Show 0 of R OF THE DY WILLIAM BYRON V U W MOWERY S IRVI CE Eff WHAT WENT six bandits board the th steamer Bt eamer midnight sun on the mackenzie river hold up the passengers kill a former Moun tle jimmy mo mont nt lomery and escape with cold gold d dust and fur furs kens neus of 0 the crime li Is brought to rort rott endurance rn durance mounted police post sergt alan laker disputes dispute with his patent superior perlor tu inspector Ine dlask ell about plans fur for the capture of the bandits with five ilya men alan starts out in the police launch at the Mael trading poet post joyce macmillin macmillan li Is awaiting the return of her father she Is thrilled by the arrival of alan in the he police pollee launch she had bad ex pecked peeled to marry alan and had been stunned at news that he was to marry ril rilia both spaulding stolen furs are found on the mac mae alllan place and suspicion points point to MacI fIllan CHAPTER continued IV slie she moved h LIs is glasses lowly slowly up stream prating for a glimpse of those two outlaw canoes carefully focusing he scrutinized the riv irly cr or tile banks on cither either side with their little curves anil and hollows hollous and searched above e the trees for a wisp of camp athing nothing whatsoever of two creeping black dots the bandits m vere ere twenty miles ahead at least As he lie hurried back down to tho the hunch he be began to realize that tho th two canoes had traveled more swiftly than lie ind thought pos sible 1 for the first time in hh police experience alan found himself ill at case and uncertain of what lie was running into though he could understand on the atsuma assumption of dive Mac guilt how the tile bandits knew just the tile right moves motes to male in this dimly known country still he lie wa was utterly unable to explain how flow six absolute stran gers cound get into this country un seen ulm ho they were where they had come from how they had lad got in here unknown to everybody the whole thing was mas uncanny lie ile hardly knew what to expect of them next splashing back upon the launch lie told his men tersely not in sight bet et and I 1 could see for twenty miles wove weve got to meet up tip with them before they reach the forks they re making tracks red youve youie light to drive by now ajl take our chances twice more that rooming morning between Pedric aults reckless dashes lie hurried ashore and futilely searched ahead something had lad pone gone wrong the patrol should be within sight of them estimating their speed and the peed of the pursuing launch he knew the police craft should have haie overhauled hauled them about eight miles above the briding post lie ile had lad come a hundred and twenty and no sight of them yet they had either dodged aside or had find done something to give them a big edge over vili whit it he lie thought possible it was after afterward iNard when the waters of the aloo I 1 a had given up their ghastly secret that joyce listened to the accounts of several men and gazed upon certain grim eil evidence dence and pieced together the story of how flow those bandits were able to keep in the lead put rut alan knew nothing of tat harrowing story now he know only that something ind upset all his ills calculations fifteen miles from the aloiska forks forts he lie went ment ashore a last time and climbed a squat tree lie ile had a clear cleir view to the forks the glasses picked up a sight that set ills its bicart pounding madly against ills ribs far ahead three short miles from the I 1 arks of the aloiska Alo oska osla a pair of tiny black object like bugs crawling along a silver ribbon lie ile jumped out of the tree leaped down the slope splashing aboard he lie flung all caution to the winds throw into it I 1 weve got to beat them to the forks we well 11 close in on them in the launch got a to tol I 1 hear bear us but they wont stop wont fight if they can make it there open her apt to hyl m with ith rocks and mud bars now I 1 I 1 ills last words were drowned in the engine roar pg opened out the launch inith the wind stinging his eyes and the spray lashing him alan altin clutched tile he painter to keep from being flung bodily overboard and gave what help he lie could the craft careened around the last bend a scant mile from the great Y of the aloiska Alo osha oska A cleir cle ir open stretch lay in front dashing the blinding spray from his eyes alan rose precariously to ills feet feel looked ahead and his heart sank as es the truth was borne in upon I 1 urn im those canoes had beaten him mm to the forks it was maddening hia his defeat doubly maddening for its closeness to a smashing triumph lie ile lad come within fg fe f g e minutes of overhauling them in the launch and then had missed bad ml missed sed by a mile that loomed gigantic as to hundred they had beaten h hilra im they had heard the thundering boat had bad flung their whole strength into the race and now cow were whipping on eastward along it one or other of tile aloiska branches the launch would have to be abandoned nt at the tile forks up lie lew knew the police loot boat would be stranded or v rocked within half a mile it it attempted to go up cither of 0 those shallow streams he ile would have to take to paddle and split hie ills party unbeaten he planned swiftly the chancer bere ft ere ten to one that the bandits had darted up the left branch leading northeast into the thal thalami ThalA mh he ile decided quickly ill 1 follow that loft left branch bran cli ill take one canoe and two men ill take with roe me he a a red haired devil in a fight hea lies our best shot hell be dependable in whatever comes but the third man fed red or larry both splendid men both experienced vete veterans raus ot of many a patrol lie ile made tip up his ills mind I 1 fend send ped up the right bran ai h with mth lur goon and 11 chippie hipple bill and tarry and III shoot up the left ell be the ones to do the business As the great Y of the alcoba loomed up he turned and gestured to Ilard bork and larry silently understanding they crept back to the stern deck unlashed cd the canoes and had them ready by the time that red blowing flowing down the launch steered it in b between two little willow islands nt at the forks and stopped alan ordered him ted red take these diio men and whip up the south branch bran cli larry and bill and III coer the north it if you sight fight them dont pitch into that pack loud be fighting six men if they did happen to go that way may you drop back here to the forks and wait for us well be able to track them in thit timber country lets pile out they can t be oi 0 cr or a mile and a halt half away bill snarled 11 II Is blue blazes alan let lets s stick together Us splitting up like MI tha its afie d dest fool trick I 1 ever heard oft of shut up I 1 I 1 alan snapped general a orders not mine ei ery d d thing you say or do will be tattled to him he ile tossed the launch anchor into the mud 1 I said pile out lets be moving he ile stepped stopped down into a caloe stood rifle between his knees laces caught up a paddle cursing beneath their beath b eath rill bill and larry clambered in with him tie tile two canoes separated a estimate that his quarry could not be more than a mile and a halt half in the lead was true enough but a stern chase Is a long chase and it if those bandits were aching from exhaustion they had the fear of death in their hearts to goad them on A whole hour nn an hour of terrible labor went by and still no sight or sound of the bandits inith ith the responsibility of tills this patrol on him with human lives the lives of comrades it at stake a fear gripped alan that those bandits had bad taken the south branch of the aloiska if they had frank red end and those two raw recruits might run into an ambush or ped pea might attack them reckless fellow tint lie was practically lone handed and get killed the thase chase was entering the Th Tha lAzah itla that watery matery wilderness of lakes and labyrinthine channels and muskeg thousands of square miles in extent tot far ahcin the branch split into a dozen channels leading in every direction pursuit would end there A few miles more and those canoes n would I 1 ie e swallowed loii ed up in the tile wa aa ani tn i of jhc thc thal ua A 1 l I 1 alj j duft wu va au 1 but then as ns he be skirled around a headland adland lie his prophecy yesterday to II last askell ell and I 1 Is conviction founded on long man hunting experience that those bandits would surely follow this left branch were suddenly probed true to the letter on ahead a scant thousand yards he caught one fleeting tie eting glimpse of two heavily laden canoes that carried six men dipping faster deeper he and bill and larry paddled at a furious pace to come up within rifle range the river was so winding that they could cee see only a few hundred yards in front there was danger a terrible danger of running into a blind ambush where all three of them would be killed outright and their canoes sunk before they even could start to shoot back every stroke every curve every clump of flags they skimmed close past was a deadly peril they knew 14 it but they dared not slow up they were taking their chances As they skirted out upon a shallow little lake fringed about with tall hags flags larry suddenly heaved back on his paddle lift out I 1 cooki alan look over oter therell there alan looked where he pointed at the north shore at the wall nili of dense reeds A path had been broken through the flagg flags there the reeda were parted some of them tra trailed pled their tops bent to either side it told the story to him hard pressed those men had whipped ashore to shale orr off pursuit had lifted canoes to shoulder and were viere trying to cut north and bit hit another channel diann cl to ambush lancer danger they skimmed oer to the telltale break in tho the alas fin and droe out upon the tile mud alan and clung slung the canoe upon their beav cis and kith larry in the lend lead follow follo Mig ii g the tie signs they started nt at it 11 lope back through the within i a hundred yard yards they came to n little creek a sluggish Illus krat that led north the bandits had talan to it too shallow tut fur a n cat oe tl ey lind had had to so 0 o recently had ticy my pil linked sed the water ater iian still rolled from heir their boote boots the little creek took party a thousand ards north porth to a lake a deep blue lako lake covering several acres and there within the thai thal amzah itself lato late in the afternoon the ions long relentless chase came to its end I 1 arry a dozen steps la in lie the lead cd