from roes acl come to point barrow as he knew the palm of bis hand it as andre who had brought the party into this strange country by back rivers and trails avoiding all sight of men so that they seemed to have dropped from the sky it was andre who suggested ahe place of attack on the midnight sun and the thai amzah as a place to hide in after the swoop and robbery and it was breed andre s speaking savage that drilled jimmy cry through the heart alan baler breathed a little harsh ly he ordered describe that breed and he added so there will be no e when I 1 meet him woolley described his betl erate alan nodded curtly after a few moments silence he spoke again now about trader macmillan now did that pack of furs get in his shed put it acre why W bolley did not know all alie details but from hints jensen bid dropped hb was able to piece the story together pretty well several bears ago at hershell island that gathering place for chalers whalers wh alers in deans traders eskimos and arctic ex plo reis jensen had run afoul of dave macmillan lie hid come ashore aiom a whaler hungry for drink and hungry for woman s company after eight months of following the herds he had found the drink and in a whisky haze had started to make rough love to fifteen year old joyce macmillan dave macmillan fell upon him for years now jensen had been nursing his hairy chin where macmillan s hard fist had caught him ill not kill you if you tell and his ears still rang with the derisive jeers of those who saw him dog whipped down across the swells and over the shingle to the whaler he had never forgotten the mac millan girl nor the incident of that snowy october day the incident had smoldered in his vengeful soul and when his party passed the trading post it had flared out it was a neat stroke putting that comparatively worthless bale of furs in the shed of the man who had dog whipped him lie had counted on the trader discovering them wondering about them in ly calling the attention of the police to them and getting into hot water when he failed to explain how they got there ahe revelation of dave Mac complete innocence was no surprise to alan but merely a proof that his and cloyces instinctive belief had been correct now he could know that in buying out of service he had saved the reputation and possibly the very life of joycea joyces father under tyranny he could never have bindl bated dave in his own way he had planned and had fought through to this partial triumph writing down the essential points of the confession he forced woolley to make his mark op the paper with himself and bill as witnesses he made a second copy tor bill in case something happened to bill or him then he demanded of woolley you say those other men went hunting when are you expecting them bad woolley did not know he seemed strangely hesitant fidgeting uneasily he would glance up at alan and then away as though he had something to tell hut was afraid to tell it alan saw his agitation he demand ed you stumbling over cool ing up some lie the man wetted his dry twitching lips you 11 not kill me if I 1 tell you de where dey went you maybe can git back dere on de aloiska in time to cave de girl on the aloiska in time to save the girl alan jerked aa though a bullet had sung past his throat 1 face went suddenly pale you mean joyce macmillan what about her tell it or by G d I 1 II 11 choke it out of youl open up what about her what do you mean in time to save her ill not kill you if you tell woolley stammered acy went down de aloiska to git her its jen sens idee lies aimin to take her along on de escape and keep her for n himself lies all barnin about dat girl ills chiky voice trailed off shrank back in quivering dread lorn the expression that bad coraa into bakers eyes for a little while a rew moments only aim stared unseeingly out alie waters ot the great blue take lo 10 wait here until the bandits cime back lot that they d be three days and nights on the return trip joyce would be helpless all that time in the power of the man who was all barnin about dat girl they had left only thirty odd hours ago lie stood a chance of beat ing them to the trading post whirling on bill he ordered oi stay here you attend to this end of it buzzard and I 1 will attend to the other well go after them in the plane there s a chance we can get to the anding post before they do you II 11 have a rifle extra they re intending to come back here after the laou if anything happens to buzzard and me you 11 be left you 11 have a chance at them it 11 be all up to you he turned on his heel and ran down to the canoe and shirled skirled out to the waiting plane get back to the aloiska Alo oska buzzard 1 to toyce s home he pleaded husk for G d s sake make it straight and fast 1 jo one appeared at the doorway of the trading store no one with hilr shimmering in the sun came running down the path to greet them their shouts at alie landing brought no anav er from a girls lips or from old pence in some measure prepared aim called joycea joyces ame mme as he strode into the trading hall called but once he looked but once into her room buzzard cime running to him with a piece of paper in his hinds ills face was lit with elation alanl alani luckiest thing in our whole d d lives I 1 look here read this joyce and old pence had left I 1 here when that pick camel went after caribou I 1 almost too good to be true alan grasped the note and read it wis in jovies fine swift handwriting no doubt about that it stated thit she and old pence had gone to black timber lake thirty miles north to get caribou and would be back in two days in case a patrol happened past alan studied the note for half a minute ills face did not relax les too good to be true he corn dented slowly dont you see this note Is addressed to constable airry younge why did joyce do that she knows larry Is not patrolling knows he is at endurance all shot up and she knows we know it don t you see what she tried to do it was her only way of telling us that something was wrong she had to write this note as they dictated it but she tricked them its so it s so buzzard agreed she tricked them under their very eyes and counted on us to understand from room to room joycea joyces room her fathers the kitchen the trading hall the ground outside alan went carefully noting signs rea ding the story of what had Iso thing about the post was dis there were no signs of struggle or fight joycea joyces light ride still hung on a peg in her room its barrel inside was clean and shiny the weapon hid not been fired joyce must have been surprised and over powered without a chance to fight back at the clearing edge alan found trampled spot in a thicket where five men had lain and watched kneeling down examining the broken twigs the wilted leaves the crushed nettles he read that nil this hid happened three hours ago and thit the criminals were thirty of forta miles up the spruce buried aloiska with joyce their prisoner about the whole post there wis only one telltale sign of something dirk and sinister in their hurry to get away the bandits had overlooked that sian beside a stump in the sun lit clearing alan picked up old pence a story stick once or twice he had wondered what had done that old white haired waif they would not burden themselves with him nor would they turn him free to report and bring the police hot on trail how had chev aeilt with old ho cd ap the baick he iw a brownish cd stain on one end of it i crimson splash already turning dark and a few hoary white haira clinging to the wood and this story stick which old pence had been whittling at carving clumsy has relief scenes from his own life scenes of mining camps of the fur pith and lonely gold trails of dog icam and of broad shouldered men bent under heavy portage loads and of women with a crude beauty of face and figure this story stick of his life from its rounded handle to its a end was nou TO CONTINUED |