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Show THE UTE SENTINEL Mi<Jvale, Utah, Friday, December 27, 1935 --------------~~~--~---------------------come our. I'll of course do • CAUGHT IN THE WILD I By Robc·t 1 Ames Bennt t , Copyright by Robert Ames Bennet WNU Service As be expected, a red-coated constable of the Northwest police was -13When the building-topped bluff of lounging in the old trading post Fort Simpson was sighted in the dis- storeroom with one of the Airway tance, Mr. llamill left the cabin and pilots. The latter sprang to meet him. "Hull<.\ 'Lun-you d-n lame duck! came forward. He stopped before Gnrth, blnn(t- Helluva note, you squattering in the wet. Could've cruised your frozen faced, shrewd-eyed. "I've just heard, my boy, that you hell a hundred times in any old think of stopping_ off at this post. I crate." Garth gripped han'ds with him. trust it's not on account of any feel1ng against me or my daughter. •• 'Lo, Kiwi! I didn't happen to be You can't blame her for a bit of re- after airpocl;:ets. There are things sentment. She's a woman, and you you haYe to rub your nose against certainly put her turough the mill. to see." Garth sobered to business. "What As for myself, I called it quits when you pulled me out of the hole this news!" "Your man set his bus down here l:u:;t time. What d'~· ou say?" three days a~o. Hopped off PDQ, He held out his now firm-muscled with all she could heave up underhand. Garth gave it a hearty grip. and oil." ".\11 accounts squared, ·ir, and no gas The constable had stood at attenha1·d feelings against either of you. tion. He met Garth's glance with !iil:;S Hamill proved herself far more a salute. "All right, sir." plucky and sporting than could have ''Good work, Dillon. One question been expected. I wish you both bon -those three miners?" VO'"'U!!e." " ~ "Brol{e IH'Ospectors, sir. Records, .. But !01 you to be leaving the far as known, not savory. But none boat my boy! There's no need of of the bunch is wanted, and they're H. I can arrange for you to get not ne" comet·s from across the borinto the cabin. In fact, I'd like the 'd er. They'll lmow enough not to inopportunity to talk over matters. terfere when I take my prisoner." We might still get together on those The post factor came hastening terms you offered.'' in to shake hands. "Pardon my ab"We might," Garth agreed; but sence, )lr. Garth. \Yas up to Liard. then his smile bardcnecl "That side It's a ~rea t pleasure to have you ' of the matter wll1 have to wait. I stop off wltll us. If you plan to take Bhnll firsr settle witb your friend in dogs, I have a picked team that Huxby.' I'd be honored-" The millionaire frowned. "Thank you, no,•· Garth cut ln. · ..Don't call that murderous hound ''But I woulrl lil•e a rifle, rabbit una friend of min(' His shooting you dersuit, winter moccasins, gloves, is understandabl£ My wounding and three pairs of webs." was of courst what he claimedHe went into a bunkroom to put sheer accident But for the scoun- on the rn.hhit-fnr suit mHler his drel to abandon a helpless girl to buckskins. When he came out, a starvation' If he was too coward1y girl in a plain, ill-fitting gown stood to dare her frenzied threats and talking to the pilot. The pilot forcibly tnl·e her and me with him glancf'd towards him. The gid In the canoe. he could at least have turned quickly. He found himself hall the plane cnme for us.' face to face with Lilith Rami11. "If ~'OU care for my guess,'' Garth Yet it was not the grease-an'dsaid "be wa~ more interested in pitch marked face of his canoe comyour daugl1te· as an heiress than as panion Xor was it that deepa woman lined ron;ed and powdered face "No guess about it. A coldblood- with scarlet-smeared lips that had ed rascal who would have murdered sneered at him on Tobin's wharf. you for your c·lnim. I'll run hi.m It was a face s~oolti and firm, vlvid down and make him pay in full for with life and vitality. Only the deserting Lilith and rue. if it costs blue eyes were hard. a million.' "Alan Garth,'· she said, "I've "His punishment will cost you l~arned all about it. You're going nothing, Mr. Ramill. He has been back there-after him!" trapped by his own gt·eed.'' ''Sorry, Miss Ramill. It's not re..Trapped?" venge, if that's what you think. I ••Before W(. came aboard, word tried to spare you. But, if you must was received by radio that a man have it, he is a thief.'' named Huxby had recorded a platThe g1rl's eyes flashed. "Worse 1 inurn placer claim at l!'ort Smith; He's a cowardly murderer. That is that he had bought a large airplane, why I too am going to see him taken and tlown north with three miners.'' prisoner." Mr. Ram ill looked his doubts. 