The evening world. Newspaper, May 19, 1916, Page 19

—— aed ee F a beautiful opera singer were in love with you, if you had all the funds of a bank at your disposal, if the President of a republic were your chum— You might or might not let yourself get into such a mess as did the hero of A Man of Mark BY ANTHONY HOPE ura of the A Northland: ‘ingtime Roman: Sosinetm Outdoors Coprright, the Frank A, Munsey Co, Merton drew back from the win- SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS, from hie friend, Lawrie Salter, and Boyd finds himeslf lost im back from a trip into the He ‘4 half-starved and wanderings of two days { HI HL i ia af iF zi iil 1 Es ! F 5 t I i Pepe ree it f t i i 5 5 k F § itil hi ih ! i i Ht 3 : aT nH Ee HE g = Bs if" FTE enemy inte the canoe he paddies the headquarters of the band, A few Tare takes a dog team and Bure a aich Indian woman fifieen @ fearing storm the dogn return with- Merton detertnines to go to her recur, MeGirr with bis fist, com to accompany him, On the lake, however, McGirr de- pushes om alone and is by the dogs. She is nose ri st [ TRL: it The make their way back to bead: Merton ia at work in the woods when out of the brusy aod iets bum Salter, Enjpoming to retam om the to the railroad, ted by Hereon, They march He a Ht Hy rarer wolves wil ‘Sued ts Mertoa in tc woods \dquarters by Heron and McGurr, sirangtt" we rae ‘oro to ea see CHAPTER X1. VIDENTLY the stranger was eo locked in another building, As they passed Merton's window he heard them talking. saying. ‘There is nothing Lochrie and I cannot do. When will you go, (Gontiaued.) The Longue Traverse. for Herson and McGirr soon returned to the cook camp. “I'll take care of them if you think You ought to get back,” Herson was in the morning?” “J think I'll start to-night,” MoGirr replied. “It's good travelling and Andy'll wonder what happened to me.” Thoy went on into the cook camp. Darkness came, and there was no gound of any one outside, An hour passed, and then Merton heard a Blight tapping at the window in which he had broken the glass. He hurried across the room, to seo a figure just outside, Pulling out the Dianket, he knelt to bring his face level with the opening, and saw Lura looking in. “Be quiet,” she warned. may come out any minut “Lura!” whispered Merton, “I knew you would come. I knew you would know, after you had thought it over, that there Is a mistake—that 1 didn’t do the things you spoke of.” “Hush!” sho exclaimed, “I don't want you to speak to me. Iam doing wrong in coming here, in telling you what I am going to tell you. And I will bo a traitor to-night, But"--and her voice broke—"I can't help it, Merton; I can’ Bhe was silent for a minute, and “Some one Merton could see her shoulders shake, could hear her strangle the gobs that rose in her throat, Then she looked up and spoke calmly, quickly. “To-night,” she sald, “you will be started on the ‘longue traverse.’ Father has decided. You start to- night, and the other starts to-mor- row night.” “The ‘longue traverse’ ed Merton in bewilderment, ig that?” 7 “Don't Jest,” replied Lura sharply. “You are the people who invented It. Now it is just retribution, only"— and her yolce broke again—"only, Merton, I can't stand it to have you go—I can't.” Again she stopped speaking while ehe tried to control her sobs, Merton could only hold his face to the broken -pane, helpless to cornfort because he did not understand. “Anyway,” she began again, “father has decided that you shall be the first—that you will sturt to-night, «Without food, without even a knife, without matches and without any ') elothing except that which you are wearing, you will be turned loose,” interrupt “What |, Closed. and drove up to the door with his dogs, . Herson spoke to him, and then, with dow with an exclamation of horror. “That—that is murder!” he cried. “He wouldn't do that!” “It has been hard for him, but he has decided,” and then she said in a Jow, tense voice: “But you did the same with his father, and it is only Just.” “But, Lura, I tell you"— “Hush!” whispered the girl; and then, like a shadow, she was gone. Merton heard the door of the cook camp open and McGirr and Herson talking, A moment later the door After a long wait McGirr @ crack of his long whip, the young woodsman dashed down the bank to the lake and was gone across the ice, Merton heard Herson close the door, and @ moment later Lura returned to the window. ‘That was Charley, going back to ‘One Post,” she said. “He'll tell Andy and all the Indians In that dis- trict, so that none will help you." “But, Lura,” cried Merton, in sud- “I tell you it ts all a mis- monstrous, such in- T'm not what you think I Justicel am!" “I wish I could believe that," re- plied the girl sadly. “But it's all against you, everything from the start, Father has decided, and the decision is never changed. It was hard for father, for he liked you.” There was something so final, so inexorable, In the girl's tone that Merton felt the futility of pleading for a hearing. He had seen enough of these people to know that It was useless. Still, there was a chance, “Lura," he said, “if I am to dle there is at least one thing you can do, Ever since 1 came here I have won- dered what it all means, and I have never learned. Won't you tell me who you are, what you are doing here, what this is about?” There was such sincerity in his Voice that the girl halted her quick | retort. ately: “Perhaps you could at least be told that. It may be different from what you have heard of us, for it is the truth. “One hundred years ago, when the big famine came to Lord Selkirk's colony on the Red River of the North, my great-grandfather gathered @ few families together and started north on Lake Winnipeg for Hudson Bay to take the first ship home. On the big lake they were lost, when Then sho sald dispassion- they struck a river running in on the hoping to cross the height of land and reach east side, They went up thi Hudson Bay by the Severn River, “Winter caught them, and were forced to bulld a camp. near but the factor refused to assist my great-grandfather's people. by, Starvation came, and the men went to the Hudson Bay post and took What they needed. Then they pushed on in the spring, ‘At this place they stopped for a while, There was much fur, the In- dians did not get all they could @ill, and the colonists saw an opportunity to make money trading with thom. Some were sent through and took a ship to England, where they got sup- plies, while the others built this post. At first they nearly starved, but in time they began to make money, and the colony was increased by several children, “Then the Hudson Bay Company saw it was losing trade and ordered us out. We refused, and since thea there has always been war, Some of our people were killed, some died of they One of the men found a Hudson Bay post 1 MADE A HIT AT THe ParTy,ROSE, ALL RE MEN RAVED OUT ME AND SAID | WAS Tee BEST LOOKING WoMAN “THERE would become as big and power- ful as the great company. My great- grandfather had that dream, and my grandfather, - My- father still has tt, though we--have ‘been losing. Some- times I Jose Hope, but,” and her voice carried to Merton an idea of the pas- sion and faith and loyalty which pos- sessed her, “so long as we live we will do anything to preserve that for which the others died.” “But, Lura, I never-—— he began. “Don't!" cried the girl “I don't want to hear you. I believed you at first. Now there is only one thing I can do, and, though it makes me a traitor, 1 am going to do it, I ask only one thing in return, I want you to promise, if you escape, that you will not make use of any knowledge you have obtained here, that you will not do anything of any nature to harm us, Will you promise?” “Lura, you know (It is not neces. sary for me to make such a promisi “I want your promise," she sald obldly. “I give it, but"— “Very well, You will be released to-night, eent on the ‘longue traverse. It 1s certain death, for the nearest aid is 150 miles away, and it ts very cold and the snow ts deep. But I starvation, and always they were W!ll take my dogs and drive to the persecuted by the bis company. Now !sland down the shore to the west. there are only a few of us left, those You remember It, On the ice, on you know and three at tue third the south side, I will leave my rifle, post. some cartridges, some food, matchos, “But we have always prospered, @ blanket and a pair of snowshoes, beause we have not tried to cheat “The snow on the lake Is hard, and the Indians. We have treated them you will not leave tracks with your fairly, helped them all we could, Moccasins, Pick up the things I leave made better men and better hunt and hurry away as fast as you can, of them and we have never permitted Gv Straight gouth, and you will strike our Indians to know the taste of '@ railroad somewhere, I have whiskey, The Hudson Bay Company Dever been