The evening world. Newspaper, September 25, 1915, Page 9

1iEIps i Fery ne {ad ot mneted them tor ai weryowes the ¥ rind Megan bey atl smth, wo aanicwt having tad a hand but admits eiding the ‘¢ Wain and declare that Wale in command of the wine Lemard wae Ube atiade. CHAPTER X11, The Mo uth of Sage Creek, HEN we reached bigh ground ain the twiliebt bad faded wa streak of yellow- tinged gray in the north: west. The wind still blew aquaroly if our faces, Down in the coulve we hadn't noticed It so much, bat now every breath was tainted with the rank smell of gruss-smoke, and each mile we covered the stink of it grew atrongpr. “We're blamed apt to run right into @ prairie fire before mornin observed. “If that wind don’t let up she'll come a-whoopin’. It'll be a nice amoky one, too, with this mjxture of old, dead grass an’ the new growth Sf gpringin’ up. Ain't that a lalla of @ #9) “emoil?” sitet Noither of us answered, and he took to bumming “The Texas Rangers.” We were burrowing through the dark / straight for the mouth of Sage Creek. a’ What we would do when we got there was not very clear to me, and soime- thing of the same was evidently both- ering Piegan, for, after @ long inter- val, he addressed himself pointedly to " Mackae. ‘We ought to hit the river In about fan hour,” he said. “It's time we fg ured out just how we're goin’ to work, eh? 1 wish to the Lord it was day- dehel” “Bo do I," MacRae responded mood- fly, “But wishing won't help any. I've been thinking that the West way would be to get down on the flat at the mouth of the creek and cache our horses in the timber, Then we can sneak around without making much noise, [f they’ro not camped on the river—and I hardly think they'd cross to-night—wo'll find them soime- where on che creek in that gorge.” “That's about the way I had her sized up," Plegan replied, “The flat ain't bigger'n @ good-sized flapjack; an’ if they're on that or up in the Bage Creek cunyon we're bound to hear their hosses snort or nicker if we go careful. The worst of it is we kain’t start the ball a-rollin’ ull we get that Mttle girl located, An’ If we Ket ram~ bunctious, an’ stir ‘om up tn the an’ don't put the finishin’ touches on ‘gm right there—why, they (he show in the world t) make @ ot-foot getaway, Sabet An’, while 1 ain't luokin’ for a chance t #ide-stop thelr game, for 1 know how yuh feel, ['d say locate ‘em if we can, sant then back up an’ wait for day- ight, The bright orgnse ing got cloared the skyline, @ here in the thicken- the cast the moon moke uy to reflection of burning crimson-yelow pra 4 shot up plainly as we rode over the crest of a bill And present- * Jy we galluped across a mile of level { pulled up on the very © Creek canyon, “Basy, easy, from here on." Plegan whispered caution, “We may be right above ‘om, for ail we know, We hit tt grass land brink of 8 a little too high up. How far d'yuh reckon it ist’ the mouth, Mao? st more than half a iile," Mao nw a good piace to get bout mishap we reached the foot ic af tha sleep hill, At the bottom the wind was partly shut off, so that to cateh, Nor was {t so dark since the rising of the moon, Only the pall of smoke lay over everythings 4 shifting hage that made objects doubly hard to distinguish, A pounds Wer horse or a tree or a clump of brush 42 soomod up fantastically in the gray blur. ‘§!) Macttae, whom the topography “Se that gloomy place was perfectly Veamiliar, led the way, A black wall + rose suddenly before us resolved » a grove of trees, great ine nothing they muer b the gorge Cour from turned inte that sly wo the lower + the a We bed between th down iw of it ue with @ war muatted tn the Behind u ame a gentle pla “Beaver,” 1b "Too loud,” “Let's go back ar We reached the to see @ dim #bap ainong the serut Hite bank; Whe ranyon fairly tened Ce ne “RAW GOLD: A Treesure Munt Story With a New Twist By BERTRAND W. SINCLAIR . or uetray ake ‘op Whinpered nade comp to Vegan ave retraced our @ © fat sou'b of the more than got ne straight up and san Piegan atopped ning “Boab!” We 1 of arrow » jong grass and n tbe river, at sarded | Piegan murmured river edge In time © glide out of eight ined the oppe 1 OF Least we that could 6 i But Piegan turne the ine and ran to where w tied our horses, They stuod quietly where we bad left them “Lh jum go. an idea tf 4d got onto Us, an’ wet us afoot as a star Piegan explained Hur | guess maybe that was some wild critter Onee more we turned into the canyon, and