1 "You 1" ,. "I've heard nothing of it." I "Yes. I am ~!!'Ol'ng to see h1m "Because I though best for you cringe, the sneaky beast! Do you not to." think I've forgotten how he crept "Yoa r Do you mean to tell me up and shot you when you weren't that everyone on this steamer kept looking? And what if he didn't inmum because you, a mere prospec- ten'd to shoot Dad? He left him to , tor-" Tbe millionaire pause d. die. If that's not enough, must I "Have I been bUnd? Y~u are not a tell you how he taunted me~" common prospector. There's some"Yet that's no reason why you-" thing about you ... in spite of your ''It is! If you refuse I'll tag vagabonding about this Nortti coun- after you in another plane." try!'' Garth studied her gravely. She Garth said: "We are talking about stared back at him, hotly defiant. He Huxby. rve radioed for a North- pretended to accept ber reasons for west policeman to meet me at Simp- 1 wanting to go: son with a plane. The charges are "You most certainly are a good robbery and assault to murder.'' hater, Miss RamilL One thing, "Radioed? The skipper told me though. The valley ls about to his transmitter was out of order.'' freeze up. It will not be the sum"By my request, sir. I thought tt mer paradise we left. We may land as well to keep you out of the affair. ln a blizzard." It is possible Miss Ramill may have She looked around the store. recovered from her resentment ''Where are those Eskimo suits you against him. I'll ask you to pardon told me about?" my going to see 1f there are any At that he smiletl a bit grimly. more reports on Huxby's move- ''This is Indian country. You shall ments.'' have rabbit and buckskins." He Though by no means curt, the dis- turned to the factor: "Add the missal was abrupt. lady's outfit to my account." To Some time before the steamer the pilot: ''Kiwi, this is where you nosed In to the landing, Garth made are to fit your name. You're going out that the pontooned plane afloa-t to be a wingless groun'd bird." at the waterfront was too small to "Ob, have a heart, 'Lan !" be one ot the regular Bellanca "Three 1s a erowd, and she Ja 1t. transports. Ask her tattler." CHAPTER VIII-Continued For the first time the ~irl be· tra:.red a tracre of doubt. "Hut \Ve'll ha>e to hn ..·e a pilot." Kiwi stared, then ~rinned at the joke. "Lady, what ~·ou don't know about our boy friend would appear to be quite a conRidcrable.-All right, yon lame duck, go hog the jo;ystick." Constable Dillon put in a word: "It's not on the cards, sir, to take along a young lady. If this Buxby tries to act up--" "He's your ment, Dillon. I'll stand responsible for Miss Ramill." Down at the waterfront, Garth went over the plane with his pilot friend. There was a full load of gasoline and a change of oil. To the week's supply of provisions, he added the three pairs of snowshoes and the new rifle. Lilith bad gone aboard the steam· er. She retumed with her father. He looked worried. She had put on her Indian-womnn costume-buckskins, what I can for her.'' Garth sh o nl~ hanrls. and s'YliDg nhnanl the small ('l'<lft. At a sign f i'Oill him , tlw 1lisplaeed pilot ~ave the propeller n Rpin. 'l'he plane ~wun~ around, to tuxi uownsLream. There was no hurry. Had Hnxby s ·llt>mt:'d to tl.\' into thP valley merely to ~ta!