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Show ft CPVPIGHT BOBBS MERRIU. CO. 0 CHAPTER XII Continued. 14 Lund took swift inventory, lining them up as thoy cume timorously out of the water or struggled against the cliff nt his order. Tamada had come down from ttie fires. Peggy had told of his share, and Sandy's timely shout Lund nodded at him In a friendly manner. "You're a white man, Tamada," he said. "You, too, Sandy. I'll not fur-pet fur-pet it. Italney, round up these derelicts dere-licts an' help Tamada tlx 'em up. I'll scttla with 'em later. Hansen, put the rest of 'em to work, an' keep 'em to it 1 Do you hear? They got to do the work of the whole bunch." Lund turned to the two hunters who bad stood apart. "Wnl, you yellow-bellied neutrals," he said, his voice cold and his eyes hutd. "Thought I might lose, and !:or.ed so, didn't you? Pick up that e'.:.ink Benle an' tote him aboard. Then come back an' go to work, you'll git yore shares, but you'll not git that's comln' to those who stood by. -Now git out of my signt. You can V'ury That when you come back." He nodded nt the sodden corpse of IVming, flung up on the grit. "You can take yore pay as grave diggers out of what you owe him at poker. He ain'- goin' to collect, this trip." pniipav lame and sore, helped Tamada Ta-mada patch up the wounded, turning the hunters' quarters into a sick bay, using the table for operation. Beale was the worst off, but Tamada pronounced pro-nounced him not vitally damaged. After he had finished with them he Insisted upon Ralney's lying, face down, on the table, stripped to the waist, while he nibbed him with oil nnd then kneaded him. Once he gave a sudden, twisting wrench, and Italney saw a blur of stars as something snapped iuto place with a click. "I think you soon all right, now," said Tamada. "You and Miss SImms turned the tide," said Rainey. "If they'd got these tools first they'd have finished us In short order." "Fools 1" said Tamada. "Suppose they kill Lund, how they get away? No one to navigate. Presently the gunboat would find them. I think Mr. Lund will maybe trust me now," he said quietly. "What do you mean?" "Mr. Lund think in the back of his head I arrange for that gunboat to come. He cannot understand how they know the schooner at island, ne think to come jus' this time too much curious, I think." "It was a bit of a coincidence." Tamada shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I think Japanese government know a'l that goes on in North Polar region," re-gion," he said. "There is wireless station sta-tion on Wrnniell Island. We pass by that pretty cloe." , Ralney c'.iewed that Information as he put on his clothes, wondering if they had sren the last of the pnnboat. They would have to pass south through Bering strait. It would be easy to overhaul them, halt Ti0m, search the schooner, confiscate the gold. They were not out of trouble yet. Whn he went into the cabin to replace re-place his torn coat he had hardly a button Intact above the waist, from jacket to undershirt he found the plrl th-re with Lund. Apparently, they had just come In. Peggy Klmms, with face aglow with the excitement that had not subsided, was proffering Lund her pistol. "Keep It," he said. "You may need It. I've got mine." "But you threw It Into the water. I saw you." "No," He laughed. "That wasn't my gun. They thought It was. I wanted to bring the tldng to gr'ps. But I wasn't fool enough to chuck awa my gun. That was n wrench I was usin' this mornln' to fix the cabin stove looks jest like an ottermatic. 7 stuck It In rny Inside pocket. I was ha'f a mind to shoot when they showed their knives, but I didn't want to use rny gun on that mess of hash." lie stood tall and broad above her, looking down at the face that was raised to his. Ralney. unnoticed as yet. saw her eyes bright with admiration. admira-tion. "Yon are a wonderful fighter," she snld softly. "Wonderful? What about you? A man's woman! You saved the dny. Comln' to me with them drills. An' we licked 'em. We. God !" He swept her up Into his arms, lifting lift-ing her In his big hands, making no more of her than If she had been n feither pillow, up till her face was on a level with his, pressing her close, v.hlle In swift. Indignant rage she fought hack at him, striking futllely while he held her. kissed her, and set her down as Italney sprang forward. Lund si-emed utterly unconscious of the girl's revulsion. "Comln' to me with the drills!" he snld. "We licked 'em. You an' me together. to-gether. My woman !" Peggy SImms had leaped bn''k, her pyps h'nzlng. Lund came for her, his face lit with the desire of lier. arms onfprend. hands open. Before Ralney conld fl'ng nminelf between them, the Ijlrl had sentcned the little pistol that Lund had set on the table and fired point-blank. She seemed to have missed, though Lund halted, his mouth agape, astounded. "You big bully !" said Ralney. Now that the time had come he found that he was not afraid of Lund, of his gun, of his strength. "Play fair, do you? Then show It ! You asked me once why I didn't make love to her. I told you. But you, you foul-minded bully ! All you think of Is your big body, to take what it wants. "Peggy. Will you marry me? I can