this t W, scrub-patone ime followed its nare d floor beyond sight the river Tt wae dark enough for any kind of deviliry in that three hundred-foot gash in she earth smoke mingled with the natur gloom cast an etrable murk from wail to wall, and no breath of alr stirred the tomolike atillness: Right tn front of us a horse coughed aharply. We dropped on all fours, Ustened tensely a minute, then crept | forward. Without warning we found ourselves foul of the vague forms « around us. touch, and we lay heads together he “We must be ri a cinch their their live stock. To the left of nervously; we he Piegan cainp a picket Hine, aad) Jf grazing horses all | ted us with af flat; then with our whispered softly: | ght upon ‘em It's ain't far frow 1 wonder"— us a horse snort ard him trot to th 4 end of his rope and snort again. Then a voice cut the qu horse, what's the We bugged the ened rabbits. It tble that we cou Ing distance of Gregory's clear tor his speech in a jabt nations, “What's the ma curt inflection, the Lessard. I had Rao's shoulder, a tremor that ran t rising of a ‘8 adversary. them—yet wiet: “Here, you fool matter with you?” ground like fright- hardly seemed por. id be within speak. | Unt was 71 would know rfest of several trent a one ‘That, by the ocratic tone, was hand on Mac- nd 1 could feel the hrough him, lk fur at sight of an the ‘Oh, nothing much,” Gregory an “4 him carclessly, "I was juat king to one of these fool horses. as nery as you are.” And After that the muffled “tre horses, Piegan tell which. tu and the three of the ed ge hear him chuckle re was nothing but . tr-up" of grazing or Mac, I couldn't tly at my arm, ua retreated slowly, When we ware well away from the camp of that wu Pleman rose to ti ceeded a little fis @ distance that toned ¢ “Now,!’ Plegan ‘em spotted, An’ ta it's with that layout t' shoot stratmht. tem now It's all folded into a ba beat hos, The they'll rine up an a buneh wh ante nothing’ twin think uh trying? hosses, but t wan watchin’ day wo got al) th 1 don't figure or want t! make a cl mb f Whenever ngodly combination # feet, and we pro- ter until we reached permitted of low- nversation. muttered, “we } I'm here lish to mix things til it's Heht enough If we co against me as goin’ blind rn to pick out the first gun that pops, ‘quit the earth Ik They ain't got in a tight. 1 did t' ret off with their sharp. do cuss comes though n a walkaway, We ean job of it, an? w Lope, ft bent of It kain’t do it in the dark rthermore if we go to throwin’ lead when we kain’t see ten feet in front of us. ye'd Just about hit that girl first rattl out uh the box, She ain't comin no harm right now, or it wouldn't so blamed peaceft only a matter wh tll davlieht, Wh “Inder the ctr only th g we car and T fancied t his usually steady be amoky in the ne thelr camp fi LT think. ‘There's a big rock ov I'll show you where it Is—and Marge can get under cover there lie upon th Lat thom pack a get nearly abre Shoot the horses if they won't gty out, Come on; rock MacRneta bum! He ple’ nt us in the at slab of fallen from nt from the nas a natural by our hand 4 werd, he left us. Cronehing in rock be released from of nicht three houre til ythor side of thi Tn reality ul around there, three or four hours hat yuh say?" cumstances n Mae br ere was A ay volce. “It's going to morning, but wo can m this first point, eanyo nd start. W they ast of us cur loose, they ride firat. Then, e up we can fight it Til show you that p of location was a ed his way through vd > unnatur: sandstone a Ure atwork re, without all ready to another the shelter of that It neemed aa If we would never the dusky embrace {t was less than day, but they were leafen-fonted ones to me. Then dawn flung Itself tmp hills and the nak took form In a shifting veil amoke, Down t and shadows va etuonsly across the ed_rim of the eanvon f white in the depths gloom nished togethor and Plewan Smith and U neered over the top of our amb) ade and saw tha outlaw camp—men and horses dim firures in the growing Meht We seanned the opposite side for wich? of Machina, nut he kent onder cover. “They’ packin’ up,” Piegan mur The Evening World Daily Maga Yot Never Can Tell « Mamen May 1 Go heal WiTW Me PERCY ? ) ‘ HIS TCHED in lod . me OTICE THe SorTt | | FeLLow LETS Go FoR A CAR RIDE cv mured, chuckling dryly, “I reckon things won't tighten por nothin’ in & few minutes, eh? But I'm blamed it 1 can see anything that looks ike @ female in that