Show U qt y STRINGER STORY SO aiu to keep nor gg airways iway in business alan glade blade to fly 00 0 C called ailed scientist named and adi his Ps birtner pirt artner ner karnello karnell to the in search earch of 0 the trum river otto wan with tte the proceeds proceed slade cruger buys buy A lockheed plane li etolen when he returns return irom from slade starts tart out to recover Anaw daw otto in 1111 hi he Is I 1 being helped plane named and by his hi tild salmo mo n friends Ir lend zeke zek and hinty ro prospector ros Dector bunch slade blade has ha lone gone to on a ant i act camp and has ha discovered that is if hidden bidden there slim iani vilna clane flyer who ha has lost hi his ifor istead tead a 40 for drin drinkins kint and I 1 Is little more an outlaw ba oas been flying it lor for ie put but when glade blade attempt to ine the bianes cargo he 16 t knocked by karnell arnell lC bumstead Tum stead sam ave 0 tom from belne being killed by karnell harnell only evandon andon hill hlin later on a deserted Is 1 too m much uch 11 lie 1116 knows know be because ostend tead has bai just taken on off afati it leaving slade blade with only it knife kalfe a chocolate a can german army iad I 1 or of ally beet beef and wh what at looks like an apty pty f till aw t con continue with the story CHAPTER XIV placed I 1 d the knife on the shore ale bealda aid it he placed th the e pound jerman aman choco chocolate late and beside that i the e tn tin of 0 f bully beet beef alter after tig ring them tor for a long time he ched led f for r the tobacco tin Is when en ho he opened it proved 0 bi entirely antl ay iy empty in it to 1 I surprise he found half a dozen f fishhooks 00 k stared its n r d at t them th em lor for a full min reme remembering meering how more than bu ush b p pilot 11 lot had the habit of car gauch such things in his emergency dment they gave a promise of in case of a forced landing in Id erness threaded with water s end en with a gasp ot of apprehend he ha crawled about the slope fully retrieving the scattered tas s of cord that had been cut hla his wrists and ankles es the ot of them were only a fe few w feet ath but ho he had bad proof enough air strength and when knot gether they would provide him a fish line that might land any from an inconnu to a alve d at gave him the courage to b the rocky ledge behind him examine hla his island there was th enough about him he saw ake a shelter of some sort rth enough for firewood and the ing of fish and along the orly shore whore where the slopes endi meadows his gaze came st at on a wide field of bulrushes bul rushes gave him new hope was alone in an empty world as he be stood straight on his lone ige dge of rock he told himself that adent yet reached the end of his a 0 embattled and odd looking es groped their way northward een the muskegs muskets and the rocky acks that stretched out to the ine ne beyond lake Avi kaka each carried a rifle and a cartridge that bristled with shells each further burdened down with a let et roll and a grub bag from waist of one dangled a beltrom from the waist of the other S g a skillet and tea pall ey y went on stoically slapping 1 lack ack files and mosquitoes until iness overtook them and a low sun told them it was timo to t t a day then they made camp d their bacon and flapjacks flap jacks ted led their mosquito bars and I 1 up in their worn and smoke id ed tour four pointers en morning came they broke and once more hit the trall saw the sun climb higher in leavens eavens and the tha muskegs muskets be fewer as they advanced into try of bolder rock ridges with of tamarack along their ern slopes they saw the shad lengthen and the light once thin out and once more they camp and slept and pushed lain ere on the proper trall trail all 1 observed minty as he mount knoll and surveyed the sur ling ng landscape theres the water lake I 1 skirted on my bacat baa 11 leres eres been folks here before asserted zeke pointing to scrub spruce had been cut the hill slope om em the first crack out 0 tats said ald minty 1 I had a queer about that two eyed swan I 1 knew lie he edgin to this district of ours for any en whys ghys he here ats ata what im a agoan goin to find retorted the grizzled old before he gits another 1 shot at my carcass as as they were circling cau y along the westerly arm of ke ike that zeke stopped short on e ec crest rest that ended in a deep bayou for moored close in a CUB cliff there he saw the ed d and sun bleached wings of tte e lats its the snowball snow ball bau baby was 1 3 sudden adden exclamation ats s landys old crate au all agreed the perplexed zeke wheres our 0 puddle jumper y still hesitated in their ap r but cu finally anally over t th them when they found no ere after invading its cab ey regarded each other tor for a it t of at wence NA J wa A it ill if they want to do it injun styls style said blanty its ita okay with roe me 1 I dont like the look 0 ad this zeke finally asserted chances are hes scout ln round 0 on n foot maintained minty manty as he bo c clambered lamb ered ashore but zeke who remained to assess the cabins contents shook a dubious head theres grub and extra gas in there he reported when he rejoined his companion theres even blankets and fly nets and one a 0 them newfangled new tangled air mattresses then see him hea headen dirk back here pronto minty persisted but at the end of an hours wait the azure of his optimism was shad owed by a cloud or two Some things happened to that boy averred zeke as his old eyes once onca more swept the silent rock ridges then its up to us to roost here and keep on an eye on an his plane was suggestion 1 I dont like the wee idee 0 that ship anchored close in here where any outsider could climb aboard said zeke where she ought to be Is out in the middle a 0 thal tha take lake with a quarter mile 0 water between her and shore howd you git her there asked minty as he studied the plane 1 I always had a h hanker an kerin ln tor for knowin how to handle one 0 them contraptions and right now that hank bank crin Is ngern ever but zeke had his own ideas about the matter 1 I could float her out and anchor her there with a couple 0 rock slabs tied to her lines