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Show THE PAGE SIX TIMES-NEW- NEPHI, UTAH S, Friday, February 5, 1926 flTL Ttie Valley of Voices By GEORGE SAFELY HIDDEN Author of "Tollers of the Trail." "The Whelps of the Wolf" CHAPTER X (Copyright by the Penn Pub;ihln Continued 17 "Ciin we run It?" lie called, above tli'e thunder of the white-watemuscles set In a crouch, nerves ruw with r, . "Down, fiat!" With a .fierce lunge of his blade, David swung the nose of the craft toward the beach as an Indian rose to his feet In the low scrub. In mockery of his victims the assassin laughed us he deliberately raised his rifle. Put the Mannlicher with the lone shell spat first and the surprised Ojlbway crumpled where he stood. "Down!" cried David. A rifle exploded on the shore, and the men In the boat again flattened, as a bullet splintered the gunwale. Then, caught In the pull of the first pitch, the canoe slid sldewise, until straightened by the lunge of two paddles, and nosed ' down, out of range of the beach. Into of the boiling Frythe white half-mil- e ing 1'an. The thought of two women who would wait for his coming the mother at home and the girl fur on the Wailing wnlt while two battered bodies lay stiff in the Ice somewhere along the Jaektish, flashed through Steele's brain, then the battle was on. As the boat shot down the first flume, the stark despair which had gripped Steele when they had been sucked into the head of the rapid, gave way to desperate hope. Vet It was clear, from the insistence of David on the poles being free in the boat, that he had foreseen the possibility of being driven Into the Frying 1'an. He believed the fight to get through worth making. On leaped the canoe, like a runaway horse, ever seeking the black water channels, hanging momentarily on the lip of disaster, only to be lifted and swung off by the pole of the fighting bow-ma; burying Its nose in the spume of broken water, to rise, shake free, and plunge on into the white riot beyond. Finally, as the rock walls of the gorge swept past In a gray blur to eyes which hunted the water trail ahead, David's right hand shot up and circled in the air, then regripped his paddle. "Whirlpool !" gasped Steele, the hope which had grown with the passing moments, dying. A matter of seconds and they would take the big chute ahead; beyond this, the suck of the whirling water. Once in the grip of the eddy, the canoe would and go down Into the maw of the vortex. , From braced knees the with bowed leaning far back, fought the nose of the boat inshore as it plunged and took the chute ; then, as It shot with the current for the pool below, two mailmen battled with their blades for the inches inches which meant victory or With a leap the canoe hit the pool; wavered, caught In the lip of the eddy; but held by tlie lunging blades, sheered off, was free, and shot on; then, charging through a stretch of broken water, rode the "boilers" below the last pitch and out into the easy going of the open river. With legs nwnsh In the slop picked up In the rapids, panting, spent, the two men smiled Into each other's drawn faces. "We licked 'em both, I.aflamme and the Frying Pan !" gasped Steele. "Good Job. dat ! grunted the Ojlbway, proudly, between breaths. "Dey say we lie wYn we tell dem at Nepi-goNow we cum back an' get de Wlndigo!" "And I.aflamme !" "We get beem anyway de Wlndigo, niebbe." , "Thought you said It couldn't be Then followed silent hours of paddling In which the thoughts of David centered largely on the- future of savory moose steaks at Neplgon House, while for Steele, heart hunger and the necessity for an early solution of the problem at Walling Kiver hno served as anodyne to his craving for food. Anotuer week and Steele was hurrying east on the Canadian Pacific. Arriving In New York and reporting at the museum, he readily obtained permission to follow, up this most amazing example of the abnormal In the habits of Canadian mammals, Inextricably Involved with Indian superstition In so baffling a manner as to defy any ordinary methods of solution. On the way west, Steele made frequent trips to the baggage car to talk wrinkle-faceto a hound. "If I had had you, old boy, last September, up on 15ig Feather lake," he often repeated regretfully, rubbing the ears of the great black and tan beast, "there would be one less Wlndigo In the Walling IUver country. I don't know what you can do on the snow. You may freeze in that country, with your short hair, but you're surely going to have a chance to help us out when we lose a trail. The huskies haven't got your nose, and won't hold to a trail as you will. And when that bay of yours booms out over the hills, there's" going to be a general scramble for cover among the beasts and devils that hear it." The bloodhound, trained in the Tennessee hills, had arrived in New .York in response to an urgent telegram from Steele to a friend who bred the on his southerti plantation. There was no doubt In Steele's long-eare- d fog-hor- n man-hunte- up-en- d bow-man- out-boar- run?" . "Wal, I look her ovalr one tarn, and I t'lnk ccf you keep lef side ov dat eddy, yon can run eet." "We beat il, but I thought It had us when we struck it. I heard but one shot from the shore