bunch. Do you?" 1 couldn't, though It was less than two hundred yards to their camp, And falling to see her started me Linking taut, after all, she might have given them the slip. 1 hoped it might bo so. Lyn waa no chicken. hearted weakling to gown and weep unavadingly in t of peril. Brod on the range, on ‘Speaking terms with the turbulent frontier life, her wits weren't likely to forsake her in a situation of that kind. While the daylight grew stronger, and the smoke settled thicker from @bove, one of them swung up on a horse and came down the bottom on a fust lope. We had no means of Knowing what his mission might be, but I did know that (he square shoul- ders, the lean, eagle face could only belong to one man; and I drew a bead on his horse's breast. 1 heel- tated @ second, squinting along the ritie-barrel; point 1 wanted him to round that julted out from the of the canyon, so that his uld not seo his finish, If did not see him go down they might think he fired the shot him- self, And, while I uttered maledic- tions on the combination of cireum- stances that made it necessary to shoot even a thorough-going black- Guard like Lessard, MacRae took things into his own hands in his e cteristle fashion, ard turned the point and, as rifle-hammer elicked under the of my thumb, Macltse sprang to feet from behind a squatty clump sage. Nervy as men are made, Mackae worshipped at the shrine of an even break, @ square deal, And Lessard got it, There among the suse-brush he got a fair chance for his life, according to the code of men who settle their differences at the businese-end of a six-shooter, But {t wasn't his hour. Plegan Smith and I saw his hand flash to bis gun, saw It no to a livel, heard Mac's pistol pop, It was @ square deal-—which he had not given us. He crumpled up in his saddle, sprawled a momnet on the neck of bis horse and dropped to the ground, Mae sank behind the suze again, and we waited for the others, the the CHAPTER XIV. An Elemental Ally. UT they did not come, They must have aceon Lessard fall, for at the single re- port, men and horses, al- ready bnlf-hidden by the smoke, vanished into the ’ Plegan Aid manage to fire one ineffectual shot as they flickered out of slight, We had got @ fair look at them before then, however, and were satisfied that Lyn was not in the party, “Darn ‘em!" Plegan grunted dt gustedly, “They're next now, An’ they don’t aim to run the gantlet till they have to, We got ‘em penned, anyway; they can't et out uh that patch uh gcrub without showin’ themselves: “Oh, Piegan!" Mao called to us, It ‘was easy speaking distance to where he lay, and he yelled to us without showing himeelf, “Hello\" Piegan answered, CHING WAS FECT OF Tre LIGHTS THROUGH THE =m - ~ FS ee HELLO fia PERCY Let 5 i To A TANGO ARARET J | Be VeRy carerur WHERE You GO | DON'T TRust Hin HE LOOKS Lice A SPORT ne MOTHER MAY | GO OUT WiTH NR PRUDE y ey a 4 ‘ou TAI NE For 2 1AM ie yt a oF A SPorr ’ HOLD _MY HAND KID WHILE | SWALLOW “Can you fellows keep them from going up the canyon?” “I reckon we can," Smith called back, “unless this smoke gets 6o thick t's coming “The fire!" he gasped. By re cut off) at down the gorge, the other end, got to come out In a little while—or roast, The smoke would choke a salamander, on we kain't top, right now, We can't miss them “AN right. I'm going up on top, '2 this narrow place, no matter how and throw it into them from above, ‘Meck tt gets. look up yond A red haze licked its way up to the Maybe [I can drive them down where nyon cage on ide, wiped out you can get a bead on them.” the gras#-and the bare rim Piegan slapped me on the should r bry up the creek we could “Da ” vociter. Dear a faint or Darn our fool hearts!" he voelfer- “sry “timber” Piegan muttered, ated. “We ought to ‘a’ thought uh yer) get wari ‘round here directly.” that before. Why, he can pick ‘cm The smoke, blacked now, and hot as off like biackbirds on a fe up @ Wh trom a baker's oven, swooped ther wn upon us in choking ed We didn't see Mac go. He crawled high banks on either i through the sagebrush to the creek Visi We could not but we knew that it wasn't fa pop of dry, scrubby timver and the nfernal, suffocating vapors from the channel, where, by stooping, he could hardly be seen. Anyway, our time was fully occupied tn watching the brush that sheltered wr robber unholy mixture of green and dead friends, lest they made a sneak before yrass, berfy-bushes and the ubiquitous he could et above