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Show rn i'l'i 1 1 ) 1 1 tTii'i friTii ff i'Yi. 1 1 1 n " i 1 i 1 1 i i 1 n 1 1 1 i i i i niTiVPn Pi ii : iPiPPPi mi ITm 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 i i i u i i i i i n 1 1 i i i-i - S CXTie Free-Traders I h Bi UlCTOR ROUSSEAU jl WNU BERVIC1 (Copyright br W. O. Chapmn.) ..H h 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 'i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 'i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 'i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Lm'ji CHAPTER XIX Continued 15 "Stui) there!" lie growled. "Well?" What d'you want?" They shifted uneasily In front of Mm. "Well, there's lien some 'jrum-hlin' 'jrum-hlin' nhniit that Hold, Jim," Shorty vouchsafed. "The hoys kinder seem to think you ain't plannlri' to play fair with 'cm. They've put Kramer on ;,'iiard to watch I hi itor-boat in case you mlKlit he aimin' to away with her." "What's that?" snarled ltathway. lie sprang to his feet. From the door of the hut he could discern a shadowy figure near the parapet. For an instant he was about lo rush at It In his ra;;e. I'.ut then his eiiiuiing came to his aid. lie turned hack into the hut. "What's their game and yours?" Shorty hesitated. "Well, ya see, Jim, me and Pierre's alius stood by ya, and we kinder thought we'd let ya know the hoys has been talkin' things over anions themselves " Italhway smiled sourly. He knew the pair of them would not have hesitated hesi-tated to side with the mutineers If they had thought there was any chance of outwit tint; him. lierre and Shorty knew liathway's vigilance, his infinite resource. "Spill It!" "Well, Jim, I guess they're gettin' ready to rush you, now you've put out your light. They're aiming to tie you up and git away with the gold in the motor boat," "Just to tie nie? They wouldn't hurt mo?" ltathway snickered, ami the pair shuffled their feet uncomfortably. He laughed. And his plans to meet this situation leaped Into his mind. He must let the men attack, and then, when he had finished with them, he'd make short work of Pierre and Shorty, and Estelle too. His confidence was coming back. "They sent me and Pierre to see If you'd gone to sleep here." "Well, I alnt," ltathway returned, laughing again. lie knew his nonchalance non-chalance at once discomfited and bound them to him through fear. "I've gone to the hut across the neck to say good night to the girl, and maybe, if she presses me, I won't be hurrying away. Get that?" he asked, as they guffawed self consciously. "You'll go back and tell 'em I'm gone, lierre. You got your gun. Shorty? All right. You and meil have a quiet little session in the fwamp, waitin' for 'em to come along the trail one by one eh, Shorty?" He clapped each one on the shoulder. "There's gold enough in that sack to make us three millionaires, and there'll be a d n sight less sharing," he said. "And listen, boys. I've cached it, so, If I'm croaked, nobotlyil get it. See?" The men were fools anyway, but trebly so when their cupidity was aroused. Rathway Imagined the greed leaping into their eyes, and laughed. Jle was reckless now. The hooch devil rode him at last. And in his mind's eye he saw the picture. And, what a holocaust for Joyce I Ko one could prove anything, either, even If they caught him. And the bodies of Lee and Pelly would never be found. There was Estelle, of course, but whatever happened, she would never give him away. Curiously, Estelle, who had loomed so prominently as his chief difficulty, now assumed an insignificant part in the problem. He didn't even consider bat disposition he was going to make of her. "You get back, Pierre, and say you met me going over to the neck," he said. "And hold 'em twenty minutes." Pierre departed. Rathway and Shorty went softly out of the hut among the pines. Pathway felt sure enough of his companion to walk in front of him. They heard the voices of the men about the fire rise into loud declamation declama-tion as Pierre returned; then the sounds were cut off as they turned along the track through the morass. Presently the stables came into sight above the reeds, and the hut beyond, with a light in it. Kathway could see the silhouetted figures of the two women. Joyce in a I'.air. motionless, and Estelle upon the bed beside her. He swore through his teeth as he watched them. "I guess this place will do," he said to Shorty. They squatted among the reeds, their pistols in their hands. It had hren snowing intermittently through the night, and it was an eerie watch, even for the unimaginative, in the litter cold