iines he explained then shed be ba where no one could sneak up on her and howd you git back demanded minty id blow up that air mattress ot of lindes and paddle ashore and when our bush hawk shows back ho he can ari sail out to her in the same way Sl ln he dont show back then men its up to us said zeke to fineout keepin him away from a ship hed never desert of his own tree free will but the shifting of the snowball snow ball to its pow new berth was no easy matter and even with the plane safely anchored in mid lake zekea troubles were not over the inflated air mattress from the first proved a precarious craft when halfway to shore in fact zeke lost his balance and went overboard with anxious eyes watching his struggles as he be floundered about and anally resumed his perch on the little raft of rubber minty standing guard on his rock point knew what would be needed and needed at once he dropped his bis rifle and lost no time in gathering wood and starting a fere the names flames were roaring by the time the wet and bedraggled zeke crawled up the shore slope his teeth were wera chattering and his language was blasphemous ph emous quit cussin 11 admonished minty and git out a 0 them clothes before they chill you to the bone zekes aekes shirt was dry by the time he was ready to drink his tea and his ill temper had departed by the time the dignity of clothing was restored to hla his sinewy old body we cant squat round these embers no longer ho he announced what weve got lo 10 0 o do Is sleuth out them white skinned manches Co whore mus muscling clin in on our domain lead me to lem cm said minty as he be shouldered his pack and took up his bis rifle but zeke at the moment was busy mounting a nearby near by ridge he stood scanning the blue misted slopes between him and the lowering sun he squinted long and closely at the wooded crest across a wide valley studded with glacial hardheads hard heads and as he looked he saw a puff of smoke bloom for a moment against the hilltop hill top spruce gloom at the same vine time a bullet whined over hla his head his reaction to that was automatic he dropped to the far side of the ridge where he lay shouting tor for minty to get under cover but min aln ty disregarded that advice he stood with hla his rifle at half arm studying the wooded crest across the valley but the whine of a second bullet sent him ducking behind the shelter of a hardhead they want figh fightlin tin eh eb he cried alt cs he leveled hla his rifle along the stone top well git it plenty aplenty a st but after a two man council ot of war they realized that closing in on the enemy was wait not so simple as it might seem ill if they want to do it injun style said bald minty its if okay with me theres no reason why two cant play at that game but dodgin round rock corners aint gain to find alan zeke protested and our first job Is to git trace a 0 that boy if they declined to retreat however they made their advance a more circuitous one when nightfall came they quartered off at an angle advancing craftily from rock shadow to rock shadow their old eyes searching every ridge slope and hollow but they encountered no sign of life when weariness overtook them one would sleep for two hours while the other kept watch 1 I dont like this lull in things observed zeke as hit he blinked about the silent ridges makes me suspicion them swan hunters might be putten something over on us let em try it barked minty after a took look into his cartridge chamber zekea weathered old face remained troubled but while were through these empty pine woods and in our personal appetite for lead st ingin they might be back brackin to snowball snow now ball baby and I 1 dont want 0 a see anything happen to that boys ship it wont averred minty manty while ive still got a trigger to pull 11 then my vote said zeke goes goe to gittin back to that plane and stand ln watch there until alan shows up minty adjusted his blanket roll and tightened his belt 1 I reckon youre right for once he conceded seated on the barren shore of his sub arctic island alan slade knew a recurring pang of despair much sharper than any pain in his bia abused body his first task he told himself was to take in the circle of his bia world the only world that remained to him his steps grew steadier as he mounted the shore chore slope and worked his hie way up to one of the tha bolder ridge crests from that vantage point he be carefully studied his island that island he be found was not so large as it had first seemed so far as he could see it was empty of animal life and this seemed confirmed as he explored its irregular shoreline along the rockier shore to the east where he had hoped to stumble on driftwood he found nothing beyond a tangle of bleached boles and branches the best of them little thicker than a caribou prong they were useful only as a reserve of firewood fl the thought of a fire reminded him th that atone one of his first needs was a shelter chelte r of some come kind he knew the north too well to nurse much fear of marauding ma animals ant mals more than wandering bear or wolf his enemies there would be the voracious arctic mosquito and the black fly that left a burning ring of poison about 13 bite Un under derone one of the higher crests he found a rock jut with an overhanging up lip that made a shallow cave the floor of that cave he saw he could bed with dried moss and sedge grass the face of it he be could close in ia with loose rocks and a matrix of scrub timber branches from the nearby slopes it would not only protect him from wind and rain but with a smudge fire going in its en trance it would be a defense against mosquitoes and black illes flies it would for the time being be his home to it he carried his beef tin and his bis chocolate his sheath knife and his bis precious little calof can of fi ds shooks hooks together with every carefully salvaged toot foot of the equally precious cord that had been cut from his wrists and ankles for on those strands of cord he remembered might yet hang bang his hope of deliverance witt with the evening coo coolness hess deepening around hin him he fuli ma ha need of a fire he regretted not having an ax TO td BE CONTINUED |