to head them off. sage told us that—and presently They held close to their concealment, above the subdued, menacing noises however; nor did they waste any of the fire the drum of running hoofs powder ‘on ue—I don't think they uprose, could tell Just where we were, and 4 3 o , a they were familiar enough with the canyon, Teada Moe th ee Ba ae gentle art of bushwhacking to realize that the open was a distinctly un- SINGE, © like a smoke-wreathed healthy place. whirlwind; the packhorses, necked lox ‘ c ther, galloping in the lead; and tein Matchen time till we heard fenind them Hicks,’ Gregory and again, and, lying there passively, we grew afraid that, after all, they would get away from us, for the smoke was now rolling in black clouds above the gorge. So far the ns lay Indian fashion low along ks of their mounts, They knew we were waiting for them; but the worst they had a tghung hance. at eee end eee or wind .,80 thick hung the amoky vell that ocean fog, and that meant Koodby {4.0 ty ‘our knees and. hired, the rack of their guns mingled with that “That fire must be mighty close, Plowan remarked. “I wish she'd of our own. Gregory, so near that £ up long enough for us t’ Anish this Could see every feature of tin dark Job, That smoko's ax good as they fee the glitering black eyom, | the heed, once it drifts down this coules Wide lips parted over wilt, instead ub Dlowin’ over, What in teeth, wilted in bis sud thunder d'yuh suppose Mac's doin’ all SWept by, Bevans and lis this time? He ought to show pretty Wown together, But Hicks the 4 superb horseman, bung on his off stirrup and swerved his Aying horse away from us and smoke closed in behind him, despite the bullets we sent his way, It was done tn takes to tell, Nothing spectacular about it; no half-hour hand-to-hand struggle with buckets of bivod fow- ing in all direcuons, and a beautiful heroine wringing ber hands in de- spair, Just a rush of horses and meo out of the smoke, a sudden popping of guns—all over in twenty seconds, auick now." He showed, as Piewan put it, very shortly. From the top of the opposite bank he fired three or four shots, and drew for the first time a return of the compliment from th enemy. Then he broke off abruptly, and when next he wave hint of his whereabouts 1 was to call to us from the nearest point on the canyon rim, “Quit your hide-out and pull for the month of the gorge. Quick! I'll meet you there.” We sprinted like a patr of aus s time than It horses across the twenty-fy. Only @ couple of dead men, and Pie- or so that was devold of cover for a jan Smith with a hole in bis hat and jJack-rabbit, much less a man, My another in his shoulder, to show heart was pumping double-quick there had been # fixnht when we threw ourselves headlong The packhorses hud circled around among the welcome sage-brush—they and tangled cach other up, and had done their little best to stop ua, finally stopped, when the Fidera and some of those 44-callbre hum- ceased to guide th Hicks was ming birds ix the confounded gone, and it was u sa to seek for BOnK periivusiy ciuew lu um Th Die 4) our attention to one kind of music for which I have @ Gregory and Hevans. G y was deep respect. From there to the creck channel we qrawled on all fours, as Mac had dead as the proverbial door nail, but Bevans, on investigation, ved to be very much alive; 60 much go that done, Stooping low, we splashed ground by a thousand-pound horse along in the shallow water and he would undoubtedly have potted reached the mouth of the canon. one or two of us with 4 good heart. There we slipped carefully to higher ground, Mac was scrambling und Miding down from above, dimly out- ous efforts to reach the carbine that lined against the bank. Up the creek had luckily~for u#—fallen beyond choking clouds of rank smoke swirled Jenjth of his arm, down from the benchland. Already "Lay down there an’ be good." the patch of brush in which lay the Plegan, out of the fulness of hts renegade policemen was hidden in tts heart, emphasized lis command with folds, shut away from our sight. We the toe of bis boot--"Where's” called to Mac, and he came crashing "Here," Macttae broke In hastily. through sage and buckbrush, and “We've got to move pretty pronto threw if, panting, on the ground and bt op the other aide of the ay us, river As it was, when we got to the gen- tleman, we found bin making etren- Y THIS To YouR HEALTH zine. Saturday. September 25. 