and blackness. The night wind rustled the dead stalks of the reeds : the muskeg, more treacherous for the surface ice that concealed, but could never bind It, stirred anil heaved imperceptibly, like a vast sea. Across the neck of land the flames of the camp fire flickered against the rocks. Suddenly, after what seemed like an eterniry f time, Shorty whispered hoarsely in Pathway's ear, pulled at the sleeve of his mackinaw, and jvointed. From where they lurked they could see figures moving against the background back-ground of fire In the direction of the Gripping their pistols they crouched motionless, tense with excitement. But of a sudden other figures appeared, ap-peared, moving towurd the mutineers. They heard a sharp "Hands up!" followed by an oath, cries, the discharge dis-charge of firearms. And Pathway, trembling like an aspen leaf, stared into Shorty's face. "It's him! He he's come back," he babbled in superstitious terror. CHAPTER XX Estelle Betrays Lee All day, with hardly an Interval for food and rest, Lee, McGrath, and Le-boeuf Le-boeuf pursued their way along the trail toward the Free Traders' headquarters. head-quarters. The Indian went on at a tireless lope, McGrath, with aching, blistered feet, negatived nil suggestions sugges-tions for a rest ; each stop that Le-boeuf, Le-boeuf, who had taken command, enforced, en-forced, was maddening to him. The certainty in Lee's mind of Joyce's fate gave him a superhuman endurance. Twice before Pathway and he had met ; this time he swore that if the girl had suffered at his hands, he should pay for It with his life, de-spile de-spile his duty to the police. Night fell, and still they pursued their course through the darkness, until, un-til, passing in single file along the track through the morass, known to the Indian, they reached the promontory promon-tory well before morning. As they approached the neck they saw figures stealing toward them. Thinking that their presence had been discovered Lee sprang forward with his challenge. It was the man Kramer who, under the Impression that Lee was Rathway, Rath-way, fired as the words left his lips. Lee fired buck, both missed, but a bullet from Leboeuf's rifle passed through Kramer's breast and with a strangling cry the man pitched for-forward for-forward into the lake across the broken parapet. A scattering fusillade from both sides followed. Then Lee, Leboeuf, They Heard a Sharp "Hands Up," Followed Fol-lowed by an Oath, Cries, the Discharge Dis-charge of Firearms. and Father McGrath were across the neck among the gang, and laying them about with their rifle butts. "That's for ye, ye thief!" Lee heard the priest shout, as he felled the tall ruffian with a blow. "That's for ye, ye swindlin' hooch peddler, meexin' your feelthy hooch in wi' guid liquor. Anil is that yoersel, Sweeney That's what I promised ye lang syne when 1 I caught ye near the meesion !" Crash, thudded his rifle stock upon a head. Father McGrath, in fact, seemed to he mixing in a good deal of private vengeance witli the crusade. cru-sade. At every thud a man dropped, and as he smote right and left, ousting oust-ing his companions from the fray, a sort of war chant broke from his lips. F.ut the rally was only a momentary one. Having emptied their pistols, Pathway's men streamed away in flight across the promontory, to be brought up and cornered at the further end. Then, at Lee's demand, arms were flung up, and pistols went clattering down. It was not until now that the gang appeared to realize that it was not Pathway who had turned the tables. The sight of Lee took what spirit remained re-mained from them. Two of the men were slightly wounded, two were half dazed by McGrath's blows, and all were injured In one way or another; none of them had uny more fight in them. Lee scanned their faces. "Where's Rathway?" he shouted. They exchanged glances. Willing as they were to give up their leader, with or without compensation, the same thought had occurred simultaneously simultane-ously to each of them, that to betray Kathway meant giving up all chances of a share in the gold. And as long as the hut remained undiscovered that chance always existed. Impatient of their evasion, . Lee dashed out of the hut Into which Leboeuf, Le-boeuf, McGrath and he had herded them, searching for Joyce. He ran into the hut adjacent, then raced across the promontory to the huts neur the neck. But Joyce was not in either of these. There remained the central store house, and, running toward it, Lee dealt a succession of furious blows against the door with his rifle stock. It cracked, splintered and fell off