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Show - - - www J : wnusERv1CB By VICTOR. ROUSSEAU (Copyright by W. Q. Chapman-) V444,44 1' - I ADVENTURE, FIGHTING AND LOVE He turned his examination first to the cut in her head. He lore strips from liis shirt, went down to the water and cleansed them thoroughly; then, reluming, he proceeded to wash and bandage it. It was a had gash from a rock, and site had bled a good deal, which was o good tiling, relieving the concussion which had no doubt been the cause of the prolonged insensibility. Having ascertained that she seemed to have received no bodily injuries beyond contusions, Lee examined her limbs. lie saw that one knee hung awry. In a moment he had the gaiter off, and discovered that the joint Jiad been dislocated. dis-located. It was unnerving, holding that while knee between his hands, so instinct with, life, so fragile, delicate, so vionderful when viewed as a piece of mechanism which he was to manipulate like some clumsy journeyman, called in to repair the work of a master. Fortunately. Lee had assisted at precisely that same operation several times in the field; and, trying to disregard the moans of pain that came from the girl's lips as he proceeded, he fumbled with the displaced bone. But that struggle was terrible, for the body of itself knows no dignity. Conscious, Lee knew that the girl would neither have flinched nor moaned; but unconscious, she could not control the protests pro-tests of the body, which had to be restrained by something almost brutal in its frank violence. But. Lee struggled on, feeling the shaft head of the bone scow the edges of the socket under the cap. A final struggle, the weight of liis whole body and shoulders ihroivn to his task and suddenly it was accomplished. Here you have the hero and heroine: Lee Anderson, Royal Canadian Mounted Police-sergeant, and Joyce Pelly. They have been thrown down a cliff by an explosion of dynamite, set off by the Free Traders. The girl's memory is gone from the shock; they are In a wilderness and are being pursued by the Free Traders, who are bent on killing the hero and recapturing the girl, whom Rathway their leader, greatly desires. Moreover, More-over, Anderson, who has met the girl on the trail by chance, is there to arrest Joyce's father. The Free Traders, wilderness hootch-runners, think he is after them. And Anderson, In rescuing the girl from them, has beaten up Rathway in a fight. So the story starts out with the hero and heroine in difficulties. Who is the author? Vhy, Victor Rousseau. And that tells you a lot among other things, that the adventures of the young couple to date aren't a circumstance to what's coming. The hero is shot at, thrown into a cataract and generally manhandled. The heroine is abducted again by Rathway. But someway both manage to escape death. And in the end of course the brave deserves the fair and wins her, even if his purpose to arrest the heroine's father mighty near wrecks the exciting romance. CHAPTER I Sergeant Anderson Rides Into Little Falls Lee Anderson, sergeant in the Roynl Canadian Mounted Police, had lieen lending liis horse up the last hill. Now he stopped at the top and lit his pipe, letting the animal snatch a few blades of the sparse grass that grew among the ferns and raspberry hrnmtiles beside the cart truck. There were, perhaps, thirty-three or four yesrs to his credit. His rather lined, deeply sunburned face and throat contrasted markedly with the edging of white flesh at the V-top of his open shirt. Lee, in his prospector's prospec-tor's clothing, appeared to be typically one of those reserved, quiet, self-contained men whom the north breeds. His rather heavy horse, a combination combina-tion of pack and saddle, was well laden behind the rolled blankets that formed a parapet across Its shoulders. Lee inhaled with delight the warm, steamy exhalations of the earth, rich with the added debris of the year. He turned and looked forward, beyond be-yond the settlement of Little Fulls, lying at the foot of the slope In front of Mm, the last of the settle-. settle-. ments on his side of Stony' range. It was an unkempt, untidy little place, created by the advent of the lumber companies a few years before, and slraggling among the knee-high stumps of what had been virgin forest within the decade. After his belated return from I'Yiinee, only to lind the old Northwest North-west iftnuuted, of which he had been .n member, merged in the new Dominion Do-minion body, Lee himself had been stationed at Manistree. He had been In the police eight years before the war. It was the only life that appealed ap-pealed to him. Ilis service had expired ex-pired during his term at the front, but his first act or returning had been to rejoin. Inspector Crawley had sent for him n few day3 later. "Anderson," he said. "I want you to be