» 3 AAS aS BES SAS PPV TTP TTI VYFIYFY WNU SERVICE {Copyright by W, G. Chapman) SPRINGING THE TRAP SYNOPSIS. —Lee Anderson, Roy- al Canadian Mounted Police ser- geant, is sent to Stony range to arrest a man named Pelly for murder. He is also instructed to look after Jim Rathway, reputed head of the “Free Traders,” {llicit liquor runners At Little Falls he finds Pelly is credited with having found a gold mine, and is missing. At the hotel appears a girl, obviously out of place in the rough surroundings. A half- breed, Plerre, and a companion, “Shorty,” annoy the girl An- derson interferes in her behalf. The girl sets out for Siston Lake, which is also Anderson's objec- tive. He overtakes her and the two men with whom he had trou- ble the night picious of him are hostile before and She is sus the two men CHAPTER III—Continued re Ge glared at kinda game are you what we want to know?" he demanded. shaw down or ain't It?” me,” answered Lee, right!” Shorty clambered on with an and where Pierre cursing as he tried to tighten girth, A colloquy The pair rode up to the zirl, who was already In her followed ani Shorty “Say, what playin, that's “Is this a “Not “All his baek to for 101 horse oath was his ensued saddle. There an mated pantomime, toward Lee, The ‘med to sit abet! ely ned neural Suddenly mute, a he remns Shorty wheeled his about, “Come ‘long, Pierre, the ol h And, [Les \ ; thelr mounts in the ind in 2 moment were off at full the Into we've give vhouted. mir kicked gal n., slong trail leading range beyond the valley. The till girl and Lee looked af they were out of sight Then she to where Lee was sit you insist asked 1 have ma: ire your company? no de 1 assure have wider the vou 1 lesome. B I mu far as sire to he trout ‘Ireumstances with you as 't her lip. wish nnsne But red Lee the girl's to meet his she sald, “if we are neknowledge I am a does as wel! Assure you, unw one That friendliness. 1 hope your will be properly 1 ws say once and for all” answered, “that I have no I t f very not imply persistence rewarded.” me don't o ask it." pry into your business. know your name, or wish “1f I dared to let mysel vou other purpose In view than just to protect she began “But it is Ilmposgs Men that. They are they wolverenes, treacherous, have no me-—"" ble, like wolves, cunning, re- morseless Oh, If 1 could believe you, if 1 dared trust you- “1 would do anythin and you,” menn seriously Rr on answered Lee, help serve “If you that you men and myself-—1 don’t it's conceit to say this, and, if it tween those thin} thing like that—a man Is sald his face. 1 don't know what sion | gi e to others, but I know impression those two men gave Can't you read thelr faces? If can’t trust me, can you, at least, say honestly that you trust them?” “But you—what are you-why-—7" She looked at him fearfully. “It isn't that, It lsn't—God forbid!—that 1 think you capable of—of what you told about them. If it were simply a matter of between yourself and I should put my trust In you without the smallest hesitation, Jut—Oh, I can’t say any more, It's hopeless-—It 1s worse degradation than death to me, and yet 1 must keep up my strength and resolution—1 must" The breakdown came upon her like a lightning stroke. She seemed to erumple up; she sobbed desolately into her hands, Lee moved to her side. know,” he sald, “we have people in this life, even if they de- celve us. It doesn’t harm us to be betrayed.” But he was thinking of Estelle as ho spoke, and he wondered how far that was true. Estelle's bes trayal had changed the whole setting of hig life for him. “Trust me,” he sald. “Let me help you, Tell me where you are going, and why, and what those gen are to you" It was a full half-minute before she took Her hands from her face, but she did not reply. All that day they rode together, Eut not until they had what me, you me choosing them, “Do you to trust / pitched their tents again for the night, did she refer to the men who had threatened her, “Will you be frank with asked. “Wil you tell me are doing in the range?” “I am not free to do so.” “And am [I free? Is any one of free?” she cried. “No, It's impossible, I must just go on and ask God to give me strength to bear it! Don't speak to me for a few moments--there, I'm sorry I made such a fool of myself!” She smiled. "At any rate, we are going to acknowledge each other's existence, aren't she sald. “And Insist on riding with me-—well, I ean't help it. Only, I warn you, you going Into danger—grave danger. Those two men—I am afrald they may be planning to do you some injury.” “lI don’t think they are likely to try very hard,” answered Lee “But “It is not only they! “You hegged me to that would and me?” what she you us we?" but others—" she whispered, You anything to you trust do Did you. yon serve help me “Anything that is “Anything? sh “If i in my “Then would you man me? A haman ! aturea that dey or Wonld you kill him to possible " i“ persisted, les power." wonld for of wolf, one does not de serve to live? serve me? He Is who humanity = thing that “Wait before you answer, a man etrayed those made mockers foulest Creeps y th dt] i he dd wip you, wiii you like the savage hood, without dan 1 he | lopnineg” Hie Le I8 SieeDing yOu nswered [ee quietly nocking scorn swered of loyalty and the same when It hs He your perscnal risk ondering whether | or was to seriously NOt - I found we wore | Good-night I She moved away tent. that nizht automatic went into her And dozing he lay, hardly beside his hand, w taping wonaering. 