Show lip Ii 4 1 Vanished Men r o A a t Penn Publishing Cd Co By GEORGE MARSH v V l U. U Service ce THE TilE STORY SO FAR Bound Hound for the gold cold country six men lost their lives Uvel on the river Red Malone Garrett Finlay brother of one of the six and Blaise breed half guide le arrive e at posing as surveyors r t She was so natural Finlay groaned inwardly so terrible real And her story seemed so straight But ut that was just the bait to catch the mouse Poor Red and Blaise What have I done to them r With a shiver he brushed her from is s thoughts Shame and chagrin g Vanished With his 45 covering the l. l of the last sound it was another man who la lay there a cold fighting man who waited like a cornered cornered cor- cor wolverine for a movement in int ine t e scrub Evidently from the fact that they had not shot him on the beach their Iad intention was to o take him alive a aJ Brush snapped behind him His Hist Hist t t eyes flashed back but saw nothing They hey hey had him surrounded but could not reach him without drawing his hist hise t fire F- F e so were playing safe For minutes min min- min min- utes s he lay rigid listening Presently his roving eyes caught lutes the e green plumes of a young spruce i shivering as if touched by wind aut there was no wind The spruce stop t p moved into the notched rear 1 sight of the 45 Again the spruce quivered ered and Finlay glimpsed a pair Hof o glittering eyes in a swart face Like glass splintered by a hammer i the uthe rang b of the 45 crashed on the silence of the bush I There was no face behind the spruce I One gone Finlay muttered inching swiftly around to cover his rear 1 I He was just in time From behind I the boll of a pine Jack-pine eyes roved the undergrowth seeking his tion Finlay lined his sights Then the full face and a shoulder edged i into view I Flambeau I I Again the forest rocked with the thunder of the 45 There was a 4 scream scream scream followed by a stillness so int intense intense in- in t tense nse it hurt the ear Then the liquid notes of a chickadee broke brake I the spell I. I Two gone But the jaws of the trap were closing ng on the hunted man His firl fir- fir jling l ping g had marked his position He must must move Quick Flat on his chest We he hunched to the sanctuary of another another anther an- an other ther spruce 1 From K From th three ee sid sides s c came m the snap snap- nap ping iping of twigs as the hunters closed tin in on on the hidden quarry The eyes of of f the trapped man blazed with the fighting flame frame of a beast at bay His nerves were ice as he knelt patching in three directions for the I rush Tush that was coming Suddenly there were yells and a Thrashing in the brush But the con- con 1 man would not be stampeded H i- i into showing himself Then a ring of f men simultaneously rushed a few yards to fade flattened to the earth But one never moved again yA yi A slug from the 45 had drilled his forehead fl Three gone close in now muttered P inlay The next one will reach me Then five men flung themselves at him He found the white head of Tete-Blanche Tete and the 45 flamed j Again it roared They reached him fand and he fired point-blank point into a grimacing grimacing grim- grim facing acing face The face burst into a bloody y mask With his heavy gun 5 he e bludgeoned bludgeoned- a ablack black head that dove d ve at him Free he stumbled back and swung at another As he Laid idid there was a blinding flash of light in his eyes He sagged to his hism knees then to the earth m 11 C CHAPTER APTER X I WAt 1 At intervals in Finlay's brain flickered a dim consciousness of his y surroundings Through blurred thoughts filtered the sound of voices r only to die away For time and again gain agam the dull pounding in his head drove him back into the abyss But Butr gradually r- r he groped his way through the mental twilight and was aware f f his splitting head and of an indefinable indefinable in- in definable torture Sharp pains sliced through his upper arms and legs He tried to move but his hands and feet i were were iere numb Something held him dike 1 e a vise With difficulty Finlay peered through rough the cracks between his puffed eyelids He was on the lip lipof lipof of a bog lashed to a trimmed spruce sapling apling For a time he stared stupidly stu stu- p idly at the four men with rifles watching him Then into his dazed brain shot the memory of the fight n the shore So they had clubbed jum im from behind It seemed long fl very sago st ago very go-very very long ago I They had him lashed hand and f foot ot with rawhide thongs the victim vic- vic tim m of clouds of black flies that hovered hovered around him like smoke 1 What would they do Shoot him or orl Cleave l ave him to be stung to death by the Uhe e flies