70 fis ULAR iT | Lowe To See ICTURES DowT You 2 Tui « EE \ Yes caer , | HE Loacs HARMLESS. You Vit Re SAFE WITH HIM and L will gather ap their horses and you keep au eye on Bevans, Vegan, He'll answer questions fast enou,a when I get at him.” While Mac dashed up the creek I captured Gregory's horee, which had stopped when his rider fell, and t jaid hand on the reins L heard a shot down by the river, | listened a seoond, but heard no more. Then [ went on fo Stral@hten out the tangle of pack- snimals. Mae showed in the smoke with Lessard's body across hia as I led the others back to an stood guard over Bevans. “Wo haven't any time to spare, ho said, “That fire’ll be on top of us in five minutes.” It was only a minute's work to lash Gregory's body on one of the extra horses and release the sullen Bevans from the Weight of his mount. As in afterthought, 1 opened the pockets hia saddle, and the frst thing [ covered Was a wad of paper money big enough to choke an ox. 1 hadn't time to investicate further, so 1 sim. ply cut both anqueros off his saddle, and thed them on behind the cantls of iny own—It seemed as if 1 had at last Kotten a chi to shake hands with that ten thousand of Le Pere's, Thon Piegan and L drove Mr, Bevans shead of us, and led the horses to ward the river, while MacRae hurried to the cottonwood grove after our own neglected mounts; they'd given us too good service to let them go up in the general holocaust. The smoke by now was stifling, and the purring crackle of burning brush sounded close enough to spur our steps if we'd been minded to lag. We made good time, however, and We didn't have At the and we ® /ung into our own saddles for the crossing. Bovans Mac ordered up on one of the pack horses. Thus mounted we pushed into the stream-- none too soon, for shower of sparks beginning to fall around us, and preathing Was @& suc ion of hs, © river is about 200 yards wide, and not quite swimming deep at the mouth of Sage Creek We splashet out on a sandy point on the south side. Midway betw lopping and the brush lined the shelyins bank a dark t luomed up in th sinoke. We rode to it, and palled up In amaze—it wea Hicks, spraddiet out on the sand, the length of bia bridie reins In front of his patiently wailing horse, I got down and looked him over, be wasn't dead, but he had @ nasty mark; a bullet had scored ‘hiv head deeply, Just above one ear, Mac got off, and we unbuckled his pistol belt, and took the carbine from its sl no his saddle, and while I making some kind of retort to an's grim assertion that we better neck hin to Bevans and throw theag both in the river somebody in the of the serup eried, “Gordon Gordon!" We saw through tho shift ing kray-white vapor the flutter of a skirt, and next minute Lyn, half ching. half-crying, was in Muc- ‘e arms, CHAPTER XV. The Pipe of Peace. AYBE you think wo weren't & hoppy bunch, gathered oa that sand-bar tn the drift. ing smoke-clouds—all of us —that 19, except Revans; and Hicks, when he came to his senses and found that fire burns out, Sarge himself ted bard and fast to his reer *y, and told we bow made comp is Rage Creek, she w her chana®, eed, “setehing & o8- hooter, ran it in the 4 1 Gian reetly & | ~- a UN daylight ond weteh them eo Then | could eurthe tack for OL twas hiding woods when you Came there t a | abou ow 1 thount, yer hens they bad wed thelr . reason, and | wes af fo T enemked ' re Then about dayfight | heard « ana dered If sume one had followed 1 cowidn't start with Us cond and the smoke so thick I couldn't tal) north fapm wouth. 1 wait. od & while longer, and there was more shooting, aad a minute oF go after, he ~she pointed to Hicks—"came aylash- tng tnto the river, He crossed, and was coming straight toward where 1 j was hiding to the brush. I= wi frightened--I abot at him, and be felt off his borse. Then you came, and— oh, it seem just Uke @ oightmare! I'm afraid you'll al disappear in the amoke!" ot much, we won't,” Mae assured her tenderly. “It has Deen a night but it's over now, thank the The fire by this time was beating Itself out on the opposite bank, and with nothing left but a few mmalder- jog brush patohes the aunoke lifted nuewhat, and gave us & KlimMpHe of {the black desolation behind, So far as Wo could see, the wind had blown no sparks over the river to fire the soulh side and drive us Back to the arren shelter of the burned land And with the certain knowledge that we were all safe, and mastors of the situation, Came Consciousness of