{ ¥ { I IT By ROBERT AMES BENNET WNU Service Copyright by Robert Ames Bennet COE CHAPTER IX —] Gs Murder. In the morning Garth for the first time showed haste, The dawn was far too beautifully rose. He made sure that Lilith's blankets were back in her cockpit before he handed her aboard. He fitted the glass wind cowl to the cockpit rim, which came up almost level with her eyes, “It we strike into a blizzard, get your cap over your ears, and blanket yourself, head and all,” he warned. “You don’t want to lose your ears and nose,” The constable was already snug un- der his own cowl Garth swung Into his pilot cockpit. Old Tobin gave the propeller a spin for him. This time Garth needed no circling in order to trace the air route. Aboard the cabin monoplane he had watched Huxby's Instruments and noted the landmarks from above. He now knew the way in by air. He did not even have to follow the zigzag course that he had been forced to grope along In guiding Huxby. His mental map of all those turns, bearings and distances enabled him to draw a direct air line to the lost valley. He headed along it as straight as the crow flies. By the time the lovely rose dawn glared into an angry red sunrise, the r plane had flown ail the way across that weary desclation of mus- and broken-ridged lower moun- Close ahead loomed the last in front of the Selwyns. The its that had reared up bare I brown under the summer sun now wed with a white mantie. The pots precipices too sarine caring kegs tains, rance 80 were the snow, clouds foretold arth had o another it. inging In around the out- utraced ain to the pass, he banked drove past the east side of the on a long upsl miles nerth from to the west and 2 tain, the pass, headed for east- the like anked notch ed wall of iowest agg Above bumped barrier the plane Py seat, h paid no conscious heed to the His hands and feet controls with automatie attention free to passage, isted precision, leaving his center upon what lay ahead. His show the b the first glimpse 1 him a column of smok ick belt of spruce at the far end of the lake. Much thicker than ordinary cam out the As the plane drove clear above the saddle between the peaks, he shoved the stick forward and cut the gun, With the roar of the engine stilled, the plane swooped down at the lake like a monstrous bird of prey. Relatively speaking, It was driving at its quarry as nolselessly as a great horned owl of the North stoops to strike a rabbit, Also, by entering the valley over this distant saddle, Instead of through the pass, Garth felt sure the plane would not be seen. His next problem was to effect a landing without the roar of the re started motor. He had already made out Huxby's big cabin plane, moored at the mouth of the glacier stream. That was the only safe mooring place, The lake had already skimmed over with thin Ice except where the out rushing glacler torrent kept a water lane free, well out from shore. Huxby undoubtedly had been shrewd enough to foresee a freeze-up if he moored his plane below the foot of the placer trough, Absence of any smoke near the plane told that the miners were camped at the placer. The stream mouth was too far from the diggings for the hurried workers to tramp back and forth ev- ery night and morning. Besides, there would be snowdrifts to wade through. From every Indication, the claim. Jumper could be surprised and taken before he realized that any other party than his own had come to the valley, The one need was to avoid using the plane's engine. Its roar would be heard for miles, Garth calculated the volplane angle with his utmost skill. If he hit the water too soon, the propeller would have to be used to pull the plane in to the landing; If he held on too long, there might be a crackup, It was a matter of fractions of sec. onds. He allowed for the fact that the slight wind was abeam, instead of sucking down from the glacler, His one fallure was to notice In time the shrunken volume of the glacier stream, The plane took to the water smooth. ly, at almost the exact distance off shore that he had planned. The diff. culty was that the outswirling current lacked the force he expected. Instead of slowing down or stopping short, the three-seater drove In hard at the cabin plane, : The stream mouth lacked width enough for the small plane to squeeze past the large one. Nor was there | rocm to maneuver between the off- shore rocks. Garth acted with instant decision. He swerved the three-seater to clear the tall of the cabin plane. As he stripped off his goggles and swung of 3 i , 1 darks ana darker ke, it stood distinct against the vivi ite of snow-sheeted tundra slope, down from his cockpit with the moor- Ing line, the pontoon stems smashed like eggshells on a waterworn rock, across the narrow channel from the tail of the other plane, lefore the current could float the three-seater back into deep water, Garth leaped ashore. Lilith had opened the cowl of her cockpit and was start. ing to climb out. Garth glanced at the threatening