and mosquitoes Men had hied led that way in swamps He heard again the crash of his 45 and his tortured lips twisted in a smile It had ad been a fight while it lasted J Hed H Hed He'd d got three perhaps four Cour They'd heYd remember that But the man Ahe fhe he wanted whom hed he'd promised Bob Bobi j i l hed he'd get stood there with a leer on his hi hideous face face under der its thatch of white hair Hed He'd missed td ete Beside him were Bache Bae Ba- Ba che e and two others one abow- abow a bow bow- I egged dwarf with the darting eyes of a mink mink Tetu II INSTALLMENT NINE Finlay receives an anonymous letter suggesting that the six men were not I drowned as reported Suspicion prevails I that Isadore rich fur man has made a 11 agold agold gold old strike and alms aims to keep prospectors out of the country at any cost The three a How you like fly surveyor taunted Tete he start to make hees music soon and you swell up like poison dog There was laughter from the three breeds Finlay's face neck and arms were stippled with blood On his head was wasa a lump left by the clubbed gun His eyes were almost closed You win Finlay groaned You win now but tell Isadore that a police police police po po- lice plane is due here from Ottawa in September Mounted Police Ever hear of them You win now but you'll hang before the snow flies Think that over The four breeds exchanged startled startled startled star star- looks Then Tete-Blanche Tete stood over the man lashed to the spruce The feral eyes in his grotesque face with its broken nose glittered Finlay Finlay Finlay Fin- Fin lay had seen such eyes in a trapped wolf Tree good men you shoot he snarled Now you pay for fordem dem deml demlA 1 A wave of exultation beat through the man who was about to die He had made them pay Death held little terror He had looked it full fullin fullin fullin in the eyes before But in the slow hours of unspeakable torture that awaited him he faced an end of which he had never dreamed An icy sweat burst from his body But what lay in his heart these men should never see He squinted through the slits which were now his C CI I r t tr r z 2 r 1 ail t I r What would they do eyes at the venomous face of Tete- Tete Blanche and said I wanted you handsome for myself myself myself my my- self Now the get you Its It's too bad to soil an honest rope Tete-Blanche Tete thrust his leering face close to The pupils of his eyes dilated like those of a snake You get de kiss from fly and now not de woman he jeered Feen- Feen lee He made a mocking bow We Wesee Wesee Wesee see you in de mornin You swell up good by den Look like beeg fat fatman fatman fatman man jo Bo I wish you sleep good 1 The breed waved his hand across Finlay's face On the the little finger was a ring of hammered gold Bobs ring A storm of hate beat through the man trussed to the tree He strained desperately against the thongs that held him but Tete-Blanche Tete had done his work well As they left Batoche struck Finlay Fin Fin- lay in the mouth Dat ees for Joe Flambeau Blood burst from Finlay's split lips as he flung back Sorry I missed you you yellow dog Garry Finlay was alone with the horror of the coming night He gazed through his fast closing eyes at the rose afterglow above him Last sunset Last twilight Garry he muttered He filled his lungs with th the sweet spruce-sweet air and looked long at the black silhouettes of tree treetops treetops treetops tops etched on the horizon Slow death from poisoning and shock Slow Slow death death He was young and life was good But it was over now He peered hungrily at the fading flush in the sky Last evening Garry He thought of the loyal Red and Blaise anxiously hunting the shore of his family y and of the grave on the Waswanipi Two of us now Bob BobI he groaned Hes got your ring I I saw it Two instead of one Bob and andI I promised to get Tete-Blanche Tete for you Again and again he wrenched at atthe atthe atthe the thongs on his wrists until his lacerated skin and the throb of his head stopped him Sergeant Garrett Garrett Garrett Gar- Gar I rett Finlay of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police lost on duty Lost neglecting his duty I begged for forthe forthe forthe the detail and I got it And this is what Ive I've done with it walked it-walked walked into a trap with my eyes open Forgot duty and a clean record for a lying cheat of a girl Red Blaise he pleaded Forgive me for Cor what Ive I've done to you men start out on the and visit Isadore in his magnificent home where they meet LIst Lise his pretty step step- daughter In response to her desperate plea for aid Finlay meets her secretly After she left gunmen attack him if Under the he lash of his remorse Finlay Finlay Finlay Fin- Fin lay grew numb to the stings that were