Show 7 3 f STRINGER CHAPTER I 1 landys Lin dys int cruger at his desk heard that cry from a ground worker passing the open window ile he smiled as he looked up from his time r sheet sh ee t there was always a note of triumph in the call of the port boys when lindy came in cruger got up from his chair and crossed to the doorway where the sunlight fell flat against the river slopes and proclaimed that spring had come again to the north country he stood there until he caught sight of his long legged bush pilot swinging up from the landing dock cruger went back to his desk and his floure stippled time sheets as the long legs strode into what was known as the administration building of norland airways it was a place of plain boards and tar paper with only the two poles of its radio antennae to crown it with any passing sense of dignity slade when he stepped into the map hung office again made cruger think of a panther but this time it was a panther in a cage he seemed too big for the room im glad you swung back v k early said cruger and I 1 want to tell you first crack out of the box that were going to take the crepe off the door what does that mean questioned slade cruger instead of answering took up an official looking envelope before we begin he casually observed better give this the once over he surrendered the envelope you know what it is 11 ive an idea said slade after in inspecting s pecking the insignia youre a quick jumper arent you retorted cruger his eye on the weathered young face that held a touch of discontent somewhere slades smile was wide yet noncommittal they yelp for flyers he said and while yelping th they ey turn tum rn me down he got up fro from m the safe and paced the narrow floor 1 I must be bad crugers brugers Cru gers shrug was a condoning one id say its because youre good he parried good enough to be needed right here on this northern run and those tin hats happen to know you hold a key position slade turned on him did anyone in this outfit broadcast that just to block my enlistment was his indignant demand again cruger shrugged who are we to interfere with the war office it ought to be big enough to make its own decisions but slade blade seem to hear him they hot air about wanting men whore hard trained and resourceful well I 1 ought to ring in on that ive kept more than one lemon crate up when every law of aeronautics said it ought to be down youre resourceful all right acceded cruger but be in clink with a broken heart after two weeks of army rules id learn said slade along with the other leathernecks leather necks but all move too slow for you contended cruger that fight look slow to me and I 1 ought to be over there while the shows still on cruger smiled the smile of a man with an extra shot in his locker there was a time he observed 1 when bush lying flying seemed to stack pretty high with you but if you cant get a little excitement cit ement in your days work slade blade was saying you may as well ell give up and you said two weeks ago wed have to before we go into that retorted cruger we ought to check up on the e all round dullness of this bush run of ours I 1 spose there was no excitement in that mercy flight of yours to murray day bay when you picked icken up those two frozen huskies or or in finding your flying padre when lie he was stymied on lac de gras last winter with a busted propeller and a factors wife in labor and delirious with hu flu all at once slade had his own memories of that event but his smile remained morose she had her baby in the plane tour four feet behind me high tailing it for the fort smith hospital he acknowledged the nose over on the lake ice gave doc a bad arm so his girl lynn had to get busy the softened note on the name did not escape cruger but he let slade go on she knew what was needed all right when we were swinging over lessor lesser slave lake I 1 heard that baby give its first squawk but you saved two lives you I 1 suppose there any excitement cl cit in that the shrill of the desk phone cut off slades impending response and while cruger answered the phone the man in the flyers dyers jacket walked to the window and looked out beyond the rough boarded hangar and the landing docks he could see the friendly cluster of planes on the anye nye of 4 V T im glad you swung back early said cruger were going to take ta the crepe off the door but what held his eye the lon longest crest was the smaller blue monoplane that looked faded and weathered and sadly the worse for wear that he knew was the plane of the flying padre the mercy and man of medicine who was sometimes known as the grenfell of the outer gulf and in it the padres daughter had gone along as pilot and helper but never again slade remembered would the clear eyed lynn take over the controls while her tired father held back the hand of death two thousand feet above the lake spangled barrens that he surmised was already a thing of the past cruger as he hung up his receiver caught the passing look of raptness in the viking blue eye its just about