sky, “She has settled down hard and fast, Miss Ramill. Better stay snug aboard until we return.” The girl's reply was to scramble for- ward on the shoreward wing of the plane, Garth waded out in the ley water and had her hand down his rifle, the three pairs of snowshoes, and all the blankets, He tossed everything to Dillon, then took the girl on his shoul der. The policeman had started upstream with the outfit. He walked across the now shallow ford without getting a drop of water over the tops of his heavily greased shoepacks. Garth slung Lilith on his shoulder like a sack of meal and splashed across after Dillon. At the far bank Dillon stopped to put on a pair of snowshoes. QCarth lowered the girl upon a bare rock, and ran down the left bank to swing aboard the cabin plane. With him he took the blankets, When he came ashore, he had on dry socks and moccasins, He frowned at Lilith, She was flop- ping awkwardly along on snowshoes behind the policeman, “Take off webs the cabin,” he ordered. “I will not,” she refused. ing with you. arrested.” those and get into “I'm I came to see that beast R0- “Don't be a fool. back before started, you, frigs# minute, We'll be there and more than got There's no time to wait for Blizzard may swoop down any " you've iy He had slipped on the third palr of snowshoes. He took his rifle from Dil lon and started off as guide. The con- stable followed at the same rapid galt, He was an experienced snowshoe run. ner. Lilith swinging tried to imitate thelr deft webs, e-down Into a 3 stride tripped and pl drift, cto ot " sis fn ” ele] Instead of turning back girl's 0 with the She . fe inged fac cry of his blizzard and close the stream a walt un- ith the freeze. then w stride f un. A severe skim ice ut from al ould *d free and pried up on the sur- vty] i for his companion wa through a clear ring the snowy came on metal, “They're drilling below the frost-line to blast a shaft” he said ~ licher gravel on bedrock, at foot of the placer trough” Dillon forged Into the lead. trail me now, sir.” Without any protest, Garth fell In behind. The Law was now in com- mand. A few strides brought them to the dyke of igneous rock that walled the lower end of the placer trough, From behind a stunted spruce, they peered across the treeless width of rock to where a large fire was flaming at the edge of the matted timberline scrub, Over the fire hung three big iron ket. tles. Beside It stood a small eradle for rocking gravel, But there was no one working the rocker, nor was there anyone In sight. Even the ring of sledge on drill in the newly dug pit, Just beyond the fire, had ceased, "Not so good,” Garth murmured. “I'm not so sure it's a surprise.” “You'll stay here, sir.” “No.” Constable Dillon spoke with cool logie: “If it's a surprise, I need no as sistance, If he Is warned and prepared to resist, better for you to support me from cover.” “Well—perhaps.” “The only way, sir, sponsible for lady.” That elinched the argument against Garth. Having brought the willful girl with him, he now had to look out for her, “Very well, Dillon” “Walt till I take position.” He shifted to the left side of the stuited spruce and erouched down where he could peer between the lower branches. At the other side, the con- stable atood up and stepped out Into the cpen. Hardly was he clear of cover when a harsh shout came from the serub beside the fire: “Halt! Throw up your hands” Garth caught the menace In Huxby's voice, and leveled his rifle, There was nothing of the four-flusher about the engineer, He was a coldblooded killer, Constable Dillon paused. But he did not put up his hands. The Northwest pollee do not surrender, Dillon merely swung the barrel of his carbine back- ward under his arm, and made quiet reply: “I have here a warrant for the ar rest of Vivian Huxby for theft and of metal i vie “You'll You stood re- bringing the young he agreed. assault to murder, Any persons who Interfere with his arrest will make themselves lable.” “Bah, you cock-capped red Jay, you can't bluff me,” Huxby gibed. “You're covered. Move, and you get a bullet through you, Drop that gun and shove up your hands.” A sldeward jumping down-thrown would have put the constable back in cover, But he was a member of the Northwest mounted police. Retreat could no more be considered by him than surrender. Also, he had no au- thority to shoot his man. The warrant called only for the arrest of the nee cused. He had to do his duty at what- ever risk, “You will be well advised not to re sist,” he sald, With that, he raised his right snow- shoe and slid it up a Jow cross-drift in a forward step. As he bent forward to bring up the other web, a rifle roared in the dense scrub. Garth fired into the faint haze-puff of smokeless powder, Back came a bullet that clipped a branch at his left elbow. He shifted sideways towards the tree trunk, and rose to peer through a higher opening. A slight movement of a spruce spray in the scrub brought his rifle to his shoulder, He paused a