11 sil ‘ his CHAPTER IV The Trap Is Sprung In the morning she greeted him with of her tent we shall ride on together to. “1 have told you that 1 do not your com- pany. and that your enterprise is prob You have taken she came out “Well, snid desire the understanding. we go as panions Instead of enemies. not so?’ And this time It her hand. held it for a moment “That's understanding.” he an- swered. “I intend to see you to your destination, wherever that Is, and after that you need not be afraid of my troubling you any more.” “And as for yesterday,” sald the girl, “you will forget that I was a little hysterical and upset? You see, It is quite an ordeal, going on so long a Journey, and | was tired and said foolish things that had no meaning in thém at ail” She watched Lee's face closely as she said this. But Lee did not reply. They mounted and continued the Journey. It was about ten o'clock when they heard two or three full reverberations In the distance. The girl, who was riding a few yards ahead of Lee, reined in and stood her horse upon a turfy hillock, waiting for him to eatch up with her. “What was that?" she asked, look ing at him with startled eyes, “Dynamite,” lee responded. “Dynamite? Why--who would?" “Some prospector blasting rock on his cialm, no doubt,” answered Lee, and again there sounded a detonation, She seemed to muse a moment or two, “It rather startled me" she sald. “I have been afrald since those two men left us—afrald some harm may come to you from them. You will be on your guard, won't you?” “Yes, 1 promise you that,” Lee an com Is that was the girl who Lee took It and in his own. the swered ; and she fixed her eyes on his face with her pecullar scrutiny for a few moments, and then started her horse, The afternoon began to wear They away were slowly descending toward the northern pass of the range, beyond which lay that fraverse the Lmmense territories had precarious they seen, They overhung from the Underneath defiles, by huge boulders, prismatic corrosion of the season, them, at the bottom of a long descent, in places nearly perpendicular, the tor rent raced among the rocks It was still upon those he that ‘the rush of the torrent far under neath thunderous ; and blue, sO ghits sounded was so calm, the sky might rather them the alr that it sumimner, fumn An high ove rhead, BO an Italian Canadian au have been than a floating seemed to eagle, motionless, have heen pinned against the background of blue void The fee to girl reined in and waited for ride up to her that There's a difficult le very careful with horse he said distance ahead, but t's last, and then we'll down th have an easy rough the pass.” She started off again, Lee following some twenty paces behind her ut of a sudden Lee's horse balked, Inld back 101 and feet firmly his ears sported, nl i ana # most refused to It was DOs my mount and lead him, for : part of 1} standing room Lee held ihier, with a tight rein, and He larmed it, could not understand but now ticated some | ps commul from brain to his, seeme He glanced at the girl, and that was =i He tmrtiine sin? ing saw Most [BCeross he dared her, for He Caught at Her Horse's Bridie. “Jump! Jump!” He Shouted, Hold. ing Out His Arms, there wag no reason to call, nithough that baseless instinct was now becom ing =o strong that it almost amounted for He could not see the least cause His fears ap peared absurd; and yet that electric message of warning went flashing back and forth between his mind and that Then suddenly there came the roar of an explosion, mufied underground ; the next the rockk over his head seemed to upheave. An enormous crack appeared in the face of the wall of golid rock, which trembled and ap- peared to move toward him, as If pushed by a gigantic band; and before the reverberations had died away Lee heard a faint, crepitating sound, like the rustling of paper—the sliding of the interior strata, one upon another. A little avalanche of stones dis lodged from the surface, came rush- ing down the face of the cliff midway betwébn the girl and himself. Had Lee's horse not stopped, It must have been swept over the edge of the preci pice. Another roar, and a huge rock top- pled and fell, this