its hinges. McGrath was at his side. The priest struck a match, and by the light of the tiny flare It could be seen that the interior of the place was empty. Lee swung his rifle butt furiously, knocking over barrels and boxes in the vain hope that Rathway, at least, was hiding behind them. But he was not there. Shaking off the priest, who sought to detain him, Lee ran back to the hut in which the men were herded. "Where is she?" he shouted, levelling his rifle at Pierre's face. "In the hut across the neck," Pierre babbled, gray with the terror of death. Lee.ran back across the promontory once more, heedless of his companions' compan-ions' shouts behind him. He dashed along a little trail that ran into the heart of the reeds, flinging the dry stalks tight and left, as one parts a hanging screen of beads. For a few moments he felt the ground hard beneath his feet. Then the little path ended. He trod on quaking muskeg. Pie pushed on. Again a path seemed to open before him. Again it closed. The head-high reeds were all about him now, the muskeg held him, and he went floundering floun-dering in the mud like a mired caribou. He struggled on, sometimes sinking knee deep in the swamp. He dashed his rifle against the rattling reeds, swinging it around and around his head, in the effort to beat them down and discover what lay before him. But they rose resilient from the ground like armed enemies, and In the dark he could see nothing. He shouted Joyce's name, and now, bewildered, he began to circle blindly on his tracks among the reeds, dashing dash-ing them down as If they were human enemies. Yet all the while, though he was ignorant of it, chance was directing di-recting him, circultously, toward the hut In which Joyce sat. Rathway, the moment that he recovered re-covered from the shock of hearing Lee's voice at the head of the attack, hurried to the cabin. Estelle met him. "Put out that light!" Rathway snarled. "It's him !" he half whispered. "And I thought he was dead !" "Listen to me, now!" He began talking swiftly under his breath. Estelle Es-telle crept closer to him. She listened as if he hypnotized her. "You mean that, Jim? You swear to leave that girl behind?" "I swear it, Stella. I've got the gold cached near the motor boat. Everything's Every-thing's ready, and I've had a fresh drum of gasoline put in." They heard Lee calling again. "Now, Stella!" Rathway whispered. Stella slipped from the hut and hurried hur-ried a little distance along the path. Lee, struggling in the swamp, sud denly heard Joyce imploring close at hand out of the darkness, in a voice of anguish : "Lee ! Lee ! Come to me ! Help me !" "Joyce! Joyce! It's I! It's Lee!" And suddenly he stopped. The instinct in-stinct of treachery came to him he-fore he-fore he realized that this was not Joyce who called . . . Estelle, the mimic, Estelle with Joyce's voice, luring him to destruction. Out of the dark a blow descended on his head, sending him reeling forward. for-ward. He struggled in Pathway's arms. Fiercly they fought in the cabin doorway. Then Lee was seized from behind. A kick behind the kneecap sent him sprawling on the floor. He felt himself him-self being pinioned. A noose was slipped about his neck, strangling him until he was no longer capable of resistance. re-sistance. Ropes were fastened around his body and legs. A gag was thrust in his mouth. He was helpless as a trussed chicken. Then the room leaped into light, and he saw Shorty fastening the ends of the rope to a beam, and Pathway standing over him. A moan came from Joyce's lips, and her body strained against its bonds. Rathway looked at her and uttered his hyena laugh. Taking the lighted candle from the table, he set it do.vn in a hole beneath the sill. A thin coil of smoke quickly began to spread upward. Within a minute the tinder-dry thin boards of the hut were covered with running flames. Smoke began to fill the interior. in-terior. Pathway waited till he was sure the hut was well alight, then he slashed the bond that tied Joyce to the bed, picked up the struggling girl, and carried car-ried her down the path as easily as a child, in spite of her resistance. As he neared the neck a spire of flame shot up from the hut behind him. He was half way to the water when a figure, silent and tense as a cat, leaped at him from among the reeds. It was Leboeuf, tracking Lee. Pathway, Path-way, by Instinct alone, sprang side-wise side-wise just In time to save himself. Leboeuf fell sprawling in the morass. Estelle and Shorty were waiting beside be-side the motor boat among the reeds. Rathway had reached the side of the boat