ready to start for Stony range in the morning to pick up a man named Telly. He's on the list of 'wanted' headed it for some time, in fact. I guess you don't know anything any-thing about the case, though." "No, sir. It must have happened while I was in France." "Ob, It happened a donee of a time before- you went to France, Anderson. TworT 'five years ago, more or less. Might )Mtve left the poor devil alone, especially as he's been a fugitive so long. Hut It's murder. Sergeant, anil well, the new police have got to show themselves just as elliclent blood houcds as the old force. The papers In the case have just come through Ottawa. "This man felly appears to have killed a man la Toronto In the nineties nine-ties for (canities his wife Those details de-tails are not jw-? I jvtar tip came down some time ago that Pelly has been living in the Siston lake region, on the other side of Stony range, for a good many years. Pelly appears to have got wind of this and madea quick getaway. Now the word's come in that he's been seen In the district. May be true or false. "Piobably It won't be possible to convict now. If it is possible, I don't suppose he'll get much of a sentence. But headquarters nre anxious that we should establish our prestige by getting after him to show that we're on the job as our predecessors were. I want you to ride in, and, if he's alive, pick him up and bring him back with you." Anderson saluted. He was about to leave the olilce when the inspector called him back. "Stop a moment, Sergeant. You can guess that this man Pelly was probably betrayed by someone with a grudge against him. I suppose you know that the Free Traders opened up at Siston lake during the war?" The Free Traders, as Anderson knew, were a gang of liquor men, organized from Montreal, and sending Its agents far and wide Into the Indian In-dian lands, debauching and corrupting. corrupt-ing. The Free Traders dealt In human hu-man souls as well as fur and whisky; they were the most Iniquitous thing that had so far entered the northern terrllories. "There's a man named Jim Rathway Rath-way who seems to be handling their work for 'em up there. Ten to one his gang's mixed up with this Pelly matter in some way. Perhaps they're out for Pelly's hetxl because he wouldn't stand In with 'em. On the other hand there's the chance that he's In with 'em and someone else tipped us off. In that case you'll find yourself up against the organization. "This Pathway's believed to have been running liquor under various aliases for years, and there's ugly rumor about happenings at an Indian camp in the Far North, where the Free Traders have another post at Lake Misquash. They've got to be a li- factor during the years of the war so big that we're not going to lackle 'em until we're ready to launch a general campaign against 'em. "You'll remember not to butt in If you tin. I 'em selling liquor, but pick up I -!! as quietly as possible, and take in.t.'s. If you get the chance, on wh.-r -ning on at Siston lake. "V"" u' got carte blanche, and you'll lake a i-nveiing warrant from the stipend., sti-pend., ry to use in any way you see lit. .;d take all the time you want, because there'll be nothing doing till sprinj. Hut don't let 'em get wise to your inh. So you'll leave your uniform uni-form l.ehind you, Sergeant, and conduct con-duct vour inquiries as inconspicuously as pebble. And in a case like this, one man's better than two. That's nhy I'm sending you alone. "Finally, you'll bear in mind that Pelly's arrest comes first. Soon as you locate him, bring him out of the range." At dawn Lee was upon the road. There had been rumors recurrent rumors of a gold find in Stony range that summer, but the nearer Lee got tro the range the less explicit the news became. He passed a number of men on their way south, morose and sullen, but ready enough to pour out their grievance that a summer's prospecting prospect-ing had failed to show even a trace of color anywhere. Lee had listened to their stories and then gone on, leaving the Impression that he was a' prospector on a belated be-lated journey to the range. And now at last the range lay In front of him, uplifting its wild peaks into the glory of the autumn sunset. Lee felt his heart uplifted too. This was life at its most zestful the world spaces, and the hunting of the king of all created brings Man. So, leading his horse, Lee passed down the long slope toward the settlement set-tlement of Little Falls. Soon he was abreast of the first shacks, set in the clearings among the stumps. Then came rows of uniformly ugly wooden cottages, a small mission church with a tin roof, a bank, and a small hotel announcing itself by a dilapidated shingle. Lee fastened his horse to the hitching hitch-ing post in front and entered. On the right of the Interior passage was the dining-room, on the left the parlor, with