Show JL IEM ac ant RIVER warren lovett thirty three junior partner in the powerful wellington parkes lovett incorporated mines ol of chicago which engages in questionable transactions plans plan to moke make a secret coup in the canadian arctic where a few years before a rich but inaccessible mining field has been discovered on resurrection river which flows into dynamite bay patricia high spirited and beautiful daughter ot of crusty crusty old jasper wellington who Is engaged to warren decides to accompany him over her ber fathers objections he agrees to take her they go eo by plane pat meets a French Canadian prospector who be tells her there are only prospectors in the field and that because of the difficulties they are arc hanging on by a thread pat Is disturbed when warren will not disclose what his secret mission Is she visits the prospectors camp and la Is depressed to see how discouraged they are she meets sam honeywell a friend of Po leons moved by the plight of bill fornier a prospector who though fatally ill struggles to hold his claim pat decides to help him informed head of a family of halfbreed retainers of the company about pats befriending bell lending the prospectors warren tries to dissuade her he tells her that craig tarlton with whom she had bad once been in love Is now ing inspector tor for the resurrection river area A brilliant geologist he be had resigned in disgust from her fathers company because ot of its devious methods later she meets craig but he Is cold inferring In that the Is merely feigning interest in the pros pec tors her compassion for the ha hapless pless prospectors growing pat decides to build a huge community house or ien den when the job nears neara completion warren tells her to abandon it she refuses after a stormy scene craig leaves on a three month inspection spec tion trip to the north pat learns that her father has withdrawn her allowance warren tells tell her now she will have to go home when he refuses to advance her ter a loan to aid the prospectors she accuses him of hedging and continually keeping her in the dark she moves he her tent across the river near the ien den CHAPTER V continued patricia broke out laughing at his naive kindness but her laugh ended abruptly in a sob after all she ehe did have friends three hundred of them these men were her friends they liked her even if craig the house that pat built for us what they called the den her heart leaped with gladness as she remembered warrens phrase extraordinarily rich if only they could stick and could hold on to their claims on the lake shore across resurrection a plane motor started up drumming out its powerful tt tatt tt tt it was one of the com banys planes she recognized the deep throaty roar of it dashing the tears from her eyes she stepped outside and listened oblivious to the rain that beat upon her shoulders and wetted her black silky hair that ship must be warming up for flight in weather so cold and raw the mechanics be doing routine work on an engine it was pilot plane getting ready for the flight south warren must still be confident that he could force her to leave for chicago that day her guess proved right A few minutes later a big sturgeon head pushed oil from the opposite shore and butted across resurrection bringing warren and the six chi waugh ahimas imis and seven other men of warrens party wondering why he had fetched so large a crew patricia slipped back inside her tent and began st straightening her baggage around as though she firmly intended to stay where she was but inwardly she was storm tossed torn two ays go stay she decide but she had to decide tt tatt tt tt that plane was waiting for her she had to make up her mind no more drifting no more putting off decision till tomorrow warrens big party stopped outside her tent and warren came in in alone beneath his politeness he was sharp and peremptory patricia odron tells me that hell have to take off within 30 minutes if hes to make fort smith before dark well let him take off patricia snapped im not holding that plane by the tail try to be reasonable for once warren said tartly he gestured around at the tent you know as well as I 1 do that you cant live I 1 in a place like this with cold weather coming on and living over here in the prospectors camp alone its ridiculous patricia thought to herself hes right its worse than ridiculous but hell have to meet me halfway I 1 wont let him dictate to me she realized now that he had brought along that big party not only to pull down her tent but to smash any of her prospector friends who tried to interfere through the flap front she noticed that the 13 men were a armed with oars clubs and tent stakes and that three of the carried rifles furthermore warren added 1 I wont allow you to keep up this charity work of yours ay ary a y longer good heavens dont you yet understand that the more you help these men the longer hang on here and refuse to sell their claims patriciaa Patri cias eyes eaps opened wide why why you talk as though you want to see them squeezed out and forced to leave to put it harshly yes warren stated backed up by that armed party out there and confident that he could force patricia to go home he dropped his evasion and told her some blunt facts these men own practically all ta the le valuable deposits up resurrection As things stand they hey refuse to sell tarlton advised anem to hold out and this chateau of yours I 1 Ls is bolstered them up originally I 1 ex by byron lowery 0 william byron cowery service pecked to get through with my business here in eight weeks but ive been here three whole months and in in a all 11 that time ive been able to buy only a few dozen claims those red squarest squares I 1 patricia cried those red places on your chart warren nodded yes those red spots are claims that the company now owns but most of that map is still white its got to be all red I 1 propose to buy up this entire field for wellington parkes lovett ahoo Oh ool oo patricia breathed warrens warren ren s explanation was me like a lightning flash ripping the darkness the dark secrecy of his arctic trip A host hoot of puzzles became glaringly clear to her in an instant she felt ini intensely ensely ashamed of her stupidity in riot not seeing through warrens mission sooner craig had seen through it from the very beginning the men had seen through it she alone had been blind stone blind 1 I can bunup buy up silver claims here for a hundred dollars warren announced noun ced with a ring of elation in his voice be worth a hundred thousand in time think about that and about these platinum and cobalt deposits and the radium lenses can you imagine a more magnificent setup set up than the company has got here A hundred dollars patricia repeated jerkily A hundred dollars for three or four years of hard work but these fellows cant develop their claims they ha ent the capital mining operations require a heavy initial outlay and a long wait for returns but you you could pay these men a fair price warren the least you can do in gods justice is to offer them a decent wage for their years of labor and hardship warren brushed her words aside we wont argue about that please get ready to leave for fort smith im not leaving warren she he said in a strangely quiet voice voice im staying here bere here at dynamite bay im going to fight this out with you warren turned away impatiently and strode out and patricia heard him order his men all right baggage this place up and get it across the river he was interrupted by another voice Po leons voice angry and challenging jus wan you don baggage dis place op onless patricia say so you don load her into no plane keelly neelly lak if she was some squaw siche or me tise patricia flew to the flap front scared at the threat of a knockdown fight and three prospectors had come across from the tien ten while she was talking with warren and they were standing belligerently b between e t w e e n warrens warren S party and her tent sam honey well with a canoe paddle in his hand was edging around to join and the other three Poleo nl she cried dont start trouble lel no hed better not warren agreed curtly you men get her tent down one of the stepped up took hold of a tent stake pushed him away the metis snarled and struck in the face swung at him and hit him on tile the jaw a pile driving wallop that lifted the motis metis clear off his feet and stretched him cold put dem rifle away bellowed at the three who had guns you start any shooting and de whole of you will lan ian in de police butter tub on your ear earl one of warrens men sidled around behind sam honeywell honeyb ell crashed the unsuspecting sam on the head with an oar and laid him out the other 11 men rushed upon and the three prospectors actors like a hostile wave patricia screamed as the fight broke wide open in a twinkling chupp smash it was a fierce hot melee of struggling men of clubs rifles tent stakes and swishing oars of grunts and oaths of men sprawled on the wet ground of sickening blows with fist and oar and club against the heavy odds the three prospectors were overwhelmed at the first rush they wore were knocked down knocked cold trampled underfoot der foot only the big standing at the flap front and brandishing a tent stake was still on his feet allons aliens he kept bellowing you come anear a near dis tent and ill kno knock ck de whole pack of you caldern col dern a dead dogs n hose ose over at the community house the alarm had been sounded and out of the place came pouring a fair sized riot halt half a hundred prospectors leaping out of the windows surging through the do doors t arso snatching up clubs and stones a and nd tent pegs as they raced foi the battle they hit the place like a demolishing tornado outnumbered tour four to one warrens men were slugged knocked down swept under obliterated two or three survivors escaped and ran for the sturgeon head with a dozen prospectors chasing them that same evening afraid that she would lose her nerve if she waited patricia called a meeting in the community house standing on a chair near the door into the kitchen kitchell she gave a talk to her 75 rock hogs she crepea repeated ted to them what warren had said to her about the richness of the field told them she had declared war on the company reminded them that tha t she was living on their side of resurrection now told them that she was as penniless as they but that she was going to stick there and fight were they going to sell out or stay her sin sincerity gerity and her fire stirred them out of their discouragement crowd psychology and their shame at the