moment to peer over the sights, his finger kissing the trigger, Another twitch of that spruce twig. His finger tightened on the trigger Crash! He hurled down on his right side. The first thought that flashed into his mind was that his rifle had burst. His right arm had gone numb as if broken by the shock. Luckily, he did not at try to spring up. As he paused to feel at the numb arm with his left hand, the bark flew from a limb close over his head. The scar of white wood showed that the bullet had been fired from off to his left, He flattened down and crawled Into the snowiess hollow alongside the tree n the hollow lay his rifle. It once ters be CUR. He Swung the Bcdy of the Con. stable Across His Shoulders. had not burst. But that was no con soiation. The first shot from off to the left had struck square against the side of the breech and smashed the magazine, One look at the weapon showed that it was ruined. He wormed past it to the far side of the tree trunk. During all the many seconds that had passed since the firing of the first shot, he had heard no call nor any sound what ever trom Constable Dillon. He peered out under the low drooped spruce boughs on that side of the tree. As he expected, the worst had hap- pened. The policeman lay on hid back. He had been shot through the heart One glance told Garth the fact that his companion was beyond all ald. He lcoked for the constables ear- bine, It was nowhere In sight. The low drift behind which Dillon had fallen gave Garth enough cover to crawl out beside the body. But the carbine was not under its owner. Garth pulled the snowshoes from the feet of the dead man, On the heel of one web he perched the constable's cap. He reached out sideways and lifted the cap so that it peeped above the top of the drift. The cap flipped back off the snowshoe, plerced througn by a bullet from the scrub beside the fire, At the roar of the ghot, Garth bobbed up, three feet to the left, to look for the missing carbine, It lay half buried In the snow, a long 10 feet away. When shot, Dillon must have flung out his hands as he pitched over backwards In the midst of the convulsive jerk, death had loosened his grip on the carbine. Huxby had proved he could shoot u rifle with deadly accuracy, and his men were nearly as expert. To make a dash for the carbine would be equiv. alent to committing suleide To le quiet would give the killers time to realize there wae no rifle waiting to meet thelr attack. The fourth man HS GL 0 smpone from the rear, With his knife Garth slashed out the webs of Dillon's snowshoes. Then, worming his way backwards, he start- ed to drag the body downslope. The tree put him under cover from the two killers near the fire, A drift enabled him to crawl to another tree without being seen by the man off to the left, A sideward shift brought him to the shallow channel of the frozen spring rill. Down the channel a few yards, an up-jut of rock offered a complete cover. He swung the body of the con. stable across his shoulders, stepped into his snowshoes, and ran asiant downslope, Every few seconds that passed with- out the roar of a rifle behind him, meant a widened margin of safety. The pursuers must have falled to no- tice his broken rifle in under the spruce, or else they thought he was hiding in the rill channel, walting for them to come within range of the con- stable’s service pistol. Whatever the cause of thelr delay, he had gained a long start before more yells told him they had cut his trail At the outburst, Garth eased off a lit- tie on the desperate speed of his run- ning. His fast mushing had already cov- ered three-fourths of the distance to the stream. It was now a simple mat- ter of running to Increase his handicap over the killers Only a lit. tle time would be needed to cast free the cabin plane. As drifted in the current, the cross-wind swing her out the water on she out would Then a quick run lane, and the take-off around, Hose ahead, he Ra She snowsh caught sight of LI was sitting Her right foot was up on her left and she + bing hard at the ankle At sight of the lim on her knoe shoulders, she “Oh, oh, Als “Murdered. here, all this ay from the » They're coming and bent ler the toe nowshoes, Decelved plane, and mush back f« ghe followed ven at an ordinary ye 4 ory 4 might yet be (TO BE CONTINUED) Ellis Island "Once Gay, and Named Oyster Island In the days when New York was a Dutch possession and known as New Amsterdam-—in the Seventeenth cen tury—Eillls island, the famous grant station, was called Oyster island, and was a “gay and exclusive re sort.” “For almost 150 years Oyster island continued to be New Amsterdam's favorite resort for pienics, oyster roasts, clam bakes, and fishing par ties,” says Edward Corsl. former United States commissioner of immi- gration zt Ellis Island 1n his valuable book “In the Shadow of Liberty: The Chronicle of Ellis Island.” “It passed finally Into the hands of Samuel Ellis, a farmer of Bergen county, New Jer. sey. “It later became the