before Estelle recognized Joyce in his arms. She sprang toward him with a cry. But Rathway coolly placed the girl in the bottom, and quickly fastened the ends of the rope about the seat. The boat, wedged in the sand, only tilted a little as Joyce struggled. "Jim, what does it mean? You swore you swore you'd leave her in the hut," screamed Estelle frantically. Pathway swore at her. She ran at him like a fury, and he dealt her a blow in the face that struck her to the ground. She got up dazed, staggered toward him, and stood still as the bright spire of light burst upward from the burning hut. At the same instant a single pistol shot came from the end of the promontory, followed by a sudden sud-den outcry. "Hold that d n she-wolf for a moment, mo-ment, Shorty," said Rathway, coolly; and, as Shorty threw himself upon Estelle, who had begun to scream frantically again, he turned aside, found the bag of gold, and, lifting it in his arms, staggered to the boat, and, with a mighty heave, raised it over the gunwale and placed it in the bottom. With a mighty heave of his shoulders shoul-ders he pushed the motor boat Into the water. The shouting on the promontory broke Into a yell. Figures came running run-ning toward them ; then, at Estelle's screams, broke and doubled back again. Only Rathway had seen not Shorty, gasping as he wrestled with Estelle. "W-what'U I do with her?" Shorty gasped. Rathway regarded the pair complacently. compla-cently. Everything was his; one instant in-stant now and every care w-ould have fallen from his shoulders. And there was that d n woman screaming! Shorty dealt Estelle a blow that sent her staggering back. He swung around to Rathway. "Good bye, Shorty," said Rathway softly, and shot him through the head. The body tottered and dropped at Estelle's feet. Rathway leaped into the boat, pushing it from the shore. As Estelle ran into the water he felled her with an oar. Next moment he was at the engine, and the put-put began. The boat shot out into the lake. The rattle of the motor was like music in Rathway's ears. He held the craft steady without with-out difficulty against Joyce's incessant efforts to overturn it. Seeing that she had too much leeway, he stooped and tightened the rope that bound her to the seat. On the margin of the lake Estelle stood with arms raised to the brightening bright-ening sky, screaming as if she were demented. de-mented. Suddenly she turned and disappeared dis-appeared among the reeds that fringed the shore. Behind the promontory the hut was goinir un. in a vast sheet nf flmvu Rathway chuckled. All his fears had disappeared forever. He looked at Joyce, who was now lying quiet in the bottom of tne boat. Me looked at the gold. The girl and the gold! He said that over and over. Already he was far out upon the breast of the lake, and the promontory was dwindling dwind-ling behind him. He looked at the drum of gasoline m the bow. tried to lift it, and assured himself that it was full. He smiled. Nothing could thwart his plans. He bent over Joyce. "It's all ended, dearie," he said. "Soon as you nod to show you're willing to work with me, I'll unfasten you." Joyce did not nod, and he continued: "You know I don't want to hurt yon, my dear. Just nod to show you won't try to upset the boat, and I'll set you free." Joyce took no notice. Pathway took the gag out of her mouth." But, though he had been prepared for an outburst of invective, such as he would have expected from Estelle, she did not utter a word. Rathway knew the navigation of every river and stream within a radius of a hundred miles. As his motor boat shot down the short arm of the lake the promontory disappeared from view. And It seemed to him that a long chapter In his life was closed forever. He spoke to Joyce again, and perhaps per-haps a little element of unselfishness in the man made his appeal pathetic- "Joyce, if you'll lei me unfasten you and not try to upset the boat f j promise you I'll not harm vo ('r try to touch you not till you want me to" But Joyce made no response and Rathway. perplexed, loosened' her bonds sufficiently to protect her Yom injury to the circulation, without en abling her to take any rash action unexpectedly. She took no advan tage of this, hut lay with her blaring eves fixed full upon his face. Rath-wav Rath-wav grew more uncomfortable. He could not bear to meet Joyce's eyes And Ironically, in the midst of his triumph there came to him memories of other days happy days with Estelle, Es-telle, In the first flush of their union. She had betrayed another man to go to him. but she had never betrayed him. They had