hun wor and great bodily wearinons. was neatly twenty-four hours since we had eaten, and we were simply raveno We dressed Piegan's hurt, which wasn't a8 bad as it might bave bee though a@ bullet through the floshy part of the shoulder doesn’t strike me as @ joking affair, as Plegan seemed to think it, A litte ventula- tion, be said, Was one thing a man’s system needed every little while, | Then we moved up on the grassy flat aud picketed the horses. Megan elected himself guard over the pris~ oners, While we cooked breakfast, and he aswured them repeatedly that he would have been delighted to have them make a break so that he could have the pleasure of perforating their 4 J and collective bides, The "old? rascal meant It, toes beuntng would have given him greater joy. One arm out of commission was no handicap to bim—-he could juggle a six-shooter right or left equally well, When we had eaten we nt through the packs and saddle pockets and when wo had finished there was more of the root of ovil in sight than I have iaid my eyes on at any ono time before or since, The gold that had drawn us into the game was there in the long, buckskin sacks, a load for one horse, The Government mon- ey, mostly in bills, they had divided, and it was stored in various places, Lessard’s saddle pockets were cram- med, and Mkewise those of Hicks and Gregory, Bevans's anqueros, which I had taken from the dead horse, yielded # goodly sum, Altogether, in bills and gold coin, we counted a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. “There's more than that, if Lessard got off with any post funds, as Good+ ell told us," Mac commented, “TI ex- pect the pockets of the combination hold the rest. But I don't hanker to search & dead man, and the bunch of an wait till we get to Walsl join’ U lug this coyote-bait t rt Walsh?” Piegan inquired. “Ed leave ‘em right here, without the cer- emony uh plantia’ “Se would I, as far as my personal feelings are concerned,” Mac replied, tut we've got a lot of mighty black marks against us, right now, and we're going in there to relate a mos amazing tale, t reckon we'll just have to take these two carcasses along as @ wort of corroborative evidence, Nhe police will have to view thei offieially; they wouldn't take our word for thelr boing dead, So, it would only delay the clearing up of things to leave them here. These other Jaspers will lend a fine decorative effect to the noowed end of @ three-quarter-inch rope for their part In the play— un lene Canadian justice miscarries, which doesn't often happen if you give it time enough to get at the root of things, Much as we had accomplished, we en't out of the woods—not by a nile we didn't reckon on nd ourselves on tho © of holding up the paymaster, there was that Ittle mat- roof violent assault on the persons of three uniformed representatives of orthwestern asa! indeed, Ally weapons; alxe sequestration of troperty In the shape of three horse nd complete riding rigs, and tho ut- tering of thres all of which was strictly againgt the peace and dignity of the Crown and the statutes made and provided we having to preposterou A man is not supposed, tn that country, at least, to find It necessary to inflict a compound fracture on one law tn bis efforts to proserve another, Hut we had justified our judgment in playing a lone hand and upsetting amir me to lay us by (he "swell , and his wang Hot away We hed broken up mbination as ever keepers of the law; we had aathered in them and thelr loot, and for that we hoped the powers that be would overlook the break we made on Loat River rid sard had burned his betdges recklessly when he de camped with post funds; that in itself would bear witness to the (ruth of our, story. It might take the authort- es a while to get the proper focus on the tangle, but could stand geeing we'd won out. rom the mouth of Sage Creek to Fort Walsh it ts even fifty miles, We had a long midsummer day to cover it, So, because we might find the full extent pet & fod blackened waste, and partly for © eat as is fi A wel Sour telwe the eeneet asong Hate Fort Wate, appeared « Pleasant fa at o- ot whom Mac straightened in his saddle with nn of mation and the military waiute Bone stared in frank eat a6 MacKee got witty out of hte end- die and helped Lye to the ground. Then he opened his mouth to but the @ray haired one silenced » & @esture at Macitae explain votnntartty, Stone,” he said ronhed "Flood. Killed’ those tte Ok Mae