protect you from this hulking brute. If It's to be a show-down between you and me," he flared at Lund, still gazing as if stupefied, "let It come now. Peggy?" The gir, tears on her cheeks that were bom from the sobs of anger that had shaken her, swung on him. "You?" she said, and Italney wilted under the scorn in her voice. "Marry you?" She began to laugh hysterically, trying to check herself. "I didn't mean you enny harm," said Lund slowly, addressing Peggy. "Why, I wouldn't harm you. gai. You're my woman. You come to me. I was jes? jest sorter swept off my bearin's. Why," he" turnel to Italney, his voice down-pitching to a growl of angry contempt, con-tempt, "you pen-shoven' whippersnap-per, whippersnap-per, I c'ud break you In ha'f with one hand. You ain't her breed. But" his voice changed again "if It's a show-down, all right. "If I was to fight you. over her, rd kill you. D'ye think I don't respect u good gal? D'ye think I don't know how to love a gal right? She's my mate. Not yours. But It's up to you, Peggy Simms. I didn't mean to insult you. An' if you want him why it's up to you to choose between the two of us," She went by Ralney as If he had not existed, straight into Lund's arms, her face radiant, upturned. "It's you I love, Jim Lund," she said. "A man. My man." As her arms went round his neck she gave a little cry. "I wounded you," she said, and the tender concern of her struck Ralney to the quick. "Quick, let me see." "Wounded, h 11!", laughed Lund. "D'ye think that popgun of yores c'ud rgii fi-f i'x r '-' "'' She Seemed to Have Missed, Though Lund Halted, His Mouth Agape, Astounded. stop me? The pellet's somewheres In my shoulder. Let It bide. By find, yo're my woman, after nil. Lund's Luck !" Ralney went up on deck with that ringing In bis ears. His humiliation wore off swiftly as he crossed back toward the beach. By the time he crossed the promontory he even felt relieved at the outcome. lie was not in oe with her. lie had known that when he Intervened. Me had not even told her so. Ills chivalry bad spoken not his heart. And his thoughts strayed back to California. The other girl, Diana though she was. would never, In almost one breath, hnve shot and kissed the man she loved. A lingering linger-ing vision of Peggy SImms' beauty as she had gone to Lund remained nnd faded. "Lund's right," he told himself. "She's not of my breed." CHAPTER XIII. Lund's Luck Lnnd glanced nt the geyser of spray where the shell from the pursuing gun-bont gun-bont hnd fallen short, nnd then nt the bnnk of ndst abend. They were In the narrows of Bering strait, lietweon the Cnpe of Charles nnd ITInce Kdward's point, the gold aboard, n full wind In their sails, making eleven knots to the gunboat's fifteen. The grcnt curtnln of fog wns a mile ahead. The last KIkHI had fallen two hundred ynrds short. Five minutes more would settle It. Hansen had the wheel. Lund stood by the taffrall, his ami about Peggy Simms. He Shook a fist at the gunboat, vomiting black smoke from her funnel, foam about her bows. "We'll bent 'em yet," he cried. The next shell, with more elevation, whined parallel with them, sped ahead, and smashed tnto the waves. "Hold yore course, Hansen 1 No time to zigzag, (kit to chance it. D n it, they know how to shoot !" A missile had gone plump through main and foresails. leaving round holes to mark the score. Another fairly struck the main topmast, and soma splinters came rattling down, while the remnants of the top-sail flapped amid writhing ends of halyard and sheet. The'y entered the beginning of the fog, curling wisps of it reached out, twining over the bnwsprlnt and head-sails, head-sails, enveloping the foremast, swallow. Ing the schooner as a hurtling shell crashed Into the stem. The next Instant In-stant the mist had sheltered them. Lund released the girl' nnd jumped to the wheel. "Now then." he shouted, "we'll fool 'em !" He gripped the spokes, and the men ran to the sheet3 at command while the Karluk shot off at right angles to her previous course, skirting the fog that blanketed the wind but yet allowed sufficient breeze to filter through to give them headway, gliding like a ghost on the new tack to the east. Ralney, tense from the explosion of the sheli, jumped below at last and came back exultant. "It was a dud, Lund !" he shouted. "Or else they didn't want to blow us up on account o' the gold. But they've wrecked the ea'.iln. The fog's coming In through th hole they made. Tama-da's Tama-da's galley's gone. It's raked the schooner f" "So long's it's above the water line, to h II with it! We'll make oat. Listen to the. fools. They've gone In after us, strnlg'it on." The booming of the gunboat's forward for-ward battery sounded aft of then, dulled by the fcg growing fainter. "Lund's Luck : We've dodged 'em !" "They'll be waiting for us at the passes," said Italney. "They've got the speed on us. 1 "Let 'em wait. To blazes with the Aleutians ! Iv?ady again there for a tack ! Sou'-t'ust now. We'll work through this till we git to the wind ag'ln. It's nil blue water to the Seward peninsula. We're bound for Nome." "For Nome?" asked Peggy SImms. "Nome, Po??y! An American port. The nearest harbor. An' the nearest i preacher !" I (TTH-J END) |