Show IVER I IVER WILLIAM ry h hBYRON BYRON z MOWERY J n lI BYRON MOWERY U. SERVICE CHAPTER XVI Continued IG 16 10 lIe He took no chances that the message message mes meso sage might be a fake With the infinite In in- finite caution which had marked every ev eVe ery cry step of his ht negotiations with Warren he the bank directly di dl for tor confirmation and ted also Instructions instruction to an old Winnipeg lawyer who had been his hI friend and his fathers father's friend Within three hours the banks bank's reply reply re reo re- re ply came I DEPOSIT AUTHENTIC STOP MONEY YOURS WITHOUT RESTRICTION I STOP DEPOSIT MADE BY DRAT DRAFT r NOT BY CHECK THEREFORE NO POSSIBILITY OF OP PAYMENT BEING STOPPED I I Toward eight o'clock that evening Corporal Northup came down from I the signal corps station tation bringing Craig the lawyers lawyer's reply The old attorney stated that he had investigated the deposit from very every conceivable angle and that Craig was absolutely safe With Sam and as 81 his bodyguards body guards Craig went across Resurrection Resurrection to Warrens Warren's cabin taking along the claim papers which he had bad been holding ready It was dark by the time they had completed the transaction Across the desk Craig handed banded Warren thelast the thelast last document signed and witnessed wit wit- The lake is now yours Warren he said provided you remember my warning and dont don't play your Joker He turned on his heel and strode out of the cabin With WiLh his two dependable bodyguards bodyguards bodyguards body body- guards he started back across the river A puffy fluffy six inch snow probably probably ably the last of the year had fallen tallen that day but the sky had faired off and on the northwest horizon lingered lin line a beautiful orange afterglow of the sun At his cabin he unlocked the door he he kept his place locked up tight now now and and turned to his two part part- ne ness ners you step down and visit Patricia and tell her the news Stay with her for tor a cup of tea tea tea-she's she's having having hav have ing lag a lonesome time of it these I days Sam you go down to the Den Denand Denand Denand and send up half a dozen men to watch my cabin while the dark lasts It'll only be two or three hours I want to be guarded every minute till Warren and his outfit have pulled up and left Dont Don't tell the men anything about this deal Ill I'll tell em myself He went inside his cabin barred the door stepped across to io his table and lit a candle As the tiny flame fiame flickered tUckered and brightened he heard a slight noise behind him a him a scraping sound like the shuffle of ot a shoe pac shoe pac on the slab lab floor Somebody was in his cabin His hand shot down to the black automatic in his hf table drawer He grabbed out the weapon and whirled around As he whirled a heavy beavy stick sUck of stove tove wood came careening out of ot the darkness semidarkness and crashed him full in the face tace breakIng breakIng breaking break- break Ing his nose breaking out one of his teeth and stunning him like a ahammer ahammer ahammer hammer blow between the eyes From the wood-box wood behind the stove a dark figure leaped up swung at him with wiLh an tipped Iron-tipped ski staff and took him a paralyzing blow on the head He slumped against the table reeling fighting against a horrible hor her blackness that was engulfing him Out of the flickering shadows at atthe atthe the far tar side of his cabin four tour other figures came lunging at him like wolves springing upon a kill and among them were Lupe ml and ml-and mi and With WiLh his last gasp of ot strength Craig lifted the automatic to shoot at those lunging figures but the theman theman man with the ski staff swung again and struck his arm and the gun went clattering halfway across the cabin CHAPTER On the morning after the Chi Chi- trapped Craig a prospector prospector prospector pros pros- came past Patricia's Patricia cabin Have you heard beard the news Miss bliss Pat Theys They's a plane Jlane down here and Smith It left Smith yesterday yesterday yes yes- round ten and should've got gothere gothere gothere here in the afternoon but it aint showed up yet Who was flying it Patricia asked Most of ot the northern pilots were good friends of ot hers and dropped in at her cabin for tor a sociable sociable so so- viable cup of ot tea Lea whenever the they made the Bay Day Pilot Odron was a flying it Him and Mechanic Straus The They jest had one passenger She was this woman that uh uhf they say is Cral Craigs Craig's wife Rosalie Yeh Anyhow that's hat I Ibea bea heard rd Patricia ran up to the Mounted Police Pollee building to find out the truth from Dennis Northup Its It so so Northup Informed her I Rosalie is II with that ship Four planes out of Smith and two out of Rae are hunting for It Odron must've run into that snowstorm yesterday He lie had wireless reports on It and was afraid of it when he left Smith Why on earth did an experienced pilot like Odron ever head into so bad a snowstorm Lovett ordered him to to that's Northup snapped angrily Maybe Odron managed to get let letdown down safe when he hit the storm Dennis Hes He's an good flyer Yes its it's probably lust just a forced landing They'll likely find him somewhere along the route with a broken ski or