«• tht> vlaeer in his own name and hop out a~ain, he would not ha,·e take n the three miners. He undoubteUly had planned to do his sPnson's as:· es~ment work. Midway of the down ri\•er flight, the three-seater ran into a sleet squall. Garth dropped to the water and tied up under the lee of a spruce-blacl{ point. They ran in and out of a sleet squall, leaving everything sheeted with ice. Garth and Dillon knocked clear the edge of the wings. Another bop brought the. party to the emergenC'y refueling post, sqortly before sundown. This time Lilith llamill did not refuRe Tobin's crude hospitality. B~ could no t at tirst believe she was the painted lady who had scoffed at his "garbage." She. not only refrained from scoffing. she ate his bacon and porridge as heartily as Garth and the policeman. The· moosehide canoe lay upturned on the bank beside G.arth's old birchbark. Tobin had at once told lluxby's story. According to the engineer, the lady and her father \vere still marooned in the mountains. He had come out with Garth to fetch a pJane for them. But Garth had been ki ll ed by a wounded she-grizzly. CHAPTER IX I :\' moccasins. fur cap and gloves. The millionaire chose to lav the blame J on Garth. "Have you gone insane? No m{}re than get her out of that muskeg hell, and you want to drag her back to your infernal hole In desolation!" "The lady's choice, not mine." ''Well, you're taking her." ''How can 1 help it, sir? You are her father. Why not assert your paternal authority?" Lilith brushed aside their trifling. "Which is my seat?" ••Tbe rear.-Close her in, Kiwi" Sbe turned to fling her arms around her father and kiss him. It was the only caress Garth had ever seen her give anyone. As he put on his pilot friend's helmet and goggles, the constable mounted to the middle cockpit. Kiwi handed the girl into the rear one. Garth spoke a last word to her anxious father: ''In all probability, sir, we'll overtake you within three or four days. May, however, have to lay over, in case of storm. If :tog or snow makes us miss you on your way out, we'll probably meet at Fort McMurray." Mr. Ramill came close. "Garth, there's something I can't understand. This crazy notion of Lilith's, I mean. It's not mere willfulness. She has something in mind.'' "Wants to see the handcuffs slipped on Buxby," Garth replied. "Can you blame her? :Mangled vanIty. Had believed he loved her for herself at least as much as for her inheritance. 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'-all that, you know.'' ' "Not all, Garth-no! There's something else. I can't make her out. Something dU!erent about her." "Perhaps she'll tell you when we Mu r der. TilE morning Gar th for the first time showed haste. The dawn ' '<ts far t oo bea utifully rose. lle made sure that Lilit h'· blankets were uack in her cockpit before he bawled her aboard. He fitted the g-lass wincl co\Yl to the cockpit rim. "If we strikP into a blizzard, get your ea p o\·er your ears, and blanket you rse1f, head and all," he \Yarned. "Yon don't want to lose Your ears and nose.'' · 'J'be constable was already snug under his own cowl. Garth swung his pilot cockpit. Old •.robin gave the propeller a spin for him. This time Garth needed no circling in order to trace the air route. Aboard the cabin monoplane he had watched H'axby's instruments and noted the landmarks from above. By the time the lovely rose dawn glared into an angry red sunrise, the roaring plane bad flown all the way across that weary desolation of muskegs and broken-ridged lower mountains. Thickening clouds foretold another storm. But Garth had outraced it. Instead of swing in around the out-thrust mountain to tbe pass, be banked and drove past the east side of the mountain, on a long upslant. A few miles north from the pass, he banked to the west and headed for the lowest notch in the jagged east-side wall of the valley. Above the great barrier the plane bumped like a boat in a choppy seat. Garth paid no conscious heed to the rough passage. His hands and feet adjusted the controls with automatic precision, leaving his attention free to center upon what lay ahead. His first glimpse into the valley showed him a column of smoke above the black belt of spruce at the far end of the lake. Much thicker and darker than ordinary campfire smoke, it stood out distinct against tbe vivid white of the snow· sheeted tundra slope. As tbe plane drove clear above the saddle between the peaks, he shoved the stick forward and cut the gun. With the roar of the engine stilled, the plane swooped down at the lake like a monstrous bird of prey. Relatively speaking, it was ·driving at its quarry as noiselessly Ias a great horned owl of the North stoops to strike a rabbit. Also, by 