Show ev AN k 3 MEIN A 11 w 2 4 1 ic 7 INN L V 4 az zizz STRINGER HE S TORY STORY SO FAR although he elects c acts I 1 jim him of being up to something an slade has agreed to fly doctor frayne rayne to the Anaw otto country to find the breeding ground of the trumpeter swan slade and his partner cruger have had a hard time keeping norland airways going in the face of stiff competition from the larger and better equipped companies and frayne has paid them enough to buy another plane a lockheed while in town on an errand slade meets lynn daughter of the flying padre and goes with her to help a flyer named slim bumstead Tum stead who has been wounded in a fight bumstead Tum tu stead has already lost his license for drinking r n and is little better than an outlaw 0 ti w so alan is not pleased to discover that he knows about fracnes Fr aynes expedition and about the new lockheed when he leaves lynn alan goes down to the dock to watch frayne and his assistant karnell load their supplies on the plane ilis his suspicions are again aroused by their the equipment now that night a iwler aler has just approached cassidy tc hinan for norland airways now continue with the story CHAPTER V cassidyy Cass idys pipe fell to the boards as that shadow confronted him stick ern em up was the curt and altogether unexpected command quick cassidy instead of obeying reached for his fallen pipe and fell back a step or two he noticed for the first time how the lower part of the strangers face was covered by a handkerchief whit what is this anyway he demanded doing his best to decipher the face above the maskin masking handkerchief but a second band of white that showed under the strangers lowered hat brim kept him from seeing much of the face dont talk said the stranger turn around now wall walk ahead of ne into that shed cassidyy Cass idys hesitation was brief it seemed foolish to argue against that little round 0 of black metal T chich at the twitch of a finger could spit death into his body stop there was the next command now put your hands behind you he could feel the sudden bite of copper wire being twisted about his crossed wrists stand closer to that upright he saw the blink of a flashlight as the stranger caught up a strand 0 of mooring line before he quite realized the meaning of that movement cassidy felt the rope swing about his body he could feel the coils grow tighter as the rope ends were quickly knotted together cassidyy Cass idys first impulse was to shout aloud to all the world to shout with the full strength of his bound and abused body but he remembered the black metalled auto rc c and shut his teeth on that ling ing temptation he e stood silent watching the stranger who hurried toward the hangar he could see the flashlight flicker interrogatively about the dismantled grumman and then go out he could see the shadowy figure drift down to the dock edge and climb aboard the Post craft that floated there fueled and ready for its sunup takeoff take off to winnipeg and the east cassidy twisted about a little under the rope coils that constricted strict ed his body chilled by the thought that a plane was being stolen from right under the compa nys nose he even waited tor for the expected engine spit and flash of Hwak si wakened ened propeller blades but the Post craft remained motionless ti the watching man con I 1 from the brief waver of light sits aits nits interior that the intruder wat was te searching arching its cabin the next Cas idys pipe fell to the boards as that shadow confronted him moment from the sounds that came to his straining ears he suspected that the stranger was tearing out the ignition wires he could hear the splash of something in the harbor water as though a piece of metal had been thrown overboard that violence to machinery so artfully tooled and so beautifully fitted together for service prompted the indignant captive to writhe and strain against the rope ends encircling him but his struggles he soon saw were useless his attention went to the shadowy figure that dropped down from the Post craft and crossed to the lockheed that glinted insubstantial and ghostlike in the starlight softened by the distant aurora the darkness he saw was thinning a little the stranger no longer needed the flashlight as he threw off the mooring lines and clambered aboard it until cassidy heard the bark and sputter of the starting engine that he gave vent to a repeated shout of protest but that shout was lost in the mounting roar of the motor as the blades bit into the air and the sil ver white lockheed moved away cassidy could see it as it taxied down the shadowy water of the he could see it veer and face the wind and finally rise in the air he could see it as it floated up phantomlike phantom like above the serrated black line of the spruce ridges and then swing about so as to head more directly into the north the gray light of morning was breaking over alberta by the time cassidy had worked himself free and stumbled up to the administration building telephone his call brought a ruffled and halt half dressed cruger to the airport on the run now tell me what happened he panted and tell it intelligently this time cassidy did the best he could that brief and indignant however left much to be desired but cruger was thinking of other things he was thinking of his lost lockheed and the setback it meant for norland airways it make sense he cried faith and he was sensible all right persisted cassidy A hea heap P more sensible lookin than them two swan hunters young lindy slade flew out 0 here yesterday mornin cruger Cri iger instead of answering climbed aboard the Post craft his face when he returned from his investigations there remained perplexed he knew his onions all right that high jacker fixed this ship so it follow him crugers brugers Cru gers eye scanned the brightening skyline you say he flew north he questioned youre sure of that 1 I am averred cassidy then its time to get busy cried cruger or this outfit