Show N 7 YA STRINGER THE STORY siony so rani T to 0 keep not nor land airways airway la in business buil nesi alan slade blade arof agrees to fly it so called dentist named flamed and hi ahli I 1 ac ais ii 1 litant ant karnoll to the Anaw otto river 1 in barch arch of the trumpeter swan iwan with the tha proceed e 6 da his bli partner cruser cruger has ha bought a new W plane a lockheed which li Is stolen when men slade blade returns return from rom the Ana Anaw watto otto he starts out with only two duel clues to recover the plane tho the arst arit clue Is the devil bird which the bund blind ashimo eil ilmo bears bean dr bl the fly lug lu padre has operated on Um Uma ank eyes in the hope of to fating his sight it I 1 the operation Is successful will be able to help slade blade the second clue lue Is if hunch that the lost rune plane slades and tho swan awan hunter are somehow con necked dot but when he flies back to where he be leit left he finds him apparently just juit hunting hunten swans there Is I 1 no ot of the plane out nut on the way nay home he learns learn that his gas a cache at the cabin ot of zeke and alenty two old prospectors has hai been robbed tie ile tells telli cruller ot of a third clue the disappearance of a flyer named slim Tum humstead stead who know about both the lAck lockheed beed and Pray Fray nei nelm expedition zeke and blanty discover prowlers near their camp and set let out to now slade blade 1111 talking to lynn the padres daughter now continue with the tory story XII what wrong lynn asked startled by that newer note where fearlessness ar had always reigned cruger and I 1 may go bust we been able to spot our stolen lockheed lynns lynna brow furrowed with thought but who could get away w with ith a thing like that she asked even in country uka me this instead of answering that question slade asked one of his own have you ever stopped to ask what became of your friend slim Tum Turn stead the flyer you fixed axed up after that bar barroom room fight lynns lynna frown deepened id Bc arcely scarcely call hirn him a friend she he objected he needed help and agave I 1 gave it to him but taken ticket away remember hes law less and reckless and he was at theand the end of his rope and is probably drowning his sorrows sorrow in some mcmurray gin mill suggested the girl on the contrary said slade he dropped out of sight there without leaving a trace but what would he do with a plane what I 1 want to figure out affirmed slade it be just cheap john smuggling and it be high grading not at least unless that man of science who calls himself frayne is fooling us our birdman of course might bo putting on an act but mining and trapping Is all anyone could do in country like that he be smuggling out marten and fox its not furs naturally conceded slade but why la Is a plane flying between echo harbor and the tha Anaw otto and where did that plane come from and chos flying it youre as bad as 11 lynn observed as they stepped into the rough boarded surgery what he keeps asking but surprised them b by 7 an abrupt movement ot of his bandaged head Ka bluna come baek back be quietly announced that lynn knew meant the flying padre and her quick cross to the door confirmed Uma announcement no its it father said the girl with her eyes on the blur of blue that grew bigger as she watched he could hear her cry of badill as she he ran light footed down the talus slope the flying padres Pa drear greeting to slade was cordial but preoccupied youre just in tune time alan AIM lynns father asserted to see bee whether im still a surgeon or not were going to un sheath our old friend 11 slade tried to be casual as they darkened the little surgery and examined the patient but he be was he be felt the most excited of the three the flying padre after a study oi of his bis pat patients lents face reached to the shelf belt for a candle which be lighted you see now he be questioned as he the small flamo well above his bis head bead me see sald said high or low high up answered the flying padre blew out the candle and now cow he asked slade could feel lynns fingers tighten on his arm me no see wax was the old arki mos answer light gone slade could hear Mor locks sigh of relief as he stepped back and stood food straighter me boond go find devil bird cried that happens to be my lob job said aid slade this talk about a devil bird asked the flying padre looking up from his instrument bag slade explained about the plane that had been seen between echo harboe and the Anaw but the man of medicine was not impressed 1 I tee see planes he observed 4 in tome some mighty unexpected places the flying padres gaze rested on the younger mans face mean country to meander arnt in ho ha auld 4 10 0 7 AW ka Z all im getting out of it ho he contended and im about fed up 16 ive been over it answered tho the man with the viking eyes where I 1 took those two swan hunt 01 ors ers walt wait a minute if cried the flying padre arrested by a sudden thought what was waa tho the nationality of those swan huntera its hard to say any slade explained pla ined but a good deal of their equipment was german they were certainly foreigners 11 german meditated the older man anan that seem to fit in fit in with what asked the flyer with been happening along the coast here short wave sets have been picking up messages from time to time in russian A good part of it they tell me Is in code that cant be made out it might be a whaler ventured lynn between here and echo har bor then me go echo harbor was the unexpected cry from aad find out but lynn disregarded that cry dont you remember dad how we kept picking up stuff like that when the russians made their transpolar flight three years adoll ago yes I 1 remember said the fly ing padre but where aro are these people sending from and what would a russian be doing in this back yard of nowhere today that said slade as he glanced down the talus slope toward the snowball snow ball baby that floated in the shallows Is what im going to find out A gold green light lay over the evening world as slade left illuk inlet behind him ile he was too close to the land of the midnight sun to hope for much darkness even after two hours of heading southward but since