something like hike that They talked for a few tew about the search earch Presently Northup Northup North North- up asked By Dy the way Patricia Wheres Where's Craig Why at his cabin isn't he heT No and he hes he's not down at the Den have any idea where hes he's gone lie Ito wasn't planning to go anywhere anywhere any any- where that I know about Do you mean mean he hes he's not here at the Lh Bay at atall atall atall all Northup realized that Patricia knew no more than he about Craigs Craig's strange disappearance Not wishing wish ing tog to alarm her when possibly there was no occasion for tor alarm he said casually Craig must be up to something or other I guess he hes he's kept this move completely to himself Patricia thought no more about the matter just lust then but when she got back to her cabin she began wondering where Craig had gone and ard she became uneasy H It he be had planned to leave the Bay Day surely he would have told her Through Po Po- Po- Po leon and Northup he always her informed of ot everything he did and so 0 Craig was entirely safe At mid morning she stepped across to the community house and made Inquiry among the tors None of ot them had seen Craig since the previous evening and Sam were gone also they said IBId The two men had left at dawn without saying where they were go- go Ing This news about Pole on and Sam relieved Patricia considerably They were with Craig she r riB a- a and so Craig was safe The prospectors however were badly upset by Craigs Craig's disappear disappear- ance From some mysterious source a rumor had sprung up that he had sold his radium lake for tor a big price and they were all on edge to know whether the report was true While Patricia was stilling the fears tears of ot the men a plane came winging In from the south and lit litIn litin litin in the mouth of Resurrection Somebody Somebody Somebody Some Some- body called out that the ship was one of ot the Fort Rae searching planes plane Most of ot the prospectors left the Den and hurried down upon the river Patricia went into her office omee watched through the window saw the crowd gather about the ship Pilot Leo opened the cabin door stepped down upon a ski strut Isis Ills shoulders sagged he took off oft his helmet and hung his head as he spoke a few tew words to the nearest men lIes Hes found Odron Patricia cried to herself bowed head bead the awed silence that came over the crowd meant that the news he brought was tragic news In her cabin half an hour later told her about his sorrowful sorrowful sorrow sorrow- ful tul discovery discover after he had reported it to Northup I left Rae at four tour this morning recounted and started north following the Larion river That's That the air route we all take to Great Desolation Id I'd reached the big lake Id I'd come within sight of the Bay and almost stopped hunting when I looked down at a little wooded island and there there there-there there it was The island was waa a mile offshore said and only nine miles south of ot Resurrection lie He had landed landel near nearby taken a short look at the wreckage and then whipped on in to report Flying blind In the snowstorm he be hit square into the pines broke off oft a wing smashed the fuselage and then crashed head on against a little tittle rock wall I found Straus and Rosalie down under those pines pinel where he first hit but Odron Ding Odron was still in hi the ship when it cracked and and and-and and the gas tanks caught and God there wasn't anything left but the black twisted metal work Odron dead Rosalie dead dead Patti Patri Patricia cia could hardly realize It She I could feel no Jo joy in being freed from that hateful injunction Not when wh-o the freedom had cost Rosa Rosalie he ana ono Straus and Odron their lives Near four tour o'clock that afternoon the sled led party which Corporal Northup luCT ched to the wooded island got bark back to Resurrection lion tion bringing their tarpaulin tarpaulin- wrapped burdens After the sensation-seekers sensation had cleared away from the Mounted Police Police Police Po Po- lice building Patricia forced herself herself her her- self to go up there She felt that she had to go aro out of ot a womans woman's rd respect re reo spec for tor another woman out of atonement for the bitter feelings which she had harbored toward the girl who had been Craigs Craig's wife Dennis Northup took her Into the room and pointed at the smaller maller of ot the two biers and silently left lett her Patricia moved over to the bier and looked down at the white-shrouded white figure With WILh a strange sadness inside of her Patricia bent down and lifted the sheet heet away from Rosalie's Rosalie face tace The girl had been spared disfigurement disfigure ment meat in the tragedy She appeared to be lying In a calm peaceful sleep from which she might wake at any InY moment and open her dreamy dreamy- lidded eyes eye and lock up With WiLh the just lust touching her golden hair and throwing a warm light tight across her features she was hauntIngly hauntingly hauntingly haunt- haunt beautiful beautiful beautiful-as as lovely as II the picture pic pie ture of the living girl beside the sundial at her Vancouver home Before turning away she he bent down out of a great pity for tor Rosalie Rosa Rou lie and touched her Ups lips to the