goes broke then we best be doin asked cassidy crugers brugers Cru gers accruing sense of fr frustration us flowered in a shout made sharp with exasperation if we dont get that lockheed back best cut your cowardly throat slade flying north with his two self immured passengers found something consoling in the quietness which his engine hum merely seemed to accentuate it was pretty lonely looking country they were traversing yet there was he felt consolation in loneliness like that it gave you time to think things out and explore your own mind and it made you less dependent on outsiders after refueling at frenchman forks the viking eyed pilot saw a torn drift of clouds lower his ceiling and a freshing wind sweep down out of the northeast if his passengers understood that lowered ceiling they ventured no comment on it slade was lightly casual as he gunned the motor and taxied out to clear water his eyes steadied as he nosed into the wind slapped a run of wave tops with his floats and rose above the stunted spruce ridges yet one segment of his circling attention still went to his passengers he noticed that frayne had unrolled a chart over which karnell and the birdman bent from time to time as they quietly talked together they seemed to be having difficulty in linking up their chart lines with the terrain beneath them it was dreary country slade admitted and the low sweeping clouds made it look drearier but it had its grandeur even lynn he remembered had caught the spirit of its immensity these barrens she had said on one of his happier flights from coronation can be so empty and ugly able to turn into something beautiful he was still thinking of lynn as he battled his head wind steadily growing stronger he noticed for the second time the powerful german binoculars with which frayne was studying a chain of lakes that grew wider as they droned dronek over them then he awakened to the fact that frayne was calling out to him your plane is not modern his passenger was complaining slade nettled a little at that charge she still hangs together he retorted to confirm that claim he opened the throttle and zoomed defiantly up over a mountain of shredded gray wool he took it like a hunter taking a hurdle why asked frayne do you fly ay without two way radio slade laughed im a bush pilot he proclaimed and two way radio weighs exactly sixty five pounds chip just about sixty five dollars off my pay load 1 I also observe said frayne that you are without a direction finder Is that not like refusing to accept what science has placed in your hands slades glance flickered down to his meager instrument board ashes an archaic old tub he agreed but I 1 get through as a rule he declined to announce that hed flown that country for nearly seven years without a major crash he had of course known his minor mishaps hed smashed tail skids and punctured pontoons pon and buckled ski struts and straightened them out again hed turned more than one somersault bucking a snowdrift hed capped his engine and made repairs at forty below and knocked the ice from his ailerons with a fishing pole as he went hed down through cotton wool fog on ooze and muskeg soup only three feet deep and hed pushed the old kite through snow clouds seven thousand feet up with the haze red on one side and green on the other as his wing lights plowed through the blanketing mist his ship was something to look at in those days in her fresh coat of pale gray that took on the appearance of white in the arctic sunlight so white that from cooking lake to coronation she had been known a as athe the snowball snow ball baby she was wa a bit old and battered now but bist hea she never failed him in the face of such haz hazards aids frayne was saying you are well paid I 1 take it by your company im part of the company said slade but it bring me in anything to brag about in that case suggested his passenger you must have hopes for better things what better things slade inquired there is of course always the matter of money it means little to a man of science but it must have its consolations for a young man with his way to make in the world it counts acceded the pilot his thoughts at the moment were on barrett walden the barrett walden who could hunt big game and cruise in the caribbean and airily buy his way about the world then perhaps the prospect of making a good deal of money might appeal to you slades passenger was suggesting howd I 1 make it there was a moment 0 of f silence by flying for me perhaps frayne suggested out of that silence the tone was friendly enough but the suggestion left slade wondering why it confronted him with a prospect that remained so uninviting hunting swans nests he asked with a smile frayne ignored any possible touch of scorn in that query there are nests he observed that sometimes contain what is known to your countrymen as a nest ea egg 1 not for me thank you slade announced more decisively than he had intended you do not care for adventure frayne was suggesting slade laughed 1 I get all I 1 need of that he said 1 flying this old crate and if the w weather eather thickens know what im shooting at frayne glanced out at the lowering ceiling but the weather failed to interest him your company I 1 understand Is not as prosperous as it might be weve had our ups and downs slade acknowledged but theres zip to it when youre not sure of the outcome im going to stick to pud dle die jumping until we pun pull into the clear then my enterprise fails to interest you it interests me said slade only as an outsider frayne shrugged 7 and bent over his bis chart then after consulting his watch he studied the desolate look ing terrain through his binoculars we are not making good time he complained were bucking a head wind slade retorted a head wind we counting on theres no one you see to hand us we weather lather reports on this route the caustic note seemed lost on frayne who was busy looking down at the world flowing past them TO BE CONTINUED LN 41 ov k ve |