property of the state of New York (how, not clear) and in 1808, New York ceded the island to the federal government. It was then used as a powder magazine and arsenal and after various uses by the government, in 1800, it was designated as an Immigrant station.” Mr. Corsi notes that during his ad ministration—in 1082--*1 was to wit. ness the actual changing of the tide, the first In more than a hundred years, when more people had left our shores than were arriving. The changing tide of Immigration was brought about by the depression.” In that year—1032-35576 persons were admitted, while 103,205 left. In 1928 the figures were: admitted, 307 205; left, 77,457. ~Kansas City Star, Nova Scotia Is Scottish Nova Scotia, the land of Longfel. ly Scotch. Scotia's parliament is accompanied by the skirl of bagpipes, and several newspapers are printed partly in Gaelle. In the Nova Scotian county of Inverness, 72 per cent of the Inhab- itants speak Gaelle, while less than half of the similarly named county The length of time during which the ne omusin latent 1a uman Itself is very Yemarkable, extreme in- stances showing a delay of a From 20 to 60 days is the usual of time between the Infection and RANTED that mother and big sis are looking chic and for words spring. too this ter charming leurs or thelr bolero costumes, If with plain, to which there has clive EO However, sed would A8 ACCESKOTION high-style this season. we fre saying vogulshly attired adults are the wh show, not when grrayed youngste join tition t the processio Then does compe become and it is the tiny tots in their new i outfits that ii be getting } we € T's ever garbed. Which they sh dren’ i of in delecta hair weaves, Tweeds el's wool plaids and ser in the navy twil ge are all-in st of juvenile coatings. Close attention is being paid loring and styling, with trend dominating. Inverted crisp collars, velvet pipings well as insets in tallored collars are high style detalls to consider. Most impor. tant to remember is that fashion de. crees that every wee cont or suit is to be companioned by a matching hat. While grown-ups are going in for daring color to the limit hk colors are not so much in the children's wear pleture. As a matter of fact, it is the medium tones that are most generally the pleats as igh i in use this season. Pastels are also y in aqua, nitely favored all-white coats will be we atiract pe, White hand-embrol n touches, hat is of cloth identical the coat. perky matchir with that The adorable child In the foregreoand has on a coat of skipper blue novelty weave wool with the Princess Elizabeth lines given to it such as are regarded as exceedingly smart for the younger set this spring. Her matching Scotch cap repeats the trim of blue plaid silk used on the coat. © Western Newspaper Union. of MULTI-DUTY GARB URGED FOR SPRING There's a lot of talk these days about the “basic wardrobe,” which is a good idea for the spring budgeteer. The idea is to select the spring suit, coat and printed frocks in one color theme, to be worn with interchange able accessories. Suppose, for instance, you start with one of the smart new man-tallored suits with black jacket and striped skirt. With it, if you shop wisely, you will get an extra skirt to match the jacket. Then you should choose a topcoat in tailored style, also black, which may be worn over the suit or with a printed slik frock, Your printed silks should be bright, gay and simply made, so that you aay wear various frilly lingerie accents with them, changing thelr mood with the Jabot or collar you select. With these for a foundation, you may achieve | endless variety by choice of contrast ing accessories, Parasols and Fans Give Frivolous Touch to Garb Parasols add a frivolous touch to | many summer outfits. In bright print. | ed cottons they appear with beach costumes and in polka dotted silks they accompany summer sults. Seme of them have long erook handles, Folding fans made of field flowers, tulle or organdy and flat oval lacquer fans, only a little larger than a hand, lend a glamorous alr to evening cos. New Gloves time when in a hurry. do get them on without splitting they will never fit so well as when WITH A VEIL By CHERIE NICHOLAS A bit of straw, a brim of closely stitched net, a full-blown rose and a fragile, frivolous, flattering veil and presto! The milliner evolves as se. ductive a little cocktail hat as the world e'er gazed upon. As here pictured this intriguing headpiece is posed by Helen Chandler who wears It in her newest play, It carries a highly important style message in the tight brim that frames the head, namely, the use of many layers of net closely stitched. Milliners are making many wide brimmed hats as well as turbans and toques of stitched net this season, Bowknot Motif You ean tie yourself in knots, fash. fonably speaking, this spring. Chanel spontors the bowkast and the new Jewelry proves just how smart they look on a costume. Hinge bracelets
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers