| Show Jc J h HL J d c.- c. IJ E By lEIm E i J i I. I Q tit IES I S r r f n T Jr TI A wr I 7 wr 1 Service tb I 1 S Copyright by Robert Ames Bonnet l y J Jj r SYNOPSIS A All Af Alan Alen Garth prospector Is to preparing preparIng preparIng ing to leave for tor his mining claim in inthe Inthe inthe the Far North a plane lands at the tatiOn In It are aro ar airways emergency Durton Burton millionaire mining mag mag- magnate magnate magnate Lilith and Vivian nate his daughter mining engineer Be Believing De- De and pilot lining lieving him to be only an Ignorant make an anair anair anair prospector the men offer to air trip to Garth's claim although they refer reter to his hili hi samples of It platinum bear n Ing ore as all nearly worthless Limn Lilith th product of ot the Jazz age plainly shows contempt for tor Garth Through Garth's guidance the plane soon reaches the claim site and nam Ram several al tests t assure ss ill Ill after aeter making Garth I to encourage young prospectors they In Invest Invest- Investing InvestIng are ore willing to take a chance ing a small mall amount Sensing treachery ahead Garth secretly removes a part from the motor of ot the plane I and Lilith taunt Garth but their tone tone- soon loon changes when they try to start the plane Returning to shore they try to force torca Garth to give up the missing part Garth manages to set the mono mono- monoplane monoplane monoplane plane adrift and tho the current carries It over the falls tails He lie points out that he heIs heIs heis Is their only hope In guiding them out of ot the wilderness Garth begins tho the work of ot preparing for tor the long long- journey Ho Ile Insists that the others help and his daughter must be hardened for forthe forthe forthe the hardships ahead In their trek to the outpost on the Mackenzie Garth experiences difficulties In getting his companions Into Inlo line An experience with a bear helps Returning from a along along along long sleep sheep In the woods Garth finds the party has stolen the tea and sugar he has been saving for tor emergencies Ho Ito makes no objection simply pointing out that he Is accustomed to a strict meat diet and that they are aro hurting only themselves Tho The work of ot getting ready for tor the trip continues refuses to help and works on the min mm- mining minIng ing claim Garth stores food tood In an Ico ice cave CHAPTER VI Continued VT-Continued Continued 10 10 have two more days for fr It Garth told him Only dont don't forget that an alloy of ot platinum and gold weighs more than lead You'll be tot- tot totIng lag Ins my GO CO per cent along with the 40 for yourself and Mr If It you hide the lot loot In your pockets you'll go down like a shot first time you slip Into a muskeg a pool or quagmire Think of ot the around all calamity that would mean You'd lose your life Mr Ir L would lose his Man Friday Miss Lilith her fiance and I Id I-I'd Id I'd lose lese my m CO per pei cent cen t. t Mr Ir Interposed Its Ils no Joke Vivian Ive I've seen een a strong swimmer sunk by the gold Jold In his money A bag can be thrown off otI the shoulders Another thing Garth Is to receive his three fifths t of ot er whatever you have panned out That Is understood It was his bargain replied lie He went to gorge gerge on the leg of carl cari caribou bou that Garth had roasted over the fire on a twist-thong twist of rawhide When Then he could eat no more he hastened back to the placer trough to resume his panning The others had already feasted upon the tender venison enlson that was self bast ed In Its delicious fat Lilith and her father nth r had helped Garth pack It with mere meat and the skins down the long slope from the glacier sundown Garth set several rawhide raw snares each attached to a n pair of ot downbeat do saplings For Tor bait he used raw pieces of caribou flesh The beasts of or the valley had bad never been trapped When at sunrise he went ent the rounds of ot his snares he col col- col collected a lynx two red foxes a wolver lver ine me and a n wolf Garth did not reset the snares lie FTc had more skins than he lie needed From the wolf hide he made a knapsack for The fox tox skins furnished small small- smaller er bags for Mr and At the second sunrise Garth bun bun- bundled dIed the lynx and wolverine pelts and a quantity ot of catgut with the cari earl caribou bou boti skins S eyed the bundle Ironically Mr Ir told me about your our carl cari bou parka talk I take It you ou aim to go back anti and live among the Eski Eski- mos I might do worse Garth replied Heres fleres your our wolf Load our metal and slant up from the placer Well We'll meet you at the glacier I At Mr nod the engineer en took the knapsack and started off IT Garth put the small aluminum pot and the tin cup In the millionaires millionaire's bag bab He lie drew his blanket from the leanto to strap It on his pack-board pack with the bundle of ot skins crept Into the leanto for tor the tho last time She came out with the pouches of or salt and tea Neither had load been opened open d since Garth put them In her care after the wasteful up till of t all the sugar eating Tier Her worn boots lay at the foot toot the leanto She had of ot on her hide moccasins moose moose- moosehide moosehide and skin lynx As she backed from leggings under she the low roof root