The evening world. Newspaper, September 21, 1915, Page 17

‘hoe % , I wasn't in shape, > 1 had in that country, A Treasure Hunt Story With a New Twist By BERTRAND W. SINCLAIR ere — hm Oe re OF Fe Rew CHAPTER U1. (Ovwtdnwed “Reduced to the Ranks.” ACHAN'S heels clicked to wether and bie right hand | went up in the military salute; the red faced one acknowledged it by @ berely Perceptibie Sip of his fet paw, then PR 2 MMe extra #tiffening *Pinal column and growled in a voice hat eeomed to ocho in the region of Me diaphragm: “I'ro-ceed MacKhea proceeded. Lut he didn't 4 barely port, sir, human aousage the bethought himarif of something, and held vp his hand for silence, He Produced @ watch, and studied it frowningly, then dismissed us with & ponderous geature, “TRepawt,” he grumbled, away down Bis chest cavity, “at helf-past-— @ir,” MacKas saluted again, @ withdrew, ‘A Oeautiful epecimen!” 1 remark. o4 earcastioally. “Have you many ike bim? I'd admire to sen him eavorting around on the pinnacles after horse-thieves or whiskey-run- ners. A peaceable citizen would sure do well on the other side of the line Mf sheriffs and maraluis wor @ lay-off for dinner when @ man was in the middle of his complaint. How long do you suppose It will take that fat slob to get a bunch of these sol- dier-policemen on the trail of that ten thousand?” MacRea laughed dryly. “Old Dob- son is harmless, all right, as far as bunting outlaws is concerned, but he doesn't cut much figure around here; mo more than two or three other ‘taw-haw’ Englishmen that got into the force some way. Lessard —the major in charge—ta the brains of the post, He does things while these other fellows are untangling the red From there we rode to the stables. Every one seemed to know Mac, and to be glad to see him, When we'd unsaddled and fed our horses, he led the way toward a row of whitewash- #4 cabins, set off to one side by them- selves. “We'll eat dinner with Bat Per- he said, "Hat's an ex-stock- hand, like myself, and we'll be as wel- come as pay day, And he'll know if Lyn Rowan has come to Walsh.” finanotally, to have any choice in the matter of a stopping place. Sixty or seventy dol- lars expense money was all the cash 1 had when I left Walsh for Renton; and, while I may have neglected to mention the fact, those two coin col- lectors didn't overlook any small change when they held me up for LePere's roll. There was a sort of shebang—you couldn't call It a hotel {f you had any regard for the truth— at the fort, for the accommodation of the wayfarers without a camp out- fit, but most of the time you couldn't got anything fit to eat here, So T was mighty glad to hear about Bat Per- kins. It transpired, however, that before we reached Bat Perkins's cabin Mac got an unexpected answer to one of the questions he intended to ask, As we turned the corner of a two-story Jog house that, from its pretentious~ ness, I judged to be some officer's quarters, we came face to face with fa tall, keen-featured man tn the police uniform, and a girl Even though Rutter had said she was to be at Walsh, I wasn't pro- pared to believe it was Lyn Rowan. She didn’t givo me much time to In- dulge in guesswork, though, While 1 wondered, for an instant, it there could be atother woman on God's footstool with the same saucy tilt to her by the samo heavy coils of tawny hair, and those unfathomable purple-blue eyes that aiways mot your own so frankly, she recognized the pair of us; though MacKae’s unt- form must have puzzled ber for an \oegordon—and Sarge Flood! Where rid did you come from? 1 ee lee She stopped paner suddenly, 1 know, just as well ast *d said it, that she had been on the Ratat Of asking what he was doing in the yellow-striped breeches and red tout of the Muuuted Loliceman | toy had parted in anger, she forgot it while she spoke his ec, Right there on the spot is where yours truly would have taken down the lover's lariat and tled to her hard and fast, But Mackae—while wae wine (9 6 was the on ie fe, tats and the kind of a friend that sticks closer than @ brother, I'd a hankering to beat him over the noodle with my gun, and knock @ little of the stiffness out of his neck—simply saluted the officer, tipped his hat to her, and passed on, I didn't sabe the play, and when I saw the red flash up into her cheeks it made me hot, and there followed a few seconds when I had a blamed poor opinion of Mr. Gordon Mackae, ‘The fellow with her, I noticed, drew oe hemelt wp Yerterday only,” she returned © you remember olf Mammy | Thomas, don't you?