when we started; do you suppone that there were only .two there?" "On lee two, I t'lnk. Dey wuit for us to come een. W'en I hit dat one, "de odder get c:np. lie not know liouf tin t shell. Dat pes w"'y be miss." "That was good shooting, David! Tou fired so quickly, you couldn't have eeen the sight and our only tdnll." "Wal. we drop down piepp, get de water out, and rnl'h her up. I goT two had leaks under me." "Suppose that Indian follows down the gorge, he'll get a pot shot at us If we go ashore here." David laughed loudly. "Vn he see us habl for de Fry in" 1'an. be say: 'Ho-Jo- ! Dcrp go two dead men! Ho wecl not follow." , CHAPTER XI ' For a week the two vnyagcur had traveled on half rations eked out with an occasional pike or dure, which bad been lured with much patience from their winter lethargy, but each mom-1"as they ruefully surveyed the fading food supply, Steele had reiterated: "You CRn't starve two men who've run the Frying Pan!" . 2 Co.J tion by the team of half-wilhuskies. "Hello, David!" cried Steele, keeping his dog at a distance from the white fungs which threatened him. "Are the trails open?" "De Jackfish bin close onlee few day. You cum back queek, boss," answered the Ojibway, a wide grin furrowing his face. "We've got plenty of planning to do at Neplgon house before we start. Guess how thany shells I've got for your Mannlicher." "Wal, I need one for fr'en' ov yours, an' 'noder for bear dat seeng lak de cat two ees all, I fink." Steele laughed. "Oh, I've got a few more than that for you. You may need moose, or meet someone at the Frying Pan some time, so I've brought you three hundred. How's the family? Does your wife object to your going?" "She say she t'lnk I got girl down at Wailing Riviere." Tnree days of sledding over a good trail, for the snow was not deep, brought the team to Neplgon House at the head of the great Nepigon lake which was partly iced over. There, while the bloodhound, wearing a tlanket, became somewhat more acclimated to the cold, and the huskies were forcibly taught to respect him as a permanent member of the party, David and Steele made their plans for a campaign on the snow. Each white mile they put behind them, each, camp they made at night, meant to the impatient Steele, one mile, one day, nearer the girl who needed them. Put, as he broke trail ahead of the team, when they cut back from the shore to circle rapids or quick-wateor rode in the easy going of the river ice, the task he had set for himself and his two friends appeared more and more difficult of accomplishment. Suppose the Win-digwere not again to appear in the valley ; or, they might not again cross its trail? What then? The harm had been done, and the Indians would continue to desert the Wailing as the rumors spread. In that case, It was a lost cause hopeless. Only in the event of the early reappearance of the beast at tlie post when they could speedily take up the trail and stay on It until they came up with the owner of the voice, could a swift solution of the The future mystery be possible. looked gray to Steele. However there was one ray of light in the gloom of his fear of failure. Michel had definite suspicions, of some nature or other, which lie had promised to share on Steele's return to Wailing River. And as Steele an David nightly sat under their shed tent before a tire. In the heart of a spruce thicket, and talked over after-supppipes, the optimism of David was so marked that the American knew that the clue which bad, for some reason, been kept from him deeply impressed the Indian. At last, through the early dusk which shut down on the valley one November afternoon, gleamed the yellow liglUs of Wailing Iiiver. Tlie pulse of Steele speeded as he made out the blurred shape of the house which Denise St. Onge called home. The morning he went away she had come to him with mist in her Would they shine again, he eyes. wondered, with that new light, now that he bad come back to fight for her, or would she freeze into that other self hold him at a distance bv catise of her quixotic bargain with La seel es? Steele opened the door of the trade-housfollowed by David. At their entrance, St. Onge turned in his chair behind the slab counter where he sat In conversation with his head man. '"Good evening, gentlemen!" The voice of Steele rang In the silent room. With eyes wide with amazement and surprise. St. Onge slowly rose to his feet, while the lean face of the Iroquois thrust forward, tense, apprehensive, us if he feared a trick of d -- r, o n "Whirlpool!" Gatped Steele, the Hope Which Had Grown With the Passing Moments Dyirg. . mind that the riddle of the Wlndigo would have been solved In the autumn, had he had Kiver. n bloodhound at Wailing Put the ability of the southern- dog to hold a trull on the strange medium of snow or Ice was a -bred matter outside the experience of those he hud consulted. However, as there would be no crust until March, daylight tracking would be easy In the new snow. It was for night work when the ubsence of shadows obliterates a snow trail, and when a trail t followed Ice, that Steele bad gambled on the sensitive nose of the bloodhound to old them. In his wallet be carried a sealed letter of instruction from tlfe Montreal