picked up the boots and with eyed them amused contempt They had been fit dt only for tor when show not for or use But she flung them down Garth added them to his pack along with last small the pieces of ot We might tho the moose hides hid ho he said Now sew on rawhide soles Now all all set Bet How Bow fl you IOu mates about Ready heady to t thit hit The girl the trail showed the tho that he had left lett In her whisky flask fathers father's It was full tun care of ot fly dope spruce lope with spruce pitch caribou tallow tallos the She flask Into her put bag with the tue pouches along ot of tea anti and salt saIto Mr lIr was wa already walking off 01 off x- x for his Garth had made a line tump-line pack As he fitted the band across hIs bis forehead and find stood up rifle In hand at nt the his shoulder he glanced over v r girl gin She turned and met his glance Tier Her lips curled In their old scornful smile What hat are me you waiting for Arent Aren't we ever to get out of ot this beastly val val- valley valhey ley hey He Tie started off ofT without any reply but with a n glow of ot exultance under his outward show of ot Indifference Lilith Hamill thought she was about to escape e from the Wild He lie u had promised to guide them nil all to lIe the Mackenzie The probabilities were now In favor of or even her father making It The girl would go back to what she called civilization to to luxury and indulgence sell to jazz and night night- nightclubs clubs clubs the the vapid pursuit of sensation Yet a n part of ot her would linger be be- behind behInd behind hind In this lost lest valley of the deso deso- desolate desolate late Hockles She Site had eaten of wild meat she site had smelled the tang of ot smoke from mans man's first friend the camp fire She Site had ha come face to face with the tue Primitive and Primitive and had ha lived it The real woman of or her had awak awak- awakened ened en had ed-had had thrust aside the superficial self whose world was made up of arti arti- artificiality artificiality and anti dissipation She had been compelled to face the raw realities of or Life And there were v weeks more of ot It to come Fortunately she l nd ad already been hard Now she was fit Under the smear of t mosquito dope the lines had bad smoothed from her face The Tue drawn look had disappeared Instead of ot the scarlet of ot rouge her lips were cherry red with healthy natural color She had gained weight Her lIer body now looked lean rather than emaciated As Garth overtook the girls girl's father he eyed eed him with a smaller yet no less genuine satisfaction For every pound gained by the daughter the father had been rid of ot three or more Though still far from hard the millionaire had worked and sweat Into vastly better condition than at the start of t his training did not come Into sight out of ot the placer pIncer trough until the others were well up Uj the tundra slope half halt halfway halfway way to the gl glacier cler That gave Garth Garthan an excuse e to tell Lilith to ease her father along while was closing up with them tI em Garth himself swung briskly ahead So far nothing had been said to Hux by about the cache cave cate In the Ice tunnel of the tte glacier stream lie He knew v only that the caribou carcasses bad had been put on Ice The one thing of or which Garth felt most certain regarding the engineer was that he lie would never give over try- try tryIng tryIng Ing lag to get the platinum placer until every ever possible scheme had been balked balke Mr Ir might quit lie He already possessed a fortune But Dut was still a relatively poor man and he had hd h d now made certaIn tain tam that the placer was worth at least a million dollars Behind his hl polished front he was no less un unscrupulous un- un unscrupulous scrupulous than his millionaire part part- partner partner ner ncr and he was absolutely cold blooded Among the cards that the future was S to deal In the game the Ice cave might prove to be anything from a two spot to an ace the If-the play should shift back bad to the valley valle a cache full of ot meat would most benefit the player who knew about It No less so the caribou skins In any event It would do no harm and might prove of ot ad ad- advant advantage vantage vant be to leave In doubt re re- regarding re- re regarding garding the location of the cache Lilith made the last climb to Garth without effort But up almost as winded as Mr Ramin lIe He lowered from his shoulders the small but heavy load In his knapsack The chunks of ot frozen carl carl- bou meat beside the bulky blanket blanket- wrapped bundle on Girths Garth's G drew his displeased attention You cant can't expect me to carry of ot that any venison Im I'm no pack J Jock jack ck of the wood Forty pounds Is quite enough to suit me hefted the sack My Iy guess Is forty five Figuring roughly that makes one forty troy pounds or four two ninety-two troy ounces Call CaU It five fi hundred even Platinum Is around Ground sixty The dollars an ounce troy values of oC the alloy will overage average at nt least thirty That gives gives- us a total of ot say fifteen thousand dollars Not so bad for tor a few tew days' days panning Husby's face showed that this no news to him For was all his cool sell self control his fingers hold of the clutched tight as he drew