tie silvery sheen of wa iia ter abend ahead and stopping dead short motioned bill and alan to be caution they bellied forward vi ard tho tile lake edge where the tags fogs were ere thin and they had clear view after several ini minutes of malting alting larry pointed across the lake and stated quietly lou see that big patch ratch of brownish flags fags our oser there about thirty or forty yards back fron from the mater sie ste that little run leading back into them where whore cur our men ore bre alding laying low along that little run I 1 noticed a rat start up that run ile came bick la in a hurry thea then theres a silent client spot over there where I 1 don t icar hear any bird or animal calls and I 1 r ayt they came up within a hundred yard yards of their quarry then some oilier other signs he ile aas as silent for bait halt a minute I 1 anally he whimpered whispered I 1 III show you a sign you sec see that pair of canvasbacks a coming this way they re flying low making for this lake late like blue water atch lem cm close skimming just over the flags the pair of graceful ducks came on but just as they stopped beat beating aig and started tho the elide glide down upon the lake they suddenly breasted high up in the air exactly over the spot larry hid md indicated N veering coring away they winged swiftly out of sight into the vest i ilig g there in the reeds and bog bo alan studied the baldit covert ert and tried to plan it if all fire five of his men had been along with him the outcome would have been swift and certain he ile could have come at the bandits from cither either side cut off oft any chance of escape boxed them between two to fires and deliberately shot them down cut but he lie had split his party at the agoos ba I 1 arks us as haskell orde ed now nt the crucial hour here bere in tie tle Th thai alAzzah amzah red and those other two men uselessly following that south branch were a hundred ard fird forty miles away imay lie ile I 1 canned lanned rejected and planned again and finally came to a decision acie got to carry the fight to them and ue got to keep them from getting nay by that creek yonder fieres only one way we can do both those things kill and I 1 are tire going to circle around them on foot and come at them from the other side 11 well ell gc get there somehow eien cn it if we me have to swim part way with any luck at all we ought to get into a position where xi e can put two 0 three of them out of business at the very be pinning ginning before they wake wale up to us the r won wont t fl light ht if they can help it hy should they take chances chance on some of 0 them getting wounded or killed it they dont have to they 11 try to whip back across this lake and dodge into that channel yonder mw larry stay baie to head that off keep cut out of sight yourself have a couple or three extra magazines handy and AM wait walt till they get into the middle 11 hen they get in good range open up on them sink those canoes we me dont care about thoe those men let them bilm ashore and hide it if they want to on foot a nan man can t make ten miles 11 a week in this muskrat rous krat country with no tent no shelter the and flies would drive dirlie them crazy in less than a day and tall fall into our hands it if you understand now cut out for us m veil ell be buth men nodded bill and alan backed away with infinite carllon cn ca cLon ullon for one flushing waterfowl ater fowl would balse nil fill the others yard by cautious yard the two men slipped back into the rushes till they were a safe dis tance from the lake then they began the long hard job of circling around the bandits bet et muddy tortured by insect pests they pushed steadily on mindful of coming corning twilight it took an hour and a half to make male the vilde careful circle and start coming in toward the bandits froni from the north with the sun c cut ut t in 0 two 0 by the u western estem horizon and taj chill of tin twilight hight la the air those six turn men would shortly be on tile move moe hut but ainne hopes had ila d risen again it seemed that lie indeed had bad taken his ills luck along the bandits al not know they were ere being stalked in halt an fill hour more it if luck held belt lie he and would le be in position to open on ou them nil all unwin unawares rei dropping nt at last to hands and knees the two of them crawled long along through and water unter keeping only their guns guus dry they came come up within a hundred ards of their As he lie parted the reeds in front of hl his fice f ice alan aw saw tile tops of a 4 clump eway sway A moment later lie glimpsed the tile dim outline of a man landing standing up stretching himself titling sitting down dolin again in actual sight now those men who hart had iwed LI ed jimmy eryl and only a pistol shot aw ay 1 hut but to take them alan cursed savagely at the thought of red and those two men a hundred and forty miles distant As lie remembered what haskell askell II bald said about the law being belt behind his patrol lils ills lips curled in corn scorn at the cant expression the law that s supposed to be back of us I 1 where in hl h l 1 it Is bowl what mat docs does it mean to bill and ae me now I 1 here in this watery wilderness in this creeping twilight he and bill were going up ag against ainest fix men |