the furniture piled up in corners cor-ners and the floor strewn with duffle-bags duffle-bags and blankets. A passage ran past a flight of rickety stairs, and from a room at the end of this came the clamor of voices. Here Lee found the bar, packed tight, and running wide open. Behind Be-hind the mahogany stood a fat and cynical-looking landlord. "How about a room and stabling for the night?" asked Lee. The landlord slid a schooner of beer from one end of the bar to the middle, and turned to Lee, his fat body quivering, apparently with mirth, though his face did not relax anything any-thing of its solemn, cynical aspect. "Stabling? You said it. Room? You c'n have six foot by four of the parlor floor, stranger," he answered. "Pretty full, eh?" "Fuller 'n h l's full of fire-logs." "Logging crews signing up?" "Loggln', nothin'. Town's full of these here fool guys that's been pros-pectin' pros-pectin' Stony range all summer. Got cold feet all to onct and all quit together. to-gether. Feeling pretty sore over it, I guess. Ya ain't aiming to start fer the range yerself this time of year?" "I guess there'll be time to wash a few pans of dirt," answered Lee. "Then maybe I'll board my horse here and trap a bit this winter." He led his horse Into the stable, gave It some corn and racked out a And Now at Last the Range Lay in Front of Him, Uplifting Its Wild Peaks Into the Glory of the Autumn Sunset. bale of hay, and carried his blankets back to the hotel parlor, where he staked out a sleeping claim upon the floor. A small negro boy, carrying a large bell, came out of the kitchen and bp-can bp-can to ring It, swaying to and fro with a cheerful grin, as if he were tied to the clapper. At the sound of the cracked tones the men began to straggle out of the bar Into the dining-room, where they took their seats on long benche.-either benche.-either side of a long table covered with a stained, tattered oilcloth, on which were placed cheap knives, forks, spoons and plates. Next appeared a tliick-set young squaw who began to hand out portions por-tions of a greasy dinner, consisting of suspicious meat, beans, and potatoes that had apparently been frozen to death in bed. Lee, who had taken a seat opposite oppo-site the door, surveyed the other guests with that quiet watchfulness which was a part of his nature as well as of his training. For the most part he summed them up as being of the average prospector type. Among them, however, appeared to be a few of those hard-bitten characters charac-ters who are to be found In every gold rush. Most of them had been drinking drink-ing hard, and all seemed embittered by their experiences of the summer. They were freely cursing their ill-luck. ill-luck. Lee's attention was first drawn to the two men who were seated opposite oppo-site him by the fact that they took no part in this chorus of denunciation. A glance showed him that they were not prospectors, and that the understanding under-standing between them was an Intimate Inti-mate one. One was a short, thick-set, muscular red-haired man, with one of the hardest hard-est and most repulsive faces that Lee had ever seen. The other, apparently his partner, was a huge half-breed with a great muscular torso covered with black hair, and long gorilla-IIke arms. "Ef I had that guy here what started that yarn about the gold In Stony range " began a man on Lee's right. "Ah, for the love of Mike, cut out that spiel, Bill I" shouted another across the table. "D'yoa think you're the only real fool's bes summerln' in the range?" "Old Pelly never found no gold mine. He was cracked about it. Ef he had, wouldn't others have got wise to It, with half the district hangln' nbout the range spyln' on him?" "Nobody knows what happened to him. do they?" "Jest disappeared. Mebbe he had a stroke in the woods or somethln'. Nobody's No-body's seen nor heard of hira this good while past." Lee absorbed thiB conversation without feeling that he had got very far. Pelly had discovered a problematical proble-matical gold mine. Pelly had disappeared disap-peared ; it began to seem probable that the report of h!s return was false. If these men had been prospecting pros-pecting the range all the summer, it was probable that if Pelly had returned re-turned to the vicinity they would have heard of it. In which case someone would have corrected the statement that nothing was known about It. While he listened Lee noticed that the two men opposite him were likewise' like-wise' taking in every word. The big breed was obviously under the influence in-fluence of liquor, and his little companion com-panion was not only watching the company but also watching him. At times he would turn and whisper In his companion's ear. And once, in his close scrutiny of the company, he turned his gaze on Lee. For a moment Lee felt chilled by the eyes of the little