1 entering the valley over this distant lsaddle, instead. of through the pass, Garth felt sure the plane would not be seen by any of Huxby's party. His next problem was to effect a landing without the roar of tbe restarted motor. He had already made out Huxby's big cabin plane, moored nt the mouth of the glacier stream. That wns the only safe mooring place. Absence of any smoke near the plane told that the miners were camped at the placer. The stream ruou th was too far from the diggings for tbe hurried workers to tramp back and forth every night and morning. Besides, there would be snowdrifts to wade thro ugh. From every indication, tbe claimjumper could be surprised and taken before he L'ealized that any other pal'ty than his own had come to the valley. The one twed was to avoid using the plane's engine. Its roar woulcl be heard f or miles. Garth calculated the volplane angle witll his u tmost skill. If he hit tlle water too soon, the propel1er would have to be used to pull the plane in to the landing; if he held on too long, there might be a crackup. It was a matter of fractions or seconds. He allowed for the fact that the slight wind was ah eam, instead of sucking down from the glacier. His one failure \va~ to notice in time the shrunken volume of the glacier stream. The plane took to the wa ter smoothly, at almost the exact dist~nce offshore that he bad plan ned. The difficulty was that the ou tswirling current lacked the force he expected. Instead of slowing down or stopping short, the three-seater droYe in bard at the cabin plane. The stream mouth lacked width enough for t he small plane to squeeze past t he lnrge one. Nor was there room t o rnaneuyer between the of( ·hore rocks. Garth acted with instant decision. He S\verved the three-seater to clear the tail of the cabin plane. As he s tripped off bis goggles and swung down from his cockpit with the mooring line, the pontoon stem~ smashed like eggshells on a waterworn rock, across the narrow channel from the tail of the other plane. Before the current could float the three-seater back into deep water, Garth leaped ashore. Lilith had opened the cowl of her cockpit and was starting to climb out. Garth glanced at the threatening sky. "She has settled down hard and fast, Miss Ramill. Better stay snug aboard until we return.'' The girl's reply was to scramble forward on the shoreward wing of the plane. Garth waded out in the ley water and had her hand down his rifle, the three pairs of snowshoes, and all the blankets. He tossed everything to Dillon, then took the girl on his shoulder~. The policeman had started upstream with the outfit. He walked across tbe now shallow ford without getting a drop of water over the tops of his heavily greased shoepacks. Garth slung Lilith on his shoulder like a sack of meal and splashed after Dillon. At the far bank Dillon stopped to put on a pair of snowshoes. Garth lowered the girl upon a bare rock, and ran down the lef·t bank to swing aboard the cabin plane. With him he took the blankets. When he came ashore, he had on dry socks and moccasins. He frowned at Lilith. She was flopping awkwardly along on snow· shoes behind the policeman. "Take off those webs and get Into the cabin," he ordered. ul will not,'' she refused. ..I'm going with you. I came to see that beast arrested.'' ..Don't be a fool We'll be there and back before you've more than got started. There's nQ time to watt for yon. Blizzard may swoop down any minute." He hal! slipped on the third pair of snowshoes. He took bis rifle from Dlllon and started off as guide. The constable followed at the same rapid gait. He was an experienced snowshoe runner. Lilith tried to imitate their deft swinging stride with the webs. She tripped and plunged face-down into a drift. (TO BE CONTINUED) II IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER TELL YOUR MERCHANT ABOUT IT !! THEIR SUPPORT IS NECESSARY TO KEEP IT GOING ,L,............ _t. t.uW&tMMtttt"UMUtfll4t. . . t i U i f " • • • t - - I M U " , . " ' ' ' ' ' u t. .tHU•tUttttMtt. .tf . .H._.I_tttU.a..UIUitlttttllltUIItlltiiUNit. . . . nnMUUUIUMttnttUUIIIIII"UIItfNHUM. . . .ttHIIM'tiHI""" . . . . . . ' . . . . 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