there, but the new road has sent many spies to our places, ' Not more than 150 miles, they has tried to win over our Indian 84¥." hunters, has given them whiskey and THe girl had spoken quietly but corrupted them, but we have always driven them off, Now they are mak- Ing a last try to ruln us, for we get many furs. “You see why we sus why we cannot take chances, very existence depends upon it. cation with the ous do not desire any, “As my great-grandfather was the leader, so Was my grandfather, and not strangers, Our Ex- cept to get in our supplies and send out our furs, we have no communi- Je world, and we evidently with a great effort for self. control, won't accept aimed Merton. great a risk. you!” “It is a risk I want to take, and \eo 1 will take," she answered fierce- ly, “I will take it. I-—oh, Merton!" She turned and disappeared around the corner of the building, For two hours Merton sat there tn the darkness, without moving, with- out decision as to wnat he should do, it, Lurat" ex. “You are taking too If they should cateh then my father, I had a brother who An appeal to Herson he uever con- would have been leader, He went to sidered, Lura's story had explained seo some Indians farther east and the inexorable nature of these peo- never came bock, We never learned ple, this little colony that had sure whet happened to him, but we think vived for a century in the great wild- we know. [x there any wonder that erness, fighting always not only the we should act as we do, that I should w ss but a great and power- be willing to Jeave you to starve? It ful rival, is not that we wish to be cruel, We [lis thoughts were Inter by are driven to it, the voices outside and then some one “Then, there has always been a hope among us that some day we fumbling at the bar across the door, The door opened, and @ man entered, “It 1s an hour before we will leave,” Merton heard Herson say. “I will give you that time togethe: The door closed and Merton heard some one walking toward him, “Who are you?” he asked, peering ahead in the darkness, “The man you saw this afternoon, We seem to be up against it, young fellow, and it's my fault you are caught, I tried to tell that fanatic, but he wouldn't listen, I'm sorry, but it can't be helped now.” “Fanatic? You mean Herson?” “Yes, He thinks he's a little king up in this country, sort of a hereditary affair, His father and his grandfather wero kings, too, They came from Lord Selkirk’s colony and established a colony here and began trading witb the Indians, Those were the days when the Hudson Bay Company owned everything in this country, Their charter gave them about every sort of power, They wouldn't stand for competition, and they tried to drive these people out. But the Her- sone and the rest of them, all Scotch, wouldn't drive, and there wes war until the big company gave up its charter in 1869. Then, of course, a: one could trade, and they let th people alone, “By that time the colony had inter- married, so that nearly every one was related, They needed new blood, but they had never taken recruits, and they just dwindled down to the few there are left. They have only three posts now, though they used to have eix, “Herson, the present leader, has been harmless enough, for there has nover been any trouble since he was @ boy, But they stil] have their tra- ditions, I suppose, and he thinks you and | are Hudson Bay spies sent in here to kill them off, or win their In- dians, or do something to ruin them. There hasn't been a move against these people for forty years, but they don't know ft, and they are still suspicious as ever." “That makes everything clear.” said Merton; “but bow do they happen to accuse you? You're not a Hudson Bay man, are you?” “No, I'm a provincial policeman, and I camo up here to arrest Herson, These people have been a law unto themselves for a long time, but the Government never bothered them so long aa they didn't bother the Gov- ernment. Now we've got to act.” “Now, Why?” “They've been selling whiskey to the Indians, barrels of it, and that's where they went too far, They've sot me, but others will come, and when they do Mr. Herson and his outhe will disappear from the north country, [t's too bad, in a way, for they'vo been @ plucky lot.” “But didn’t you tell them who you were? They wouldn't oppose the Government" “I tried to tell them, but he's Scotoh, and he's mad, and talking’e useless. I gucss we're up against it.” Merton was silent for a moment. He had learned a great deal in a few minutes, and he had not adjusted himself to the situation, The stran- ger took his silence as an indication of despondency. “Cheer up, lad,” he said good na- turedly. “It's a chance a fellow has to take in the north country. When ® man comes up here he can't kick If he caught.” “What would you do if you were free, and armed?" asked Merton sud- denly, ignoring the other's remarks. ‘@ march thia Httle king down to ®& jail and then come back with enough men to wipe out the entire outfit,” was the bitter answer. “If you were eet free would you promise not to do that?’ “What do you mean?" “Will you promise not to arrest Herson, not to wipe out this colony, it 1 set you free?” “You? That'e a joke, young fellow. How could you do it?" “Never mind. Would you?" “No,” snapped the stranger in- Btantly, “I would not. If I can’t beat these fellows I won't go back." isten here,” sald Merton, moving his bench closer in the darkness and speaking in a whisper, “If 1 set you free you will promise not to arrest Hereon, or injure this colony, pro- vided I turn over to you the men who are selling whiskey?" “Look here, young man, You know womething, What are you driving at?” “Will you accept my proposition?” The policeman was silent for a few moments, “You don't know what you're talk- ing about,” he answered at last, “but even if you did, 1 wouldn't make such & promise to save my life.” “You're ag Scotch as Herson!" ex- claimed Merton angrily, “You came up here only to arrest the men who are selling whiskey to Indians?” “That‘a all 1 want.” “Well, | Know Herson is not selling whiskey, and never has been, But I know who I!s, and I know that Her- fon doesn't Know anything about it, Now, I'll get these men for you, and get them before they start you out on this ‘longue traverse’ if you promi: to leave Herson alone, Will you? “If you're telling the truth all right, I will, But you're crazy.” “L have your promise?’ insisted Moston, ignoring all the other aaid, “Ye “All right, I'll do It, Both men started as some one at the door, they hoard The bar was being slipped back, Then Herson called, ‘Come Boyd,” he said, Merton arose and went out, Silent ly Lochrie, who was standing outside, Turning, he ran back toward the headquarters post. But when he reached ‘the island he stopped. Such & course wns useless. The place would be guarded. He could not even see Lura if he reached her cabin without being shot. He must go on and die with the doubt always grow- ing, or— Merton wheeled, this time #o that he faced the weat. Down the lake, up the river and across the next three lakes lay “One Post,” twenty-five miles away. McGirr, with his dogs and toboggan, had just gone over the trail, In the intense cold it would be like a path of asphalt. And at tho end of the path lay the only solution of his problem. Alone, single handed, without arma, he must get to “One Post.” overpower both McGirr and Boulter, get evidence of their illicit trading with the Indians, and return to headquarters, It was a task in which all the odds were against him, in which the el ments of luck and surprise would be his only assots. Yet it yas the only path that would lead to saving H won from himself, that would lead to Lura. Merton did not hesitate, Instantly he etruck a dog trot, and set his mind to work on the chances of suc- cons. He put aside consideration of every other thing but the task at hand, It was twenty-five miles to “One Post.” At five miles an hour he could do it in five hours, Better count on six, It was about 10 o'clock, That would make {t four in the morning when he would arrive at his destina- tion, He knew he could run five milos an hour, He knew he would have to run that fast for five hours. At the end of the first hour he skirt- ed the north shore of a large Island, He at nd time slackened his pace, and never suspected that, on the be aide of the island, less than half | AM NOT SURPRISED. MADAME KNOWS ‘4 mile away, @ young man, wrapped in an elderdown robe, lay sleeping on one side of a fire, while across it lay an Indian In his rabbit-skin blanket, About them six dogs were curled in the snow, Lawrie Saltar was still “on the job.” But in another five miles beyond, the start he was only twelve miles from “One Post.” It was after one o'clock in the morning, and, while he Was still running strong, he was still without any plan of attack when he reached his destination, Two hours more