his one wish was to remain unseen ho he flew low over the scattered waterways and ridges his bis floats all but brushing the meager spruce tops as an he be advanced on the thinning timber une line he flew with his lights out feeling his way along by the stars the thought of flying dark over a steadily darkening terrain gave him the feeling of being singularly alone in a world that had fallen asleep he wondered if some day camps and town sites would mark that world of emptiness and as though in answer to that unuttered question he observed the darkness punctuated by an unmistakable sign of life up from the empty world ahead of him he saw a signal rocket flare and die away again then out of the gloom his eye caught the repeated winking of a flashlight he watched those flashes closely doing his best to read them but they meant nothing to him beyond the fact that they were spelling out a message and fand a message obviously not intended for him slade made a quick decision he banked and turned still keeping uncomfortably close to the ridge crests skimming over the broken woodland like a swallow skimming over ruffled water he quartered off cir at right angles to his earlier course idling on until he felt certain he was beyond the vision of the flashlight signaler then he doubled back until he ha found open water to I 1 sure of a landing all was quiet along the starlit lake surface that took up his headway he let his plane drift in closer to the shadowy shoreline then making sure that all was still atlen silence c e he poled his ship patiently along the shallows he worked his way westward toward the s source 0 of the rocket flare until he came to a landing spot that suited his purpose there he moored his bis plane against the shelter of a sparsely timbered bluff and took up his rifle for several minu ml nutce tee after mounting the nearby near by ridge he stood silent and watchful when no sign ot of life came to him be began picking his way carefully over the broken terrain toward the quarter from which the flashlight signals had first shown themselves his caution became greater as he noticed where timber had been cut along the ridges that grew bolder as he advanced he even observed vec vee whore a hillside had been cleared and stripped the scattered dikes and hollows clearly showed how a prospector had been hitaj nw thara with nick and nd slade crouched low in one ona of these hollows and struck a match wondering if the light would show up a tz telltale vein of gold bearing quartz but oil all he saw was bark dark ond and pitch like rock ho went on up tho the slope puzzled by the repeated signs of an enter ariso that seemed without meaning or purpose then he stopped short arrested by above him in the vague light he could nee a man a huge bodied man stripped to tho the waist moving along the ridge crest balanced shoulders he carried what had every appearance of an ore bag an ore bag so heavy that th the e b big I 1 g body bent forward under its weight he seemed to be following a path that led into tho the scrub timber endi ending g abruptly in the shimmer of lake w water ater slade watching from tho the shadows saw that figure return along the hilltop trail then he saw it once more forgo once more burdened with the weight of its ore bag ile he could not be sure but something about that great body with its gorilla like arms made him think of karnell and if it was karnell slade felt the man who called himself frayne would be somewhere in the neighborhood that thought prompted the watcher to push farther up tho the slope seek ing the cover of the underbrush as he went he crept on until he crossed a well trodden trail andi and again entered the underbrush that furred the declining hill slope from there he could see a strange looking structure of spruce boles partly ob strutting ting the view of the lake water between the shouldering hills in the rocky cup behind the odd looking spruce canopy lie he saw a small tent and beside this tent he caught sight of a small campfire carefully coll ceil hinged by a tarpaulin on four stakes but what held his attention was a flig figure ure squatting beside that fire a figure in a leather flying jacket lie he could not make out the mans face but he ha could see him replace rep lace a coffeepot on the coals and drink from a granite cup which he tossed aside when ho he had emptied it then the man by the atre looked up as a second man spoke to him apparent ly from inside the tent not on your your life cried the man beside the fire billbe PIll ill be damned it if get me to do tiny any work what was said in response to that slade could not hear 1 I sweat enough unloading the damned stuff contended the man in the flyers jacket A figure emerged from between the tent flaps and stood looking down at the fl fireside reside lounger you would sweat less my friend the newcomer sold said with steely voiced precision it if you re stricter strict ed your use of alcohol 11 the others laugh was not pleasant all im getting out of it ho he contended and im about fed up with living like a timber wolf but that plane must be loaded abona a ton a trip retorted his companion and karnell can do only so BO much I 1 slade knew then that his guess had not been wide of the mark the huge bodied man who carried the ore bags was indeed karnell and the indignant figure standing above the man who still squatted beside the campfi was frayne when a moment later the fireside squatter rose to his feet and stood with his bis face to the light slade saw that it was Tum Turn stead your bullhead can do the loading Tum Turn stead was saying im a flyer chos drinking too much to keep a clehr head amended frayne what I 1 drink retorted the aih nth er la Is my own affair ive carried your cargoes and kept Ws this cratl crate e afloat I 1 and aej now that an outsider or two is edging in ou on your little enterprise antei prise id rather like ince tw to know where I 1 get off when the blow up comes there will be no blowup blow up as you term it was the cold noted response and there will be no edging in on this enterprise but theres a snooper or two around this camp and you know it if and when they stumble over what youre after im left out on a almb limb ern TI i |