red-haired man. They were pale grey, glassy, venom-' ous. They looked like a snake's eyes. Lee, though his gaze was as steady as the other's, did not like the look of the little red-haired man. The conversation drifted. By twos and threes the men began to make their way back to the bar. Lee had risen from the table and left the dining-room, intending to take a smoke on the stoop, when he heard a feral-nine feral-nine voice, and found himself staring In surprise at a girl who had just come In and was In conversation with the landlord. For this was not in the least the type of girl whom one might look for in such a place as Little Falls. CHAPTER II A Girl Rides Into the Range She was perhaps two or three and twenty, slender, of medium height, with clear, grey, fearless eyes, and hair of pale brown with gold flecks in it, coiled up loosely about her head. Her open macklnaw revealed an almost boyish figure, slender nnd long-waisted. She wore corduroy breeches and riding gaiters; and there was about her that hardly definable, but unmistakable air of breeding that crops out in such unexpected places along the Anglo-Saxon frontier. From a respectful distance the men were staring at her, each asking Lee's unspoken question as to what such a girl was doing in Little Falls. That she was riding into the range was evident. Had she been riding out, the men-would have known of her I But whose daughter was she? There was no one in the now deserted de-serted range to whoni she could be going. The only possible destination might be the Moravian mission on the othT side. P.ut there were no women at the mission. "Well, ya see, Miss," the fat landlord land-lord was saying, "we're purty well tilled nil so fur as rooms is concerned. P.ut the wife's over to Old Landing fer a few days, an' I guess you c'n hev our room till she comes home. It's the fust room on the right at the top of the stairs. You Jest walk up and make yourself comfortable, Miss, i and I'll take your boss Into the stable and see that he gits fed and watered. And supper's ready." "Thank you, but I had mine' on the road. And I shall be going on early in the morning." By now the crowd of ex-prospectors had formed a wide circle about the girl, standing as far as the passage pas-sage would permit, staring and scrutinizing her frankly, and looking sheepishly away whenever her unembarrassed un-embarrassed glance fell upon any of them. Lee, hearing a muttering behind be-hind him, turned, to see the big breed staring at the girl and whispering excitedly ex-citedly to his companion. His redheaded red-headed partner was tugging at his arm as if to restrain him. "You d n fool, Pierre I" Lee heard him expostulate. Suddenly the breed shook oft the other's grip and lurched forward. Planting himself In front of the gir : From a Respectful Distance the Men Were Staring at Her, Each Asking Lee's w.ispuA3 Question as to What Such P iirl Was Doing In Little Falls. he leaned toward her, w'ith an expression ex-pression on his face that 'or-oght the bloed into her cheeks. Before he could utter a word, however, how-ever, Lee stepped quietly into the breach with that instinctive air of authority au-thority -which he retained, despite the shedding of his uniform. "That'll be all," he said crisply. The breed turned on him and broke Into a string of oaths. "Say, whadya mean?" he shouted. "You don' know me. He don' know who he's talking to, eh, Shorty? I'm Tierre Cauchon." He doubled a brawny forearm. "Say, young feller, you see dls? Dere ain't no man either side of de range can say 'dat'll be all' to Pierre Cauchon. You t'ink you can fight, mebbe?" Lee, mindful of the rigid code of conduct that bound him, shook his head. "I never fight If I can help it," he answered. " The two men snickered, and there came a murmur of d!sgU3t from the crowd, which, till that moment, had been decidedly favorable to Lee. The breed turned about. "He never fight If he can help it," lie jeered. "You hear dat, boys?" He turned to Lee again. "Mebbe you like to set up de drinks, denT" he Inquired blandly. "I don't drink," answered Lee with complete equanimity. "Well, whadya t'ink of dat?" cried Pierre to the crowd again. "He don' fight an' he don' drink. You sure are one d n four-flusher," he grinned belligerently In Lee's face. Lee. relieved to see, without turning turn-ing his head, that the girl had taken the opportunity to slip away, returned Pierre's glare calmly. The breed was poising himself ready to strike, but something in Lee's aspect, some uncertainty, un-certainty, the inability to size him up. checked him. Perhaps he sensed how quickly Lee's right arm, hanging hang-ing negligently before him, would rise to the defensive; perhaps he did not like the look of Lee's left. I Looks as if the sergeant was in for a tough time. And who is the girl he has befriended? j (TO HE CONTINUED.) I |