went by, then three, before he turned down the shore toward the buildings which he knew to be in the end of the bay. It was still early, and there was no need to run farther. Ho walked along the trail, his chest still heaving from his long-continued exertions, the per- spiration running down his face from beneath his cap and freeging on his eyebrows, Suddenly Merton stopped, and in- flinctively crouched down on the trail, He had heard the unmistakable sound of yolces, a low murmur, then @ highly pitched voice and a rumbling laugh. The sounds came from & spruce thicket on the shore beside him, and he looked up in their direction he saw sparks floating upward above the trees and then the faint flicker of & fire lower down, Cautiously Merton crept closer. He smelled smoke, the smoke of a camp- firo, heard again the voices, the laughter, He climbed toward the spruce until he could see through to the fire, Around it were two persons, evidently an Indian and a squaw, and the man was lifting @ bottle to his lips, He held it there long enough to take several swallows, and then passed tt hour Merton was Three hours after went through his pockets, taking hie knife and matches. When he had fin- ished he stepped back. “Now go!" commanded Herson in a hoarse whisper, “And God have pity on—on my aoul!” CHAPTER XII. A Lone Hand. HERB was only one thing tn |) Merton Boyd's mind as he turned from Herson and Loohrie and started toward the lake, He must get to “One Post” and back in twenty-four hours, and he must bring MoGirr and Boulter with him. Alone, single-handed, he must save Herson from himeelf. The last whis- pered words of the leader as he pro- nounced the sente: ‘had told Merton that “the little king” found his duty, as be saw It, a burden almost greater than he could bear, Though Herson was sending him to what he believed would be his death, Merton, in the Nght of the information he had just obtained, could find nothing in his heart but pity for this lonely battler for what he believed to be the right. Slowly Merton walked down to the tee and out on the lake. When he was far enough away so that he was no longer seen he started a dog trot and turned elong the shore toward the west, In fifteen minutes he had reached the island, had skirted the fouth shore, At the west ond he stopped and turned back. Further out on the ice he began to search about him, He found nothing, Twice more he ran back and forth, Hut he could find nothing except bare ice, Suddenly ho halted, staring out across the great, desolate sweep of lake, A Ittle cry escaped him, and to his companion, who drank as then, his head bent, his shoulders deeply. stooped, his feet dragging listlessly, The laughing was resumed, the he started toward the south, Lura talking, and then the bottle was had falled him. She had not brought passed again, more unsteadily than the supplies she had sald would be waiting for him, and alone, without anything to help him, he faced certain death, Why Lura had done this Merton did not consider, What was the use? Everything was over, She may have changed her mind, may have lacked the courage to do what she had sald she would do, or her father or Lochrie before, The man drank even deeply. The woman evidently empued the bottle, for she threw it backward, where it struck noiselessly in the snow. ‘Then, a8 Merton watched and list- ened, the man suddenly pitched over to one side and lay beside the fire, With « wild, shrill burst of laughter more the woman scrambled to her feet ma: preopted . may have intercepted her and pre- ana thon fell forward on top of the Tented: her ooming, Neither moved as the min There was a doubt, then! There Tier’ vont by and then, still crawiin was a chance that she could not U8 Went by, and then, still crawling in the soft snow, Merton crept to the come! Merton stopped. He felt that he °AmPfre. could not go to his death untit he One glance showed hun a rifle and knew that Lura had been true. Hoe @ fresh box of cartridges beside the could not believe anything else of blaze, while close to them was an= He wanted to believe that she had other bottle of whiskey, Carefully not fatled him, and yet there would Merton lifted the rifle, slipped the always be the doubt, the doubt that would grow when the cold struck deeper, when the hunger tghtened tte erip cartridges into a por bottle of whisl and withdrew as he had come, On tho trail he looked beck, but there was neither sound et, grasped the Next Week’s Complete Novel in The Evening It is a story that will set your heart to beating faster: and it is by the man who wrote “The Prisoner of Zenda.’ World Ror movement about the camp-fire. Merton ran on along the trail toward the buildings now showing as dark shadows at the top of the bank before him. In one stroke he had accomplished two things that had troubled him most. He had obtained @ piece of evidence against McGirr and Boulter and he had obtained a weapon. From now on only caution and care were necessary for success. He even debated as to whether some one could come back and find the drunken Indians before they had re covered from their debauch and moved away. From his first understanding of the situation as told by Lura and the Policeman, Merton had guessed tho truth, McGirr and Boulter, deceiv- ing Herson, had been selling Uquor Until news of it had reached the au- thorities far to the south, and an effort to arrest them had been made, McGirr, to gain the protection of the entire colony for his own erim- inal acts, probably had aroused Her- son's suspicions of all strangers to such an extent that the leader did not trust any one, for, from the po- lceman’s story, there had been no cause for suspicion for many years, Merton had remembered the four casks ho had found hidden beside tho portage, the other four he had seen in the canoe and how the same casks had been hidden on an island near “One Post.” He had seen instandly why McGirr had tried to kill him in the rapide and why he had abandoned him In the storm, for with Merton alive McGirr was always in dangor. Merton understood, too, how it hap- boned that his meeting the policeman in the woods had become known. Mc- Girr was alono at the post, except for Lura and Mrs. Lochrie. He had our opportunity to put Merton out of the way and past acts had shown him fully capable of potting him from the brush. fhen, perhaps, as he was preparing for ‘stich an attempt, tie Policeman, hed appeared and MoGinr saw the opportunity to shift to Her- @on's shoulders the task of elimin- ating him. Knowledgq, af. McGirr's latest at- tempt to kill him did not bring the blinding anger he had known at tlie portage. Nor was Merton driven to the cold fury which had given him the power to drive the woodsman into the storm’ in search of Lura, The anger was there, but it was dominated by contempt and the con- tempt, in turn, brought absolute con- fidence. It brought perfect faith that he could not fail in what lay before him. He cilmbed the bank tn front of the post and went straight to the door of the building in whick he had slept whea there before, First he set the bottle of whiskey in the snow aud them, as carefully as he could, Le lifted the latch. His moccasins made no sound on the pole floor as he entered and walked across to the room at the rear in which he knew the meg would be sleeping, ‘This door was open and as he peered Into the darkness he heard the quick breathing of the sleepers. Quickly he thought of the chances, of the possibility that a third maa might be there, of the contingency of the men sleeping with their rifles at hand, And as quickly he decided that he would take any such chance, He turned immediately and felt on the dining-room table for a lamp. The matches, he remembered, were in a small box above the cook stove, Then, after Mstening intently, he lit the lamp. As he turned up the wick Merton, his rifle ready, walted for a sound from the room beyond. But none came, none except the same heavy breathing. The table was against the wall and beside the door to the inner room, and Merton cautiously moved the lamp back near the door. Then he retreated to the other end of the room and cocked his rifle, Assuming a heavy, hoarse votce and a tone of rough good nature, he called: “Andy! Charley! Roll out!" Instantly there was a response from within and then, McGirr leading, both rubbing their eyes and peering about in the half-lighted room, the two men came out, “Throw up your hands!” barked Merton sharply. “Stand apart there! nkey work! Understand?” MoGirr opened his eyes wide and swore, Boulter, still failing to coms prehend, stepped falteringly forward, only to draw a shot from Merton's rifle that struck the floor between them, Houlter stiffened, his arms shot up, and McGirr, who had been ready for a spring to one side to get behind the stove, struck an attitude that would have brought laughter at any other time 4To Be Continued 1