—came over from Kenton with the Maker fr 1 expret te meet dad he daye fay. do you know my back _ herkiod like @ caterpillars when he poke her father! That buneb ode and the dead) horse a and 4 never meat this of ti That war aj pearly mates for somebody that could put his arms around ber and Kise the teare out Not! her eyes; somebody who could mi her fowl that life etil! held compen. eations of the fond old man Wh lived and worked and! died tn a far country to make @ stare’ for ler 1 gol my wite about me again 4 to mak " when shoulder strapa and the 4 p lar cut in and! and we must hurry, Mise or we shall be Inte for lunch- he drawled a moment, Mafor,” a an “Are you going to be here any ” on. length of time, "A day OF 80. I responded shortly; 1 didn't feel very cheerful with all that bad news simmering Inside me. and conceived a full-grown dis. | lke for the “major” and his holler han-thou attitude Then come and see me. I'm atay- tng with Mra, Stone—Major Lossary sister. The & thousand thin: want to talk Goodby.” she turned away, the uniformed snob | by her side. \ ‘Macktae had purposely lottered, and I overtook bim in a an. | “Well,” T blurted, headed cuss, confound you He shrugged his shoulders tol antly “five and you'll learn, What did you expect mo to do?” “You might have—oh, well, I sup- pore you'll go your own galt, regard~ *"Laputtered; “that's your privi- But I don't see how you had the nerve to pass her up that way. | Especially after that Stony Crossing deal.” Mac took a dozen steps before he Answered me. | “You, don't understand the lay of things,” he said rather hesitatingly. “If I have the situation sized up right, Lyn is practically alone, and it's going to be a pretty bad time for her when she finds things out. And if she has made friends among the people who are the people here, it's up to me to stand back—until that cache 1s found and she doesn’t need t » falr-weather friends, You probably don't know It, and ashe couldn't realize {t, but these officers’ wives and sisters would drop her like a hot potato if she recognized a ‘non- com’ as a social equal. It sounds pretty rotten, but that's Rritish style.” “Then you don’t intend to see her and talk this thing over’" T inquired. “L can't, don't you see?” he replie impatientiy. “That's for you, Sarge.” “Why the, devil don't you chuck this Job?” f flung out hotly. “Isn't there any way you can cut loose and be a free agent again?” It angered me to think of him having to bow the head and bend the knee to a lot of fat-heada, all puffed up with an exaggerated idea of thelr own {m- portance. “You,” he returned, and a little Ditterness crept Into his tone, “there are (wo ways. but neither is open to me, I might desert, which would be a dirty way to sneak out of a thing T went into deliberately; or, If they were minded to allow me, I could buy myself out—and I haven't got the price “Who,” I asked, remembering sud- denly something 1 wanted to know, “was the Jasper escorting Lyn?” “Major Lessard,” he answered shortly. By this time we had come to the front yard of the last cabin in the row, and from the doorway a voice hailed us, and Bat Perkins appeared, both hands in his trousers pockets, and a pipe sagging down one corner of his mouth “Hello, there, Mac!" ho greeted. “Just in time for grub pile." I was duly made acquainted with Bat, and later with his wife, who, if she did have a trace of Indian blood in her, could certainly fill the bill when it came to feeding a hungry man. Bat, I discovered, was attached to the force in a civilian capacity, We ate, smoked a cigarette apiece, and it was time for us to “repawt.” So we betook ourseives back to the seat of the mighty, to share our troubles with the men who. guided the destinies of the turbulent North- west, and see what they could do about it. This time the orderly passed us In without delay, and once more we faced the man of rank, who, when he had sized us up, ordered MacRae to state his business, As he related tha unvarnished tale of the banked fire, the holdup, and the double killing, the sound of a footfall made me turn my head, iT saw tr e door’ be- hind me Major 1. rd, listening, a