time behind, and smashed into a score of fragments which went rolling Into the chasm be. low, waking a hundred reverberations among the hills, And with that Lee understood the devilish scheme that was in the work- ing. The dynamiting which he had heard that afternoon was the prelimi nary work of the two men In prepar- ing their trap; now they had set fuses among the rocks at the narrowest point of the trail, with the purpose of blow. ing him to destruction. And It wns a murder plan that would leave no evidence behind It, surer and safer than a rifle shot. Another explosion; and between the sound of the dull roar and the up heaval, Lee, seeing the girl apparently trying to urge her plunging sanlmal buck toward him, stood up in his stir. rups and waved his hand frantically toward her, “Go back! back!" he jut the girl seemed bewildered, and only clung to her plunging, beast, over which she had trol, the while It pawed the danced desperately upon the way. Lee vaulted from gled upon the edge of the precipice, re- gained his footing, and ran toward her. He caught at her horse's hridle, “Jump! Jump!” he ont (io shouted, snorting lost con- air and narrow horse, hig strug shouted, holding hig arms And following seemed to extend through all eternity Another and the the mountain wall appeared to crum into a the few seconds roar, whole face | ple landslide, As In a help falling wal strike the girl's horse In the flan} { less dream Lee saw the sent |t the « And, screaming into he vainly grasped at het t shot him over the urled » hind been hi precipice from the mouth mnnon felt hi f imseil h ped at e tumbling fai Ness down CHAPTER V The Severed Strands And the returning scene of con was at first only the dim | knowledge of pain, in terms of which { he visualized existence pain seemed to have existed eternity, filling all sg ¢ and It usurped all the functions of He was the nucleus of {t, an lion, inert and out of him pain hh the universe ime sight—chs antastic m ng hen he m liscovery mountain were bonlders He a 1] the yegelalion ORs sand IE ENON upon the wk on either side down the gorge at t! the torrent coursed 1 #LG f other fan-work growth form Kelly prev Pe His | slope, { beside ! shot hi | was onl stunned The dipping “into | membered that jit, it midway in jut he nad seen it With that | picture | by red ri when bh ind last = the om a cliff on wos western top Led into 8k the her h He rem landslide, saw her and toppling down the ravine n bered his own fall, the the last links snapped into place He realized that had been flung from the heights above, and that by a { miracle k his descent Into the { rock-strewn torrent had been arrested the scrub growth held rocks would battered him almost out man, or tossed him torrent he of hui by which him { Otherwise ground and of semblance to a into the whirling As It was, It was a | had survived the fall was injured. He on broken limbs He tried to thoge miracle that he Probably must count he badly rise, and instantly the body screamed its protest. With im- mense difficulty he succeeded In get ting upon his hands and knees flexed each of his limbs In turn, He felt his body and ribs, he patted him- self all over. It was incredible, but though every muscle in his body seemed twisted, and he was aching and bruised from head to foot, no bones appeared to be broken. Peering along the edge of the ravine, Lee saw the girl's horse lying a little distance away. The effort to get seemed to consume period of time, upon his feet an incredible By the exercise of all his will Lee managed to keep his balance until the rocking earth had grown comparatively stable. Then, forcing his rebellions limbs and muscles into co-ordination, he stag. gered toward the girl's horse. It was alive, bit its back and limbs were broken, go that it was completely paralyzed. It looked at Lee as Le ap proached out of Its bright, pathetic eyes, Instinct with the foreknowledge of death. Lee was sick with the fear that he would either find the girl dead-—bat- tered almost out of recognition among the rocks—or missing ; drowned in the torrent below, He searched every inch of the sur rounding terrain within a radius of three hundred yards, and then aban. donned hope. Anger, boiling up within fie her murderers and shoot like the wild him, assisted in reviving strength would follow them down beasts they were, Before the side of the In fured drew his automatic, which had remained buckled in his belt holster throughout the fall, and merel fully ended the animal's life with a single shot over the heart Now there remained the vengeance—then the original duty of pleking up Pelly. tut he swore that would take one man, not three, to Manistree And, leaving horse lee pursuit, he with the decision, he retraced stood be side the gorge between the dead had burst canvas and lay scat the rifle was not Two or three cartridges The contents of the packs broken to be found nt the edge the chasm, were all Lee elu usion tantly he came to that river the con is rifle lay at the bottom urned doggedly to take But nethinge something up the again as he wag passing I's horse ni ng on the ground caught hi stooped to “xX tresses of pale, yellow-brown coiled round his fingers It was the hair of He tried to pick the ends dead arimal, caught in the broken upon the ground ap peared to have been roughly severed § There was n« bt it halr, an was the girl's I resses have been few was must inches of her than i jes rallinge al ang for there more thiree of then ng the detach He tugged It was a matter f considerable ceeded In re strand. At detach and ana leasing them however, he nanaged to and, after oment’'s hesita he thrus m into the near roll had been Lier release not dead off by the two ruffians was She had Lee And the dark when a second time the light of was nearly pass trail ahead o for the kidnapers ours went by, and it, and wn begins larknoess, he hese * had widened Inte ich, thrust his course barred the fores to reedy swamp And, lifting up upon a i elevatl the log camp Then ow huts of he knew that the an that him, all hour or 3 ena the ome 10 man shook the knowing that And with from hold on to his strength and for an what he craftily, must wit two longer had to do he quickly, boldly He did not know how were in the Free 7] must ny men raders’ headquar } away The arm of the lake that was thrust Nice job, tackiing the Free Traders’ camp ail alone! But does he find the girl? (TO BE CONTINUED.) western coast of Panama at the San Lorenzo river, and the American mu seum bird-hunting expedition of Lud low Griscom and three assistants found it to be one of the commonest trees of the primeval forest of that little-known region, according to the Baltimore Sun. One superb specimen proved to be 7 feet In diameter, G feet from the ground and to measure 152 feet from the base to the first limb. The per fectly symmetrical trunk, which is ii- jlustrated in natural history, had all the grandeur of a cathedral column, Though less shapely, other trees were even larger and one had a diameter of 13 feet at 0 feet from the ground. The forest abounded In wild life, at least 200 species of birds occurring In the vicinity. Fifty-Fifty Mrs. Lateleigh--Just remember, you can't get in late without my heating you! Mr. Lateleigh—No, und 1 can't Loi in late without my hearing you, eitho Bonner BY NE TVEN pe) BABY WALLABY WAYS Wallaby te must be “I've heard,” sald Baby Billie Brownie, “that kept very quiet, “In fact sometimes people will come to the bables z00 and they They will wheel a baby carriage. gently git on n long “They disturbing “It seems a baby 1 STH ct hs wheel it along very and som they stop anc bench and let the baby have ines { quiet rest and sleep about not Wallaby.” Billie wil hought to himself that doubtiess very thankful tha hey weren't other es were Wal fie say carriage and “I've £0 hoppi the “Vve never Z and carriage seen a jumping baby never ding along at a they go walking and they ging in a Been tithes to “Now I “When I was very youn the baby have some e course, and little pouch and her baby Wallaby ey ery “I was ame AS ever gorgeous jumps comfortable pouch d 1 just had the ¥ wallaby had best iI have said to myself so often seen bables here in the 200: poor little don’t } dears, you what a good time really is “There has been excitement among Mountain Zebras “Mother and Father Mountain Zebra snnounced to their friends lately that they hs fine son “Dut no sooner had this notice than they out. they had gent out another to “The Baby Colt Zebra vas only ten hours old when he jumped right over his mother's back she was lying down “Now know he who is able to do that 1 have done that myself. “He could do as you is a fine baby coulda’t he showed some fine “Fancy! He bad a trick before he “He wasn't quite a half-day old “That's what I calli smart, “But poor little real bables are kept so quiet. It seems a8 shame, “1 feel sorry for the poor dears, “Yes, if any one wants to know what I think you may tell them that Baby Wallaby thinks they don't have much fon.” S80 Dillie Brownie laughingly prom. ised to deliver the Baby Wallaby's message, little “My goodness!” remarked the old gentleman as he stopped the young Ind with the fine catch of trout. “You've had a very successful day, young man Where did you cateh all these fish? "Just walk down that patch marked Private’ and keep right on till yon come to a notice, "‘Trespassers will b prosecuted.” A few yards farther on there's a fine pool in the river marked ‘No fishing allowed,’ and there you are, sir "Union Pacific Magazine, Had Sold the Kiss Johnnie~Teacher, didn't you ear yon'd give me a Risa If 1 could pot some groenstull for your Little mhhit? “Yes, 1 did” Johanie