loved each other. Even Rathway had loved. For the first time he thought almost al-most with a pang that he would never see Estelle again. He looked about him at the eternal forest, drooping from the uplands toward the brink of the lake. He was already safe. There was a trail along the lake's edge, but it was Impossible Im-possible for any one to catch up with him if there were any one to follow for two hours yet. He drove the motor boat ashore. He put his equipment on the bank. He collected wood to cook some food. He stooped over Joyce and raised her In his arms to carry her ashore. She offered no -resistance now, only her eyes, blazing with scorn, stared steadily stead-ily Into his. And with a new access of passion he crushed her to his breast. "You little devil!" he whispered. "You little devil, you had me scared. And I love you all the more for it !" Then, lifting up his eyes, Rathway saw something that sent all his dreams and hopes crashing to the ground. Half a mile distant, topping a little bare space among the trees, he saw two riders trotting along the trail toward him. At that distance it was impossible to distinguish them. He set Joyce down, and, looking at them, hurst into furious oaths. His horses! Yes, he had forgotten them! Two riders and how many more be-him? be-him? How many men had that d n Anderson brought with him? Hastily he carried the unresisting girl back into the boat, threw in the utensils that he had taken out for the meal, and started the engine again. Soon the boat was cutting Its way downstream once more. It was going faster than any horse could follow. Rathway's spirits began to soar again, j He looked at Joyce, lying quiet in the bottom of the boat. She was no longer looking at him. She had fallen asleep. A slight smile hovered about her lips. It frightened him, that smile; it was as if in her sleep she communed with some protecting force that assured her of safety. And suddenly his heart was filled with superstitious fears. This woman seemed unbreakable. He thought of Estelle's words. And now he wished that he had taken her advice and let the girl go. About the middle of the afternoon he ran ashore again, gathered more firewood, and cooked a meal, eating ravenously. He tried to make Joyce eat, but she lay still in her bonds, ignoring ig-noring him. When he kissed her, her lips were cold as ice. He cut her bonds. He drew her into his arms. The touch of her unresisting un-resisting body against his own restored re-stored his courage. "Joyce!" he cried. "Joyce! Tve got you now ! You're mine " She was not looking at him. She was looking past his head and smiling. smil-ing. Involuntarily Rathway turned his head to see. A mile away, on the shore of the lake, he saw the two horsemen riding steadily toward him. Furious oaths burst from his lips. At that moment he seemed to r.ead his doom. It was incredible that they could have ridden so fast. He must go on and on now, on till he had pitted the last ounce of his machine fuel against horse flesh and won. Once more he carried Joyce back into the boat. Once more he hurled his craft downstream. An hour passed. The sun was beginning be-ginning to decline. And now out of the far distance a faint murmur broke upon his ears. Rathway knew what it was; he had often heard It before. It was the roar of Reindeer falls. Beyond those there was no trail nothing hut impenetrable forest through which no horse could pass Beyond the rapids he was safe.' And he had often navigated them. He knew the narrow channel between the rocks. Once more his hopes revived. Looking back, he could see nothing but the forest, reaching down to the lake shore. The roar of the rapids grew lo'uler. They appeared in thelis-nnce, thelis-nnce, a line of foam crinkled with the black outcropping f the rock However, the engine began to miss rue, and Pathway perceived that the pa. hue was almost exhausted. IIe filled the reservoir from the drum. Thi engme rattled and stopped. The boat began to drift sidewise with the increasing current. Rathway examined his engine. He tor w,th0!tdlTrer W"nt WM tha " -it would not run, that was all He rayed. He looked about him , (1 s! Plr. , He looked back ; there was no sign of the horsemen Suddenly, as If Illumination hid e to him, he tilted the drum Po-n-ed a little stream of the eo, ten s '"to 1,1s hand, and raised It to h L n-n s. Then, with a frenzied on , tilsed -nd hurled It in' to' Kramer, to prevent Rafhwav's e, Z mS0f ' Us"'0 K0"1' h" with water C"nte",S "'ld refl-'" " Rathway looked back In Mo ! and once more saw the h P'"r rldInB on the trail ""mon (TO 1!1C CONTINl'ICD.) |