headquarters of the Ilevillon Freres, addresspd to I.ascpIIes at Fort Albany, supplementing orders to be sent with thp Christmas mail packet by the Abbltibl route. Put. as he was Informed, "business was business," and tlu payment to the company of the value of the fur lost by St. nnire would not Justify the management, against the advice ()f their Inspector at Albany, In keeping the post open, lis It bad never done well. At Ottawa, Steele bad been assured that a police canoe would be despatched to ogoke In the early sprit, g. but that ail available men would be on duty elsewhere during the winter on more pressing matters. So. as bis train carried him west through the while wilderness to N.'pi-gostation, where David was to meet him with the best dog team obtainablp, the problem be faced continued unchanged by bis trip east. It still remained for Michel. Dm Id and himself in aided, to run down the biast or beasts which bad spread terror through the valley of the Wailing, and to hold the Indian on their trap'ine. There was yet the mysterious tragedy at the Devil s Mile to tip solved before the taboo would be lifted from the lower river. At Neplgon station a five dog sled, driven by a waited in the snow for fie passenger with trtr I bloodhound, and only the swift use of David's long, caribou hide whip saved the dazed beast from speedy minitUa- wind-swep- hulf-brep- n F a. yGeorge Ethelbert Walsh -B- MARSH (W. If. fj. Service.) Tift I e, SYNOPSIS Fishing, tn Idle fashion, from a private a docku Disk Van Ness watches ship, the Pelican, which he recognizes as the Beacon, his father's yacht before his death and financial reverses forced him to part with it. A man whom he hears a girl who accompanies him address as Mr. Blake, lands from the yacht. The girl, drops her handbag in and Dick recovers It. the strt-amgives him her Thanking: him, she card. She Is Alice Cutvisiting ler, niece of Stephen Cutler, successful business rival of the elder Van Ness. Dick overhears a conversation between Blake and of the Pelican Captain Brent which tells him the yacht Is on a bound voyage of adventure. to conceal Dick determines himself and sail a stowaway with the party. Stephen Cutler. It appears, is an invalid, sailing for his health. CHAPTER III Continued When he walked away, Dick moved a camp stool near the railing and con- tentedly puffed away at his cigarette. He was apparently Interested only In the scene on the dock, and never once turned his head sideways or backward. He felt that eyes were watching him, but he wasn't sure. The minutes sped along slowly, and after the third cigarette his head sagged to one side as if he slept. He snored once or twice. He w as conscious o'nee of a catlike footstep coming around the forward cabin, and halting near him, but he continued to snore peacefully. Twenty minutes, and he was still in the same position. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Captain Prent go down the gangplank and walk aft where the men were finishing their job of coaling the yacht Once out of his sight a remarkable change came over Dick. He sat slowly upright, and gazed swiftly and keenly around the deck. He was alone on it. Not a person was in sight. Without further delay he picked up his package and darted for the main saloon cabin. Once in it he closed the door softly and stared around. The place was vacant. He gave vent to a chuckle of relief. The cabin was not much changed from the days when his father owned It. The furnishings had been and the woodwork done over, and a tew pictures distributed around ; but in the main it was exactly as he had always known It., It was home to him, and a great desire to shout and pioclulm'the fact made him lightheart-e- d for a moment. Put a babel of voices on the deck warned him that any moment Captain Prent might return, and find him gone. lie crossed the richly carpeted lloor in a few strides and came to a halt In front of a paneled wall. He gave one swift glance up and around it, and then dropped down on his knees. His hands shook a little as he fum-file- d at the base, with nervous fingers. His breath came and went In little sharp, tremulous waves. He knew that the critical moment had arrived that would decide the success or failure of his scheme. Like a bank burglar opening a safe, with the fear of the police beating on his brain, he played bis hands up and down skilfully and with precision, hunting for something that time had dimmed In his memory. Suddenly a low exultant cry escaped his lips. His fingers had touched the thing be had been searching for. It was a tiny crack between the molding and baseboard. It was hardly wide enough to admit the blade of a pocket knife. With one finger pressed on It for fear of losing It, Dick got his knife out of Ids pocket and opened the smallest blnde. Inserting the point of this in the crack he pressed It hard against something that gave forth a soft tinkling, metallic sound. The effect of his manipulations would have startled Captain Prent had be appeared then, but to Dick It was no more than he expected. The narrow pntiel before him slid slowly to one side, revealing an opening In the wall about the size of a small statehalf-close- room. The secret compartment in the wall had lieeu designed by the architects of the yuc.it to satisfy a whimsical fancy "Po'-Jo"- , Michel! Wat you t'lnk of Dick's father. It had been used as And David you see, de Wlndigo?" it storage place for special papers and advanced rtith outstretched i,mu. securities that the elder Van Ness "We have returned as we promoften carried away with him on long It was never designed for added Steele, np. ised, monsieur.'" preaching the counter behind which i ii mil occupancy, and when Dick the startled men stood slnr.n;; at the glanced In it he felt a chill of doubt. hooded apparitions. The dust of years had accumulated over the floor, showing that It had not Then, with n yell iind a bound, Michel cleared the counter and whs been used by the present owner of the g the l.bw ky O.iilnvny. yacht. Dick had guessed right that (Ti) I:K CnNTIM KI. ) the secret of it bad fmt been passed on with the sale of the craft, and no Growth of Law Library one, in relittlng (lie Interior, had A law library which would have n'uniMcd upon the spring that opened been complete, with nil of Hie volumes the panel. of American decision and nil of the It was Just about wide enough and volumes of American statutes,, has relong enough for n man to stretch himself and move about without bumping cently been calculated to have contained one hundred years ago about bis elbows or scarring his shins. It ISO volume of decisions find 00 vol- .was high enough for the tallest man, umes of statute, says the Nation's with an open register above through Business riiBiriizine. Today. It Is snld. which the iiir of the cabin escaped. n library which would be complete In The presence of Ibis register of Iron the sumo' sense would contain 18,,100 grillwork. Instead of exciting susvolumes of decisions mid .1..KKI volume picion, all.ied the curiosity of anyof statutes. One hundred years In the one inquisitive enough to want to future. If the Increase during the last thump the walls to see If there was a epotury I maintained, such a utirsr? hollow space behind,. would have to contain I.S.Vt.ono volApproaching footsteps on the deck ume of decisions and .I.Vi.ooy volume Dick out of his reverie ef Inbrought of statute. decision. Wltn a shudder be wiped vision. hug-gin- thing to make me sleep. I'm wide awake's an owl. What'g that infernal racket about?" "I don't know, uncle. TO find out. Please don't excite yourself. You know the doctor says the change will do you good." (Copyright, 1925, by W. a. Chapman.) Dick recognized the voice of Alice WNU Service Cutler. "It won't !" came the explosive contradiction. "It will make me worse away the worst of the dust and Go on and send Blake to me stepped inside. He hesitated again be- no, senddeck, Doctor Alster! I've got to fore closing the panel. Then Captain have some relief from this pain. Tell Brent's booming voice aroused him. him to hurry." "Where's that young fellow with the There were soft footsteps across lie called package?" angrily. Dick touched the spring and watched the carpeted floor, and a moment later the panel slide noiselessly In position. the cabin door opened and closed. At the same moment the cabin door Dick could hear loud, stertorous of one In great pain. opened with a bang, and Brent stamped breathing inside. CHAPTER IV "Search the yacht !" he commanded. "If you find him bring him to me. I'll Without premedication Dick had teach him to snoop around. No, not in here! He's not In the cabin. placed himself in the position of be- Search below decks !" ing an eavesdropper to every bit of Nevertheless, he made a careful ex- gossip and conversation that took amination of every possible hiding place In the main cabin. In planning place in the cabin. Dick, holding his to get aboard the Pelican he had hardbreath, heard him tramping around, ly given consideration to the thought opening and closing doors and lockers, that the open register would admit and even thumping the soft cushions. any and all sounds. He was a little Once he stopped In front of the regstartled when he found how distinctly ister, and remained quiet for so long even a whisper was carried to him. It That Dick feared he had discovered was as if the cabin was a great soundsome clue. ing board, with Its focal point of wave The spring had been a little rusty, vibration at the register over his head. The first night he learned from deand possibly it had not closed completely. The presence of a little dirt tached remarks things that both enor rust near the crack might excite lightened and bewildered him. Steve Brent's suspicion. Dick drew a sigh Cutler was going on a cruise much of relief when the man finally moved against his own will, through the away, and after another tour of the urgent advice of Doctor Alster, the cabin walked outside on deck. family physician, and of Mr. Blake, "It's an even chance, cap, that I'll his private secretary, with Alice, his go with you on this little trip," he niece, as a loving but firm The theory of Dick's that mused, grinning to himself. "Anyway, the cruise was to hunt for some hidyou'll have a hard time finding me." den treasure received a severe Jolt. A little light entered the compartment through the register, and as the The yacht was bound for Valhalla, an Island off the southern coast,. that had been fitted up at great expense by the millionaire for a quiet winter resort It was a small, Isolated island without any communication with the mainland, and far enough from the lanes of travel to protect the occupants from visitors and curiosity seekers. Cutler was a sick man, according to the testimony of his physician, and unless he took a rest of a few weeks the Inevitable breakdown would follow. Angered both at the doctor who condemned him to a period of Isolation, and at nature for playing him such a shabby trick, the old man fumed and fretted. When he realized the actual situation Dick regretted the course he had taken. The romance of the voyage suddenly st its flavor. There was a chance of adventure on a deserted Island, with a party of searchers for buried treasure; but a small privately owned place, even if it were a mere dot on the ocean far from land, offered little of romance and less of adventure. There would be servants on It, a small army of them, perhaps; formal gardens and cultivated fields; conven"We'll Be There by Tomorrow Night, tional summer houses, golf links, tenWon't We, Captain?" It Was Mr. nis courts, and all the artificial InvenBlake Speaking. tions of civilization to amuse visitors. There would be a wild nook or air from the cabin escaped through cranny where hehardly could hide and make this the suction created kept his nar- himself comfortable. row quarters fairly well ventilated. Disgusted by the outlook, he felt In"I won't smother," he reasoned, clined to abandon all secrecy and step looking up. "Plenty of air." He forth from his place of concealment glanced at his package and smiled and' confess. They could do uothing again: "Grub and drinks enough for more ihan hold him as a stowaway and a week." make him work for his passage. On Unconsciously, he drew forth a the whole that would not be onerous. cigarette and started to light It, but The presence of Alice Cutler would checked himself. "Smoking forbid- add a little zest of romance to the den," he said In a rueful voice. "That's experience. hard luck I" Then In a relieved voice, The second night out his cramped he added, "At nhrht when everybody's prison began to tell on his nerves. Too I can The ventilator up. light asleep, much Inaction was worse than too will carry away the smoke and odor." much exercise. Scrubbing the deck After that he tried to make himself under the angry eyes of Captain Brent as comfortable as possible In his nar- seemed In the preferable to row quarters. It was some satisfac- narrow compartment. remaining tion to know that he would be far The main cabin was and more comfortable than In the coal Dick strfick a match to deserted, light a cigabunkers, where he had first thought rette. It was his one consolation, and of hiding. now that he was Indifferent about his "As a stowaway I'm pretty well off," future he lost his usual caution. he decided. "Nothing to do but eat, one electric light was burning InOnly th drink and sleep, with a quiet smoke at cabin, and the stillness of the place disHe night." opened his box and got on tils nerves. tributed Its contents around In the "I'll get out tonight and tnke a good corners, counting the number of sandrest on one of those cushions," he wiches and bottles of drink. Making a mused. "Captain Brent will get n Jolt mental calculation he concluded that, when he finds me there." He grinned with careful rationing, he would not at the thought. suffer for a week. Then, making a Suddenly he. heenme conscious of pillow of his coat and box, he lay the presence of some one In the cabin. down and tried to Kill time with sleep. The soft fall of a foot on the thick The noises outside did not alarm carpet near his hiding place was folhim. Coal was still pouring Into the lowed a moment later by the opening bunkers, and the tramping of many and closing of a door. Another footloud orders and step, hpuvlpr and clumsier than the feet, accompanied by oaths, convinced him that the search first, reached his ears. The two met was still going on. Now that he felt not far from the open register, so that secure this did not concern him, and their whispered words could be dislistening dreamily to the confusion of tinctly heard. sounds ho dropped olT Into restful "We'll be there by tomorrow night, slumber. won't we, captnln?" It was Mr. Blake He woke with a start finally. Unspeaking. able at first to collect his senses, lie li and stared tin. around sat upright Over his head a stream of electric Dick Is apparently safely hidden and able to overhear what light entered through the register. Outside voices sounded so clear and goes on. What next? distinct that It gave him n shock at first. The Jar and vibration of the (TO CONTINUED.) yacht told hlin they were ucder way. A querulous voice' was saying: On the Watch "Plakc's a fool, Alice. I don't think "How Is It, Bridget, that I law jrn this trip will do me any good. I could rest nt home don't need a change at treating your young man to my raka all never did like salt water sure and pie last night?" to be seasick. . . . Where's Doctor "Because I thought yoa were asleep, Alster? He'll bare to give ma some maul." Progressive Grocer. 1 , , ' |