It of ot Garth's out careless grasp Ever since coming Into the valley he had hat spent the greater long day part of every scratching spots all over the great placer claim and ples pies of ot the panning sam sam- samples gravel Fifteen dollars was WoR wa no fortune But thousand It If a few score of ot g yield dirt could that amount mount there could doubt be no of ot tho the vast treasure Even Enn If It bedrock beneath lay at a shallow depth the platinum shallop placer at least u a million was worth worth dollars Though Garth neer's nOer betrayal betraY 1 of ot smiled at the tue engi en l- l note of ot cupidity he took It as an additional He lie had warning said that I Ux h was wolf But iut a U com core any wolf volf Ib Is i be deadly whets when ravenous apt allt to Garth's sideward glance caught an amused twinkle In Mr shrewd eyes es The hard training bad had put the millionaire lle In better health than he probably hind had enjoyed for tor many years Also his mind was bigger and better poised than that of ot his prospective son in He Lie could smile with Garth over obsession smile obsession smile and put aside nil all thought of ot the placer pIncer until in a to take tale It from Its discoverer saw rom a n astill still different angle She opened the sick sack s ck to peer Inside At sight of ot the nodules she site dropped the flap with a look of ot disgust Mere value meant nothing to her The alloy aHoy looked dull and uninteresting Worth only tUreen fifteen thousand dollars dollars' dol del lars lars' she bantered her fiance flance Youve dug dirt nil all this time for a trifle like that and amI lugged It all the way up here Dont Don't tell me youre you're so dumb that you plan pan to pack It for the weeks Alan says ys well we'll need to get back ro to rothe rothe the Mackenzie Forty five pounds of that Bluff how stuff how silly 1 I From what Alan told us we may have all nIt we can cando cando cando do to carry ourselves on this cross cross- country hike With Ith my iny blanket and the meat that's In It Im I'm starting off oIT with some- some think like two hundred pounds Garth said Game was w s scarce on the ito other side of ot the pass when I went out the theother theother theother other time The weight of ot our metal in meat may be b worth more than the fifteen thousand dollars Let choose which he prefers to pack The engineer compromised by shoving shovIng shoving ing one of ot the twenty pound chunks of ot caribou meat Into the sack s ck on top of ot the metal This left a n second chunk of ot equal weight Lilith bent over to put It In her iter own sack Back Lay l off said Garth It Is his choice Besides frozen meat soon Boon t SAe h I Alan Garth Youre You're a Man spoils when It thaws Fall Into In In- Indian Indian dian file die Here goes lie He backed up to his boulder boulder- perched pack slipped the tump line over his forehead and started up the great cleft as If It his pound OO-pound pack weighed no more than 05 65 pounds of ot meat ment and metal lIe He halted only when the other men were compelled to stop for or breath though carrying a load only a third the weight of ot Garth's had soon begun to strain and puff putI as hard as Mr 1 Hamill He was larger than Garth and seemingly stronger muscled But he lacked Garth's wind and en en- endurance durance and the knack of ot back pack ing lag At every halt he sank down on the Ice or a moraine stone panting Garth merely eased his back break ing tag pack upon a n boulder boul er slipped the tump line from his forehead and wait vait- ed for the tile other men to recover Lil- Lil LilIth Ith th h. h L pack was too light to ua with with the agility of ot a goat In Iii places the pitch of t the glacier because became been we too steep for ordinary climb clImb- ing Garth had to draw his 1113 belt-ax belt and arid chop foot holds The last of ot these steep rises was far tar up towards the head of ot the pass The remaining distance to the sum sum- summit summit mit was Vas not so steep and there were no dangerous dan erCus crevasses Garth made the climb at a swinging pace He lIe was wn halfway down before he met plodding slowly upwards with Mr The engineer looked at him with eyed cold rancor Mr Hamill panted a wistful ques ques- question tion when Wh do Wh do we W eat we-eat eat at At the top Take your time Lilith had chosen to wait walt for Garth down where he had left lett them all nil His pack lay on the snow below the boul boil boulder der upon which he had set it She pointed her slender blender finger at the fallen bundle I tried to find out If you were lying about the weight I couldn't even en lift one end But you see how the thc top of or the tue stone slopes The rIle beastly slid off oIT tiling all right Miss I Easy enough to end till It again n aln Easy I Her lIer blue eyes glowed o with an un odd You Vou OIl ou cu Dad back HIel i I to camp that day But nut It was down down- hill Now Now to to pack this frightful load all the way up here herd I Alan Garth youre you're a man Well WeH Its It's a bit of ot a sUIT stilT up pull he admitted But nut well we'll we soon make snake the I left the knife on tho tito knapsack Go up and slice that cari carl caribou caribou bou meat The he girl whom her own father could not command met the order with a cheerful nod no She started briskly off |