thought of letting her down did the r rest st from all over the big room came shouts well stick tin till hell freez freezes esl bet your boots pat were hanging onto first fetter feller that sells a claim he gits tarred and feathered patricia wrote out a pledge binding each man not to sell one square inch of his holdings all the men there signed sied it she wrote out two other copies copies to send back into the barrens for the absent prospectors to sign last of all she dashed off of a third copy and sent it across resurrection ur to warren for him to read and ponder on CHAPTER VI almost every day after their open break warren went across the river for a friendly visit with patricia realizing that he had badly blundered in trying to coerce her he set out deliberately to win back her esteem with kindnesses besides his friendly visits he took care of her bank overdraft slipped money into her purse bought knick 4 V y 4 0 i 1 Z z 1 j he was plenty surprised all right ll 11 knacks for her at the hudsons Hud sons bay store and when the prospectors built her a snug cabin in the pines near the big lodge he fitted it up tastefully with a planeload plane load of furnishings nish ings from edmonton ile he also offered ellyn double salary to remain with patricia as maid and woman company but ellyn flatly refused unlike patricia she could not stand up to the arctic the dis comforts of tent life went hard with her even in summer and with the coming of raw weather she completely w wilted besides she both feared and disdained disdain ed the rough prospectors so there was nothing for warren to do but send the maid back to chicago loving patricia as he did it galled him to know that her passion was for tarlton not for him but he sternly concealed the hurt and went on playing his coolheaded cool headed patient game after all he reflected he had powerful factors on his side patriciaa Patri cias social status her wealth her family ties and all the old familiar life of that he was an integral part whereas tarlton was alien to it if and when a showdown came patricia would hesitate a long time before severing hers herself e if fir irom om everything near and dear to her all the while that lie he was befriending fri ending patricia personally he pushed ahead ruthlessly with his plans to seize that mining field privately he passed around the word that any man who sold him a block of four or more claims would be paid cash taken all the way to edmonton by plane and there given bonus to have a good time on picking out half a dozen of the most discouraged city rushers bushers ru he worked on tha them secretly persuaded them to sell their holdings and whisked the men south to fort smith before the other prospectors caught on most telling of all he kept up a shrewd insidious propaganda to break down tile the morale to 0 the men this field was sixteen hundred miles from a railroad to bring in even the smallest s stamp ta mp mill would cost a fortune silver was down to 31 cents when valuable developed miner in the country were standing idle with railroads right at their shafts what chance had an undeveloped mine in the inaccessible arctic his methodic hammering got results spot by spot the red on his chart grew across the river patricia watched warrens moves and fought him the best she could in answer to his propaganda she would argue with the men if this field is as worthless as he tries to make out whys ghys he so keen to get hold of it whenever a miner fell sick or got behind on his assessment she persuaded others to pitch in and keep his claims from lapsing under her direction the men cut huge cords of stove wood laid up whitefish for the dog teams netted lake trout for themselves and in the moon of birds flying south when the first heavy snows came and the caribou migration was on she sent a big hunting party northeast to the barrens and they brought back meat to last all winter food and fuel the two main items were thus taken care of easily enough needing money badly for the odds and ends of operating expenses she wrote secretly to chicago ch icaco and had all of her jewelry sold through frances thereby raising enough funds to keep the den going a while longer what with fighting warren holding the discouraged prospectors in line running that big house scolding six dozen men planning three meals a day keeping quarrels down and spirits up she was a busy girl the busiest she had ever been in her life during the first six wee weeks ks of her war before defeat began closing in and her doubts and uncertainties rose to storm fury within 1 n her there were times when she came near to happiness no more idleness no more of that that terrible inner restlessness which used to dog her wherever she went no more wondering where to find diversion tomorrow or choosing between inanities toward the end of october sam honeywell came in to the bay bringing back one of the pledges which she had sent up resurrection for the men to sign As patricia scanned the long list of names sh she e was astounded to run upon craigs signature instantly she was all eagerness why sam he had brought the paper to her cabin did craig actually sign this what did he say sam did he make any comments about my war on mr lovett was he surprised sam scratched his head he was plenty surprised all right but I 1 dont |