girls girl's forehead As she worked in hi her office orrice that evening the prospectors kept coming com corn ing lag to the doorway and Inquiring whether she had heard anything from Craig The question jarred on Patricia Pairicia every time a man asked it All that day as II the hours hour passed paned and Craigs Craig's strange absence lengthened length ened her uneasiness had grown and vague suspicions had bad begun preying on her The sun IUD finally sank lank below the northwest horizon Under the trees outside her window the purple shadows shad own ow deepened From somewhere up the lake shore hore came the eleven eleven- noted hooting of a great Ireat horned homed owL The weird sepulchral call can snapped Patricia's Patricia hold upon herself Flinging Fling ing her work aside she he hurried out of the office out of the Den Ever since dace that nightmare evening evening eve eve- ning up Resurrection when the Chi Chi- had bad come so 0 near murdering murdering mur mur- dering Craig she had known that a sinister shadow badow hung over him Many nights before going to bed she had gone arone up the little hollow I t r X 1 w I f I t h i Why at Ills Cabin Isn't He lie lIeT and seen the dim candle glow through his blanketed window and had been reassured New in her anxiety she slipped back through the dark trees and up toward his cabin hardly knowing why she was going there or what she Intended doing As she passed the granite boulder boulder boul boul- der she was astonished to see the cabin door slightly ajar and a light inside tier Her heart leaped with the thought that Craig was back She flew fiew to the door looked In The person was not Craig but Dennis Northup Over at Craigs Craig's work table he was bending down a flashlight in his hand carefully examining examining ex ex- the floor and a stick of wood near the stove She stepped inside Dennis What're you doing here Northup whirled around Oh Ohl Why hello Patricia Why I I. I uh uh he he snapped off the flash dash and sauntered over toward her her her I I was books book jur jUl bringing back a th Lh lent me bat hat were you looking for there thereon on tIe uie floor Patricia demanded Northup backed up to the table to head her oft of as 81 she tried to go around him and see for tor herself herselL Nothings there Patricia I I. I uh uhf knocked something of off of ot Craigs Craig's table and I was looking to find tind it Please girl youre you're youre you're excited imagining imag image thing ining things I dont don't blame you this thia has haa been a hard day Cay for us all aU Let me take you back to your your your- Patricia seized seised the flash from his bis hand snapped napped it on and before Northup could stop her she had flipped the spot poL of ot light upon the floor where he had been looking For a horrified moment she stared down On the stick tick of wood aid ard on the floor near the table leg lei there were two big bli splotches of ot dark red redAll All right Northup said sharply taking the only ony sensible le course now that youve you've seen n a part of ot It it and the worst part lets let's see it all alii For heavens heaven's sake dont don't Jump lump to any crazy cruy conclusion Give me the tha flash Heres Here's a small stains on the table Theres There's one on the side Ide of the wood wood box And one on on the end nd of that ski std staff talf I found Craigs Craig's automatic lying over there under the edge edle of ot the bunk lie He kept up a rapid fire of talk to draw her thoughts away from those two splotches That ever every scrap and clue due Ive I've discovered here and Ive I've been over this cabin three times I Itoda 1 toda today with wiLh a tooth tine tooth comb You Youcan Youcan Youcan can look around for yourself You dont don't wish All right Want me to ten tell you ou what happened here last lad night All right I willlie will He lie made her sit down in Craigs Craig's chair and drew up another for tr him self selL Patricia was wu white whit and shaky but bu valiantly she he held herself together to toe gether and forced herself not to look at those sinister stains Last night Northup said speaking straight from the shoulder while Sam was Wall down at the Den Denand Denand Denand and was with you ou those thoe Chi Chi- had their chance chanc at Craig The They got into this thi cabin b by Jimmying that north window over there Craig kept the door locked The They were Inside when he ha came cam In They Ther must have got in while Craig was across the river signing those thoe papers In spite of these splotches rm Tm convinced they ther didn't kin kill Craig Crata Lovett hasn't the nerve to go aro that far tar Another reason Craig saved life With Lupe L that wouldn't count for much but those other four tour would probably balk at outright murder Ill ID tell you what did die happen here last night They Ther overpowered Craig after a fight that'd fight that'd explain those blood Ita stains Ins for tor all an we know it may be blood blood I I Isay say they overpowered him and frisked him hint away from the Da Bay They've got him bun somewhere holding hold ing lag him a prisoner That explains why they've disappeared too Patricia's Patricia black cloud of fear lifted a little She believed Northup's North North- ups up's argument lie He spoke as one ona who knew As for |