told them bri ty. "And we hate moeyhat. Kind ‘ot soeteand-bGl) chepy ‘9 this? Stone broke out angrily. easy now, Stone!” the other remonatrated. “A man doesn't make & statement like that withowt some Preof, Where,” he asked Machae oe “is Major Lessard? Or do you now 7" Mac pointed to one of the horses, “You'll find what's left of the biack- hearted devil under that canvas,” he answered quietly, “We've packed him and Paul Gregory fifty miles for you to see, May | ask, as a favor, Com missioner Allen, that thia lady be taken to Bint Perkinas’s wife? She has had a hard day. Then we can tell yon story you may find hard to credit, Tho comminsioner (head ot the Northwest Mounted Police, I knew by his title; I'd heard of him before) turned to an orderly, “A de- tall of four from the guard-house, on the double-quick,” he commanded, ‘These men, T take it, are prison- ers?” he asked, pointing to Hicks and Bevana, ub bet your sweet life, Mr, Com- miastoner, them's prisoners,’ Pleran cut In cheerfully, “Them gentiemen is candidates for a rope necktie apiece =nice perfessiwnal assuasing in the police Stone stood gnawing his mustache, while Allen listened, uni 4 om; MacRae fotnted out to Meer bee ¥ on which was packed the lont, and told him briefly of the fight at the mouth of Sage Creek, The orderly returned with tho detail, and courteously sent him to escort to the hospitable Perking cahin; leh the troopers Jed ‘Mac and me, long witht Nicks Bevans, into the room where Mac and ‘Lessard bad clashed that memorable day: Then they carried in the bodies, and afterward the pack held Hank Rowan's gold and the wovernment money. ‘ T won't go into details of the sition that followed; how that pleasant-yoiced, shrewd old commis- wioner gathered bis captains from their quarters for a semi-official in- vestigation; how they put the lot of us on the rack of Inquiry singly, the rest of us waited in the anteroom under the vigilant eye of the detail from the guard house, Tho last act on that programme came when a trooper searcned the bodies of Lessard and Gregory, and forced Hicks and Bevans to shed the plunder they still had concealed about their persons. They counted the money solemnly on the same desk by which Lessard stood when Mac tbat bot challenge in his teeth, when they bad finished Allen stood up, very and stern in the lamplight, Ais, ‘ake those men to the guard- house!" He pointed an finger at Hicks and Bevans, “Iron them securely—secure); Then ho turned politely to me. regret that lt will be you to walt some little time, before your money can be to you. There will be certain formal’ | ities to be complied with, you undere stand. You will also be required as a” witness at the forthcoming trial, will be glad to furnish you and Smith with comfortable quarters until then. It ts late, but MacRae knows these find barracks, and he can doubtless you @ temporary sleeping-place. And, in conclusion, I wish to compliment you, all three of you, on the faa pave displayed in track ng down those damnable scoundrels “damnable scoundrels!" he old fellow fairly exploded last phrase. ‘Then, ‘as it he were halt. , ashamed of bis ‘ot of feeling, dismissed us with a wave of bis and muttered “That’ night ‘d i That practically was the fin the thing, They did, of course, ie trial, at which Hicks and Bevans were convicted and sentenced to be hanged—a @entence which was car- ried gut with neatness and @ And I did manage, in the fulness time, to deliver LaPere's ten teat sand dollars without any further gun- Commissioner Allen knew @ good man when he saw one, He was all right, that gray-headed old soldier, When Mac appealed to him for an honorable discharge he calmly moted him to an inspectorship, which same ran with a captain, and care ries pay of three thousand a year, ¢ Not so bad, that, eh? The day he ! shed the old red jacket of the rank and file, and put on the black apl- form with gold-brald trimmings shvuldes -oti aps, Ptoge: mith and stood up before the post chaplain with bim and Lyn, and helped them ket fitted to double harness, Not that there was any lack of other follies, It soomed to mé as if the offtetal con~ Ungent of Fort Walsh had turned : en masse for U ceremony. Piogan and I were the star guesta, Next day we forked our and drifted for Montana, me low cow-trails tnatead of and Piegan for a rip-roaring tion in Benton, He en town for @ woek, after be telling how three of tw bunciy ub wild ones” Gp ade Une, ‘ lyn after <a