black frown on his eagle face, When MacRae had finished, and the tncap- able blockhead behind the desk re- garded the two of Us as though ine considered us the victims of a bad dream, Lessard slammed the door shut and strode into the room, “You can attend to your regular duties, Captain Dobson,” he sald to the red-faced numskull, 1 take charge of this." Standing at the end of the tesk, he made MacRae reiterate the grim story In detail, then turned gn him a bat- tery of questions, Could he give a deseription of the men? Would he Know them again? Why did he not exercise more precaution when In- vestigating anything so suspicious as a concealed fire? Why this? Why that? Why did he mot send a trooper to report at once, instead of wasting time in going to Stony Crossing? And IS GOING B EUROPE To LEc Ture ON PEACE (Brel Aa a dozen more, With every word his thin-lipped mouth drew into harder Ines, and the cold domineering tone, welghted heavy with sneering em- phasis, grated on me till | wanted to reach over and his handsome, smoothly shaven face, But Macku od at attention, heels togeth iiders squared, ahd took his medi cine. He had to, He wis in the Presence, and answering the cate- im, of a superior officer, and bis superior officer, by virtue of a com- mission from the Canadian Goyern- ment, could insult his manhood and lash him with a viperish tongue; and if he resented it by word or deed, there was the guard-house and tho shame of irons—for discipline must be maintatned at any cost! An enlisted man, 1 learned, hasn't any business to understand the deti- nition of the word “insult,” “Why, damme!" Lessard stormed, “you've handled this like a green one fresh from over the water. You're held up; this man loses ten thousand dollars; another man in murdered un- der your nose—and yet you waste thirty-six hours blundering around the country to satisfy your infernal curiosity, It's incredible in a man of your experience under any hypothesls except that you stood in with the out- liws and beld back to assure their escape!” At first MacRae had looked puzzled. Then, under the lash of Lessard’s bit- ter tongue, the dull red stole up into his weather-browned cheeks, glowed there an instant, then receded, leav- ing his face a waxy white; his left hand was at Its old familiar trick, fingers shut tight over the thumb, And when Lessard flung out that last unthinkable accusation the explosion came. “You He, you ——~- ——- ——!" Mac- Rae spoke in a cold, impersonal tone, and only the flat, strained note be- trayed his feeling, but the term he used was one to make a man's ears burn; it Was the range rider's gaun let thrown squarely in an enemy's face, “You lie when you say that, T don't know your object, but I call your bluff—you—you ineect!” Lessard, if he had been blind till then, saw what was patent to me— that he had gone too far, that the man he had hatted so unmercifully was primed to kill him if he made @ hostile move, Macktae leaned for- ward, his hazel eyes twin coals, the thumb of his right hand hooked sug- gestively In the cartridge belt close by his gun. They were a well- matched palr; iron-nerved, both of : the #ort of men to face death and unafraid, “A full min- y glared at each other, Then Lessard, without moving a muscle or changing his steady gage, spoke. “Captain Dobson,” he sald quietly, “call the orderly." Dobson, mouth agape, dingled a little bell on the desk and the orderly stepped in from the outer room, - “Orderly, disarm Sergeant Mao- a0." Lessard uttered the command evenly, without bluster, his tone al» most a duplicate of Mackae's, He knew men, that eagle faced major; he knew that one jarring word, a single false motion, would mean a smoking gun. MacRae would have shot him in his tracks if he'd tried to reach a weapon. But a man that's dead yame—which his worst enemy could not deny of MacRae—won't, can't shoot down another unless that other shows fight—and the knowledge of that gun fighter's trait saved Major Lessard's hide from being badly pune- tured that day ‘The orderly, a rather shaky orderly, SToP ) LOOK and LISTEN | To MY PEACE \ Lecture! if the truth be told (I think he must have listened through the keyhole) stepped up to Mac. “Give me your side arms, sergeant,” he sald nervously. MacRae looked from one to the other, and for a breath I was as ner- vous as the trooper. It was touch and go just then; and if he'd gone tha wrong way I'd have gone with him for friendship’s sake, and there would have been a horrible mix-up in that two-by-four room, But he didn't. Just smiled; a sardonic kind of xrim- ace, and unbuckled his belt without wor He'd begun to cool. Thirty Reduced to the ranks! days in irons—solitary confinement! Lessard snapped out, with a snarl, and the orderly led MacRae from the room. "See Lyn, Sarge"—MacRac paused at the door, and flung the words over his shoulder, in. Spanis' nd hold your horses till T get ou @When I turned again to Lessard he atill stood at the endef the desk, industriously paring his’ finger naile and smiling broadly. CHAPTER IV. Lyn. F LESSARD had played the martinet with Mcltae he was the essence of affabil- ity tome, (I'd have enjoyed punching his proud head, for all that it was ai dirty way to serve a man who had done hia best.) While he pointed out the diMoulty, in a country as big as the Northwest, of laying hands on men who knew they were wanted, he told ame that it was a certainty th be captured if they undertook to spend any such sum of money at any trad- ing-post within the jurtadiction of the Mounted Police, Of course, if they crowed the line It would be dif- ferent—but I'd have to take chanoes ‘on that. “I'l have to send a detail to bring in those bodies,” he sald, In conclu- sion No doubt it will be a trial for Miss Rowan, but [ think she would feel better to have her father buried here—and, besides, the identi- fication must be made complete. Will you go with the men? They might have trouble locating the graves.” I agreed to go, and left the office, The last thing he sutd was that I could hang out In Troop G's mess for & few days if I didn’t care to go back to Benton right away, It never struck me tll { was out- side, but he passed up the gold epl- sode altogether, didn’t say if he in- tended sending any one to prognosti- cate around Writing-Stone or not, I wondered if he took any stock in Rutter’s etory, or just thought it one of the queer turns a man’s brain will take sometimes when he's dying. At first it sounded off color to me; but I knew old Hans pretty well, and he Wasn't the sort of pilgrim that Kets mixed in his mental processes. fe- sides—if there wasn't some strong | centive, why that double Icliling, say nothing of the unbelie devillshgess that accompanied it? NOW Don'T HEAR You AGAIN OR I'LL GIVE You ANOTHER PEACE ( LEcTuRE The Evening World Daily Magazine, Tuesday. “LET NE Once out of the official atmosphere I hesitated over my next move, Les- ward's high-handed squelching of Mackae had thrown everything out of focus. We'd planned to report, ace Lyn, if she were there, and then, with Pend d'Oreille as a base of operations, go on a@ still hunt for whatever the Writing-tone might conceal, That scheme was knocked galley-west and crooked, for even when Mackae's time was up he'd got a long term of duty at headquarters, aud, aa # private, his comings aod goings would be acoording to barrack rule instead of the free hand allowed argo at Pend that much of the M. And so far & — sergeant-in-c d’Oreille; L kn VP. rules and regulations, as my tackling singlé-handed a search for Hank Rowan's cache--well, I de- cided to see Lyw before Lt took tat contmet, I hated that, too, It always went against my grain to be a bearer of evil tidings; I don't like to mee @ woman cry, especially one 1 like. Somebody Had to tell her, though, and she might think it queer if [ hung back and let some stranger blurt it out. So I got the first troop- er I saw to show me where Mra. Stone abode, and thither I rambled, Wishing mightily for a good stiff jolt out of the keg old Piegan Smith and Mac had clashed over, But if there was any bottied nerve restorer around Fort Walsh, it was tucked away in the officers’ cell and not for the common herd; ao I had to fall back on cigarettes. Lyn happened to be sitting out In front when I reached the place. An- other female person, whom I put down as Madam Stone, scuttied into the house at my approach, Lyn motioned me to a camp stool close by her, I sat down, and immedt- ately my tongue became petrified, My think machinery was running against time, but words—If allence fa truly golden, I was the richest man in Canada just then, My vocal organs refused to deliver themselves of anything but empty commons Places: the kind your tongue care res in stock from force of habit, And before many minutes of verbal inanities, Lyn observed that soimne- thing, as she put it, was lying heavy on my consctence, ond hadn't I bet- ter confess and feel better? “Tt tgn't_ telling things that wor ries me,” I led; “though T have got some disagreeable news laid up for more than one person, There'a a lot T want to know; how you came to he away up here by your lonesome, for instance; and what brought your father and old Hana"—~ Those purple eyes widened, one a queation-mark, “Who told you Hang wan up hore? I know I didn't mention hin she ound “Have vou seen them It's a wonder my face Midn't betray me, I know I looked half-seared for a second, That was a question I'd aindly have passed up, but her eyes demanded an answer, “T saw Hans the other day—fust for a minute,” I stammered, ‘But that can walt,” I went on, hurrying to get off the subject, which T wasn't ready to open up. “What jarred you all loose from Texas? And what Aid you do to MacKne that he quit the South and went soldiering in this country? She backed away fi that query, Just aa T expected. “We had oceans f trouble since you left there, Barge.” he told me, looking out across the barrack square, “It—it doesn't make pleasant telling, You remember Feltz, and that ald trouble about the fence each uy -_—-—_— AI Rea ee mame SOLOIERS oF ALL THe ARMIES oF up the river? Well, it, came to a head one day in Fort Wogth, and they fought, and dad shot hi: Of course Feltz 4 friends, and they tried to make it a case of murde: Dad was cleared, but that was the beginning of our bad luck. The trial cost an awful lot of money; and made ene- too, Then Feltz's brother took us on his own account—dad can give you the particulars when he comes.” shivered at ("Whea that.) fever he comes" —I “To crown it all pt among and they were smiling, making light of everything, Lots of girle would have had 4 good cry over 4 hard-luok story like that, I thanked the Lord she was game when I remembered what I had to tell “Dad, you know, Isn't the kind of man to sit around and whine,” #he said, and ber head went up proudly. “L don't know where he got the idea of going to Peace River, but he sold what Iittle stuff we bad left and started out with Hans, I wanted to go along, but dad wouldn't listen to such a thing, They've been gono over two rs. I'd get a letter about once in months, and inst time dad wrote waid they had made a good stake, and were coming home, So IL Just rounded up Mammy Thomas and ame up here to meet him; I could do that much, anyway, 1 sant him word I'd be here, and I've rather enjoyed the trip, Where did you see Hans? Waan't dad with him?" b I could aay that truthfully enough. For the other question, I dodged that. "Look here, Lyn,” I went on, "I'm going to tell you some- thing on my own responsibility, and you mustn't take ft that ['m trying to mix into your personal affairs, Tut IT have a hunch that you're laboring under a mistaken impression, right now; that is, you care anything about Mackae. “I don't, though, really,” she denied hastily; but she colored ao that I knew she cared a heap more than she would ever admit to any one but MacRae, “Well,” I continued, “maybe you thought It was queer an old friend like him. we # you up like he did a while ago; but you're among a different breed of people; a he different from what they are across the line, And these redcoate have standards of behavior that don't look like much to anybody raised among cowmen, Mac couldn't stop and chat with you while you were In the com- pany of his superior officer. ‘These shoulder strapped gentry,” I sneered, “don't consider an enlisted man worthy of social consideration—and they have a blamed poor opinion of anybody that does, You see, don’t ou? This in a pretty rough for a woman, and, seeing you" friends with the people on didn't want to queer you with they misery, though,” 1 concluded afterthought, “if he'd held you up and talked for an hour. She looked at me sharply, forgetting for the moment her inquiry about Hans. “What do you mean?" she demand ed in that obey-me-at-once way I knew of old, "MacKae's tn trouble,” T told her bluntly, "Major Lessard, who happens to be the big chief here, seems to have developed a sudden grudge against him. He