Show STRINGER THE STORY SO FAR alan slade has agreed to hy fly a 11 named frayne frame to ue the Anaw otto river to look lor for the breeding ground of 0 the trumpeter swan it Is bleak country and alan suspects frayne ot of having something up tip his sleeve but norland airways airway needs the job slade and his partner cruger have been having trouble competing with the larger companies compan lei and brayne hat has paid enough to enable cruller cruger to buy tile the plane they need when he thought norland was vas going to have to quit slade applied lor for overseas seas service with the paver army air car corps 3 ills application was rejected but his hl disappointment appointment Il has ha been lessened considerably by the brighter outlook for or the business and by the fact act that lynn BI Al the local doctors daughter has ha decided not to EO 90 to england with her red cross unit now he has gone with lynn while she gives first aid treatment to an outcast oyer flyer named slim Tum Turn stead who has been hurt in a fight they learn that Tum Turn stead knows about frayne and about the new lockheed Loch heed it Is I 1 a few ew minutes later and they are talking about their plans for or the future lynn feels eels that she must think first of 0 her lathers fathers happiness now continue with the story CHAPTER IV but you forget S slade contended that you have your own ufa life to live what im trying to remember was lynns vibrant voiced reply they came to a stop in front of the hospital steps some day lie he said with a wave of recklessness ill make you see it my way it if it sounded like a threat it brought no touch of concern to the hazel eyes searching his face A smile even hovered about her lip ends youve got a harder job than that she retorted if youre flying in to the Anaw otto tomorrow then the smile disappeared by the way I 1 saw that ornithologist chos flying in with you he was asking me what I 1 knew about the country courtr y north of the kamakana Kas akana Is he as screwy as he sounds asked slade hes far from screwy was lynns slightly retarded answer he struck me as being cold and hard and shrewd and I 1 cant figure out what hes after it rather makes me wish someone else was s piloting him into that wilderness wa 11 slade was able to laugh as they shook hands dont lose sleep over that he proclaimed then he laughed again ive flown some queer nuts into the north slade hurrying down to the air harbor could see his moored plane being warped in to the landing dock on the dock itself he could make out cassidy of the norland staff and t two wo strange figures one more massive than the other but what held his eye was the amount of duffel piled along the docks edge As cruger had told him they were giving him a load all right even cassidyy Cass idys broad face broke into a smile as he handed him the scales slip for slades glance at the moment was directed toward the two men already interested in getting their equipment aboard he resented the offhand way in which the bigger of the two strangers was clambering about his ship the worn coat that covered the wide shoulders of this stranger made him look shabby and subordinate when the pilot turned to his second passenger he experienced a sense of disappointment touched with shame for there seemed nothing sinister about the straitened and scholarly figure confronting him that figure even failed to look foolish slade saw a man considerably less aged than he had expected a man with sloping and narrow shoulders and an abstracted gaze that looked out on the world from behind bifocal glasses slade stepped closer quite a load youre giving me he ventured as the man in in the bifocal glasses continued to divide his attention between the duffel delfel pile and a checklist in his hand the abstracted eyes lifted and regarded him for a moment of silence it was the glasses more than anything else slade decided that gave the stranger his look of deliberation why does that interest you the stranger inquired his tone was mild and without hostility but the voice low toned and remote seemed marked by an exotic precision of intonation it persuaded slade that lie he was neither an englishman Engh nor an american this happens to be my ship the pilot explained as he rested a fraternal hand on the sun faded fuselage ali ah then we shall see much of each other said the other ills his smile was friendly but abstracted 1 I am doctor frayne and this is my camp mate tny my good man friday caspar karnell no responsive word came from the big bodied man in the coat he merely stood above the cabin hatch his eyes eap exp expression less caspar is is not shall I 1 say vol uble observed the doctor A mild and fore ore bearing bearin g smile wrinkled the scholarly face behind the glasses and that I 1 might also explain is why we trave travel 1 I together slade after an inspection of the bland emptiness of karteus Kar neUs nells face nodded his understanding r quite an arsenal youre taking in ho he observed they teu tell me im to take you in to the Anaw otto prompted the bush pilot that is my desire answered dr frayne it may so happen that we shall winter up north down north slade corrected we speak of it here as down north the man with the abstracted eyes ventured a shrug with time he said 1 I shall become better acquainted with your country cou his movement as he wung swung S a bag of what had every aspect of mining tools up to his companion was almost a dismissive one prospecting questioned slade 1 I am not interested in in prospecting was the deliberated answer 1 I am a naturalist As though in confirmation of that statement he lifted a case of mounted bird bodies up to his waiting companion then again the forced smile showed itself it may impress you as a foolish profession but for many years now I 1 have given my time to the study of bird life slade glanced down at the mann licher the two holstered bolstered lugers the pair of shotguns of different gauges and weight that rested between a scattering of cartridge cases quite an arsenal youre taking in he observed for just a moment the opaque eyes regarded him 1 I am not unfamiliar with the north frayne announced with a patience that seemed coerced it is well in case of the unexpected to be able to live off the land of course agreed slade as lie he watched the firearms being stowed aboard they were followed by a tent bale and sleeping bags by condensed foods with foreign labels by camp equipment and a box of signal flares and cased instruments and even two carrier pigeons in a hooded cage youre filling me pretty full observed slade fracnes Fr aynes face remained expressionless si any inconvenience that I 1 may cause he said 1 I profoundly regret I 1 had hoped on arriving here to purchase a plane but they are not to be bought I 1 find theres use for em cm just now observed the pilot were in the war you know the eyes behind the bifocals became less opaque but here at least observed the man of science 1 I shall not see it come between me and my research sea ach the office tells telli me youre after trumpeter swans said slade 1 I am seeking the nesting ground of that noble bird acknowledged the ornithologist they are extremely shy and hard to find in the brooding season that is why I 1 go into an empty country like the ana botto slade not unconscious of the pedagogic note felt the need of proving that his interests extended beyond gas engines ever try for them around the red rock lakes in yellowstone he asked they started a refuge for trumpeters trum peters there not so tar far back A refuge which will be a failure was the prompt response your trumpeter is a child of the wilds he cannot be adjusted to confinement his new friend slade admitted seemed to know his bird life all right his eye squint deepened as he noticed two heavier cases being lifted aboard by the way are you taking radio or wireless in with you why should I 1 do that frayne questioned it is with the lady swan I 1 wish to converse but howll you come out asked slade howll we know where to pick you up fracnes Fr aynes gaze again became diffused that may not be necessary he finally explained we shall perhaps work our way through to what wha t are locally known as the barrens and come out along your hudson bay coast it is a country you may happen to know slade smiled 1 I know it all right As much as a white man can know such ice fringed emptiness the bush pilot found himself being inspected with a new interest that is extremely good news averred his passenger As we fly north I 1 hope you will give me information about a country that is still distressingly unknown to me slade resisted the temptation to observe that it be so unknown to him by the time hed wintered there but you wont got get swans as far east as the bay he pointed out instead at least not trumpeters trum peters fracnes Fr aynes smile became more friendly already he announced you are helping me and there is another point on which you might enlighten us Is the Anaw otto river navigable no its not navigable answered slade its blocked by too many falls and rapids kept the country closed even tyrrell re 11 get into it but there were no planes when tyrrell made his survey observed the scholar its sure empty country asserted the pilot who had his own memories ori s of the Anaw otto that murmured the swan hunter eris is entirely to my liking but youre not entirely to my liking was the thought that hovered about at the back of slades blades head lynn he felt was right yet he was their santa claus as cruger had expressed it ile he had paid well for service and hed get service slade dismissed that thought and turned to study the silver wing winged ed lockheed that rested on the waters of the it looked spick and span in its new coat of aluminum he realized as he swung about that the man in the bifocal glasses was also studying the lockheed an attractive ship the scientist observed it was my intention to own her but in that I 1 was forestalled by your friend cruger slade smiled at the sharpened note in the others voice voice you have to scramble for em nowadays observed crugers brugers Cru gers bush hawk partner so I 1 am learning announced the swan seeker ile he said it casually but some newer timbre in the speakers S pea kers voice made slade think of a gun pit smothered in tree branches the brief northern night was at its darkest when cassidy newly made watchman for norland airways shut off the radio lie he sighed as lie he reached for his thermos at the end of the deal table and drained it of its last cupful of coffee then lighting his pipe he stepped out into theolen the open and blinked about through the darkness he wished he could be having a second thermos of coffee but there was no bright lighted eating room in that third rate outfit on the edge of nowhere its air lanes were as short of ships as its administration building was short of paint all it was in in faith was a rough and ready lumping jumping oft off place for a lot of luna tics bics who wanted to dig holes in a wilderness where the frost went deeper than the gold it could never be classed with th those 0 se high toned airports hed heard many a far traveled pilot talking about no cassidy decided as he made his rounds this was a melancholy place for aman a man of spirit he like the quietness of the hangar where the twin motored grumman amphibian stood surrounded by the engine entrails the workmen had left scattered about lie he was glad to move down to the dock edge where there was a little sound of water riffles fiffles against the floats of the post craft that would be going out in three hours time beside it the only remaining ship in the harbor loomed the new lockheed that looked more like the ghost of a plane in the uncertain starlight than a workaday framework of metal and linen well covered with aluminum paint it startled hun him as he stood watching it that anything so quiet could give birth to movement but as he watched he saw a shadow detach itself from the shadowy fuselage he saw that shadow drop to the berar by float and then leap quick footed foote 1 to the dock edge TO BE CONTINUED s |