fast poisoning his blood Then Thena a sound back in the bush silenced him Shortly he called Come and finish it you bush rats They had returned If he could only taunt them to cutting it all short with a bullet handsome white-haired white boy comes back he jeered And the eyed cross-eyed Batoche who was bitten in the face by a rabbit But his answer from the scrub was a mad yelp and the snapping of brush as a dog burst from the bushes stopped gazed in doubt at atthe atthe atthe the huddled figure approached and sniffed at the man who spoke to him I then in a delirium of whines and caresses threw himself on the master master master mas mas- I ter he loved Flame God bless your old bones You followed their trail from the shore Boy Im I'm glad to see your whiskered map again Frantic with joy the dog nuzzled Garry's tortured face and neck Hope flowed through Finlay as water water wa wa- water ter through a burst dam With Flame there was a chance Flame would never leave him If he could only get the airedale to chew through the thongs that bound his wrists Wheres Red Flame Red and Blaise They turned you loose to hunt for me but where where- A distant shot stopped him He listened while the dogs dog's soothing tongue licked the blood on his face and head Red signalling or else theres there's a fight on Like a madman Finlay battled with his thongs They gave slightly and the blood loo be began n to ease into into his n numb hands Then the long hours mat Sergeant Finlay had spent on the education of an airedale puppy began began began be be- gan to bear fruit Fearing that some day he might be stolen and tied up Finlay had taught the dog to chew through any rope leather leash or raw-hide raw that held him pris pris- oner After much coaxing Garry managed managed managed man man- aged to focus the dogs dog's attention on his bound wrists Shortly Flame was licking the thongs as well as Finlay's hands Eat it up Its It's good good good-good good chow for dogs Chew it It tastes good coaxed Flame the man endlessly while his dog licked the thongs and the swollen forearms Then Flame hooked a long fang under a loop and tugged at it the dog Eat it up Flame urged the man battling desperately against time Gradually the airedale seemed to comprehend It was a game they were playing and he liked the taste of the fresh hide At last the dog lay down behind the bound man and with his great grinders jammed against Finlay's wrists began to chew at the knots the dog Chew it up Spurred by his masters master's approval and relishing the taste of the hide as ashe ashe ashe he would a bone the airedale chewed through two key knots A last heave and Finlay's numbed hands were free In his joy he shook like grass inthe in inthe inthe the wind Again life beckoned as a fire camp-fire to a man lost at night inthe in inthe inthe the bush He laughed now at the black cloud of his tormentors which once meant a n slow death He I laughed at Tete-Blanche Tete at Isadore Hed He'd come back from the grave Weve V ve licked em em Flame he panted Bless your old hide youve you've done it boy I Hugging the dogs dog's wriggling body Finlay crushed his face against the scarred skull I Ilove Ilove Ilove love every hair of your old carcass he crooned Ill have my feet clear in a minute but you'll have to lead me to the shore Im I'm stone blind When his numbed legs could carry hun hirn Flame led him by a thong over the back track to the shore Headlong Headlong Headlong Head Head- I long into the cool water plunged man and dog maddened by the lance- lance like thrusts which had stippled their bodies with welts Oh this is good Flame Laving Laving Laving Lav Lav- ing his burning arms and face Finlay Finlay Finlay Fin- Fin lay wallowed with grunts of relief inthe in inthe inthe the comforting water Im puffed up like a poisoned pig Flamey old socks But weve we've whip-sawed whip this s Tete-Blanche Tete you and I. I Well We'll meet again some day and when we do therell there'll be lead in the air He laughed bitterly A A distant shot cut him short Hear that Must be Red and Blaise hunting for us Answer em Flame Flamel Ive I've lost my gun Its It's Red Redl Tell em were we're here herel The airedales airedale's brittle bark floated through the murk settling on the lake Then Red hailed Finlay answered and shortly the Peterboro slid up to the man lying in the shallow water of the shore happened to you Garry cried the alarmed Red leaping from the canoe and bending over the man soaking in the water What are you lying there for Garry You hurt Hello Red You there Blaise Im I'm all right but Ive I've been eaten I alive by bugs Im I'm blind as a dead I fish and Ive I've got a lump on my head like an egg I hate to leave this water even to shake hands with you TO ITO BE CONTINUED D |