raked Mac over the coals in a Way that was hard to stand, Yq know MacRae, Lyn; It's mighty poor business for any man to crowd him too bard. He had to report @ hold- mber 21. ¥! story down asa fairy tal be siripee ond gow ent ut t “What ond. be Be tor having a0 inna bee low hie oe suk oe thewer le (he @uerdhouse to meditate cnemome tot thirty days of ao wt ore bin ageie yow'l it wae rate My but wae the beet toe atroumetances tor? A way to talk uid de The inet Ub, they eure band wee Het 0) mpal uieed. hee eo oe best man in the foree, tow. that dou't sound queer te me! wise could he dot But aye breakin’ out io & Rew heres’ iat offered; amet = 0 4 look ae if you thought it my fault that Gordon ie ia trouble.” No, ‘1 protestea "Wat you . she declared (it eet If be badan't been sv so dosmn't he get out of the Mounted Poilee? He doesn't have to stay eeninet bie will At leaat” with « ” “he never would du anything unless it oul him’ She took to staring out across the grounds again hand drew up slowly til It door, He came back to murmur of & voice nodded omphaticaty st you know.” ‘The red went up into her froe again “1 don't particularly like keeping her face turned aw dad gets here. What wan that about Hane? Where did you see bim, and why wasn't dad with him She had me cornered at last, and I felt like breaking away right there, with the tale I had,to tell crowd clove, Ud rathor have taken @ ounding than @o on, but I couldn't at about the bush any longer, “It's @ hard story, Lyn,” | prefaced gently, “They had bad luck at the jast. This bunch MacRae waa after —~when he didn't report—got wind of the gold Hana and your father |e bringing out. They tried to 4 was doubled into @ tight-ehut litte @ grin, and haaded me a 1 tor ‘ou'oight buy his release,” 1 eug- ore Joking “It only costs five Leasard tare” (Maoltae bar Won't send you with an escort 'd he bday 1 4 ee it ie you anythit you to be careful { dow ¥ out. This money will hold & for « while; it's all T cauld ie 4 If you need more, perbaps can help you out. bepwar's style, “You know what this is, don’t 1 awked Bat. “How the dickens he manage jt? plied, “that wouldn't t hait a show; hee tian, Ue eany f prisoner to alip & note to a friend that happens to be mount - ing guard, He sent it to me because get \t. So far as I know they haven't ps 4) apt to know where yub was, succeeded yet. Tans tried to td There shivered, and, hoped she didn't see. as Ha came across cary bs et thone prairie pirates to match. then, t out cigarette selves agat ir or five irk (ger ge te if policemen—provided we found aay- thing that was worth fighting sweated, for want of something better wiggly ara believes in our yarn at i That was all, Not a word t Hat laughed silently. “Ti where it was cached. It struck me that material in an absent sort of way. e say and forced # laugh to show ter and eee if be he won't aot, stay here Lyn. But that wae the high. ® buck trooper in the lp Mao if he white o—and hi h I ny to follow w bo uur was A good one to follow Peecea. ane “ane could hardly refuse to do 5 and it would be rather unhealt My Mp , omen were almighty dry Ju if they were on their | was looking at won fee a bed me the t van en joor rnge “steadiness daylight. Les had told me 40 be ready at 9 o'clock in 4 When the first sunbeam stole the window at Bat’s tiny i! pubes on my, hoch ane Rey to found him—he died In a my horse, ir we'd eaten ‘And4 then we went on to [ headed, straight for Lessard's quar- look for your father, found him & too late to do anything. After wo buried him-—both of them-—we came on her I felt Hke a beast, but, at any rate, it was told; all that she need know, that ts. [ sat still and watched her, wondering nervously what she'd do. Tt was a at nothing. “He was breath and separated, when we little while, tt hurried on. Hans was about all in ors. ‘Look here, Major,” I said, muster- ing up @ semblance of beartiness that tac lot of being the real I didn't like him, and it ask anything of him, “have talked this affair over with Rowan bok Why?" He was very curt, pet | pocketed my feelings and per- sisted, “Phen you must know that there was something In Rutter’s story,” I proceeded. “Hank Row jas my friend. I'd go out of zw any time to help his daughter, Will you send four or five of your men to Writing-Stone with me to look for in to att there and say aid nor did she cried heraelf, not then; jooked at mi through me, almost, her face wht and drawn and her purple-bluo eyes perfectly black. A last and t one hand on her shoulde: th hell, little girl, I know,” I aid. Tt’ . 1 “wi "t bring your father back to that stuff?” I asked him pointblana, ie, but ee can run down the cold ~ He looked me Se ia down our- blooded fiends that killed him. Lhave a crow to plek with them myself, and even if I didn't, I'd still be In the hi game, We'll get them somehow, and the gold, too, when Mac gets out and can play his hand again, It was finding your father and giving him decent burial that kept us out so long, I don’t understand yet why the Major should piteh into Mackae hard for doing that. You know Mac, Lyn, and you know me—we'll do what we car She didn't move for a minute, and the shocked, atricken look in her eyes fously, and sald not for a minute, “How do you now shore to hook anded, " rita. en miles long.” cold, gray eyes rested on my with an odd, speculative stare. thought Rutter died you the exact location?” As a mater of fact, MacRae, in de- tailing the lurid happenings of night, did not repeat add out with hie last breath. said that Rutter died after that they had it~ w grew more Intense, ‘Then she dropped he gold was her face in the palma of her hands And a with a atifled groan, "Sarge, I—1 wish passed up the ge you'd go now.” she whispered, "I want Ht questions he toto be all by myself for a while, I jacRae were about the rob- must think.” T stood trresolute @ second, It may have been my fancy, but T seemed to hear her whisper to herself , Gor- don, Gordon!" Then IT atuck both hands deep In my pockets and turned to go; ft was not for me to comfort A hundred yarda Bhe still sat on her head bowed on her afternoon eun playing hide-and-seek iene heavy coils of her tawny gold ir, Thorne atendily reiterated ‘raw «@ld—on the rock,” mi; some meaning if one were on the spot, but MacRae had kept that to himself and I wasn't running @ bureau of information for Lessard's benefit. The Canadian Government took oath on a@ stack of gave a cast-iron bond. t know why I felt that way at the time. Perhaps it was his person- al CHAPTER V. ot beats) ton wad teat women The Vanishing Act. bg esnen fea eee telling “Rien everything I knew. “He did,” Lanswered, “But we ean take a chance, Send men that know tos Sau nten ie Rowan pens a relative on earttt now; that money; means a lot to her.” ‘ “H—m-m." He mused a few see- onds, Then: “If I can spare the men, rn what can be done after those bodies are brought in, You, of course, are ready to start?” I nodded, “Bergt, Goodell is in charge of the detail, You'll probably find him at the commissary. ‘That's all." Tt was like being dismissed from parade or something. I thanked the Lord that the “force” had no strings on me: T wasn't vsed to taking orders in that tone of votes from anybody. I didn't stop, however, to argue that point. with him, It wasn't much of a trick to find HP rest of that afternoon 1 i} lay around the post, chafing { | under the forced inaction, and wondering just what I would do after I'a shown the redcoats those pitiful graves and helped bring the bodies in. Even iff had @ packhorse and a grub-stake, it would be like chasing a rainbow for me to start out on @ lone hunt for Hank Rowan's cache; I didn't know the Writing-Stone country, and a man bad no business wandering up and down those sombre ridges, away trom untegs he was anxious to be among the “re- ported missing*—which he sure would be if @ bunch of non-treaty Indians 2 big tretgh ever got within gunshot of him. Seret, gen, Tove men, myself, made up eo . T sat with my back against the [ied 7 Bey me a shady wall of Troop G's barrack, and damned Major Lessard earnesly for his injustice to MacRae, and wondered it he would send some troopers to look for that dust, I didn’t see how he could get out of making a bluff at doing th even tf he put Rutter’s T intended to ask him about it when I saw him avoin, was attac he to he in capacity of scout, were loading grub on a pa "ana each of the buck policeme tea horse tled to his saddi what purpose I could eastly Ry the time T saddled up back to the commissary t! ready, and we left the post, in the dusty wake of the blue wagon and its mounted escort, (To Be Continuedd le aa ath tn nee ny? ¥ x | \ —_