as big a game lindy as a man could get into he said out of the silence its still as good as dog fighting messer and were both going to s tay stay in it slade swung about and faced his partner that the tune you were singing two weeks ago crugers brugers Cru gers laugh was slightly defiant they had us backed against the wall two weeks ago I 1 told you our shoestring was wearing thin and we buck the big companies anther another month but norland airways is is going to stay on the map slades blades face lost its diffidence changed the picture crugers brugers Cru gers answer to that was not a direct one weve both got all we own in this one horse outfit and we cant afford to see it fold up while you were out fighting head winds ive been in here doing doffid a little fighting of my own and ive just got my hands on a reconditioned lockheed give us a second air truck and release abbott and his Post craft for winnipeg and toronto passenger traffic like that lockheed slapped a fresh coat of aluminum paint on her What ll she carry asked the flyer A pay load of thirty thousand pounds a trip if she has to cherell Wh erell you get your pay loads exacted slade remembering how war conditions had put a sag in sub arctic mine work im coming to that stick giggler the traffics still there if youre willing to go after it and ive gone after it ive underbid under bid the big outfits and corralee corr aled enough business to keep us busy till freeze up ive got fort norman oil and a new slice of the yellowknife stuff for you ive got a of the copper mine contract and more ive got a santa claus in spectacles chos handing over enough ready dough to keep our cash tank from running dry the viking blue eye became more alert chos your santa claus hes a passenger said cruger 1 youre going to fly into territory make london look like a tearoom on a rainy afternoon cruger sat back apparently waiting for a question but slade with his world to reorganize merely walked to 0 the window and looked out youre flying cruger was saying into the Ana Anaw watto otto co country antry slades turn at that information was quick what NT qt nuts going into that wilderness der ness he demanded they go into some queer places these days observed the older roan man but the Anaw ottos as empty as sahara why the only human beings north of the kamakana Kas akana are two frostbitten frost bitten old quartz tn two half demented old derelicts who dhove ve been bushed for three years and would bump off if I 1 tote e em m in their flour and sowbelly youre going well past the kasa kana this time cruger announced into country youve never seen before for what asked slade cruger took his time about answering for swans eggs I 1 understand slades sun bleached brows came a little closer together just what does that mean again cruger took his time it means weve got a simpleminded naturalist out there an ornithologist nith answering to the name of frayne who wants to be flown north so he can find the breeding ground of the trumpeter swan I 1 never saw a trumpeter swan did you slade stood thoughtful a moment yes I 1 saw a trumpeter only last spring I 1 played tag with him over lac la martre ile he must have had a wing stretch of nine or ten feet id call that quite a stretch said the man at the desk youre telling me they may be impressive said cruger as he opened a desk drawer but from what I 1 can gather dying off and this man frayne wants to sleuth out their nesting quarters before they follow the dodo and disappear for good and hes going in to the ana botto alone slades brow pucker seemed one of incredulity no hes taking an oversized over sized blond named karnell along with him I 1 A blond croaked slade you dont maan mean a skirt anything but this blond is all male lies hes square headed and go rilla jawed and looks like something been worked on by a snarling iron slade found the picture unpalatable but chos your friend frayne he persisted with a shrug of distaste where does he come from and why does he be pick on us neither your problem nor mine but hes the norlando Nor lands friend all right he may be a simpleminded crank but hes so well heeled that money seem to mean much and at this stage ol of the game were going to handle a christmas present like that with care slade nodded his understanding but he must have a screw loose somewhere maintained the young er man or he be heading for what hes sure to get in that Anaw otto country you lose sleep over that contended cruger he maybe mayba after birds eggs but he seems to have a working knowledge of c conditions 0 I 1 find him much of a talker but I 1 stumbled on the fact held hed been trophy hunt ing in the himalayas last winter and the winter before he hunted hunted the snow leopard in siberia and tibet then I 1 suppose sup pose hes english 11 said slade one of those english big game guys who go around with a monocle and a tin bathtub iles hes got equipment all right conceded cruger and hes P paying fi y us quite handsomely handsom ely for flying fly in 9 it in TO BE CONTINUED |