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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1932-02-04, Page 7THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE TiiUBsaiY, l EBKi aity i, 103a 'A. “The Silver Hawk” iillllll BY WILLIAM BYRON MOWERY !l SYNOPSIS III " James Dorn, aerial map mUker, as* signed to a territory in the north- ern Canadian Rockies lives alone his camp on Titan Island, Kansas Eby, his friend for the past six years was stationed at If Eagle Nest, two hundred miles east. Kansas cam© over one night to a dance that the Indians were having on the station ' platform. When the midnight train pulled in he seen a girl come out and glance hurriedly . around and then disappear into the darkness. Kansas followed hurriedly but failed to find any trace of her, He told his friend '■ Dorn about it and the same night Pere Bergelot, a trusty metis ar rived0 with the girl. „ The girl, Aurore McNain, asks Dorn to go to a lonely lake in ‘ search of her father and she wish- * eg to accompany him where she remains in hiding and Dorn car- , ries supplies to her iby aeroplane. Carter-Snowdon arrives, and with the help of some ’breeds is trying to locate her, Luke, the trusty •old Indian, who knows her secret ’ hiding place is captured and Dorn is trying to free him from. Carter- Snowdon. clucking ending of the call was wrong, Those ’breeds had, -crossed from fhe mainland; they were on his own island; they were skulking out there in the dark spruce shad ows not a hundred yards away! He thought of that fearful gauntlet old Luke would have to run from the water-edge to tent. His words of warning. "They’d just as soon cap ture you, Luke, as me,” came back to him; and it made his -blood run cold to think of those French Ba- bines, those crafty and powerful and cruel ’breeds of the mountains, cap turing old Luke and torturing in formation .out of him, and of ter-Snowden flying north and •ting Aurore into his power. Dorn sat tense, listening. For lllllllllllllllllllllll cut for the tent, presently lie heard hushes softly swishing back and a twig snaping and the padded footfalls of several men, He heard a groan and muf fled curse -of the 'breed he had wounded. Another of trie men trod heavily and lumbersome, as though he carried a limp burden; and when the moving shadows halted for a moment a few feet from Dorn and the guttural whisper, prend’ tour a ce chien he knew that limp bur- Carl-o was asked to take alive i»r. Gar- get- ” He was wise enough to fearful. Remembering how sil- and elusive Aurore had been in woods, Dorn thought, "She a better job. of creeping up on He imagined Au-: CHAPTER XVIII ‘‘Luke was papoose sixty Great Moons ago,” the Indian grunted. “S’pose you be careful. Melbbe they come here while I gone, while you here alone.” “I’ll sit in dark tent and listen. If you hear roar while you gone— roar like dozen thunder-crashes— then you know they tried to sneak up through bushes on me and I ex ploded the mine.” /For his perilous trip old Luke jfaid rifle and narhkdn aside in the /brush and stripped to his girdle, With only a hunting knife as wea- flEfcji. He pointed to the heavens: W“tyrhen. that star gets where this one is, then I be back.” He left so noiselessly that cue moment Dorn was whispering final instructions and the next moment lie was aware .old Luke was gone. Alone on his island after night fall, Dorn went cautiously up to his tent, stepped inside, and by the flare of a match arranged on "ills table a small battery and coil; after rolling up the tent-sides in order to hear better, he sat there in the intense dark, his fingers touching a lever and all liis senses sharpened. He knew that so long as he stay ed in the tent his enemies could not capture him. Out in the bushes old Lu-ke had strung up a cunning rattle-bang which would give him warning of their approach; and by moving that lever half an inch lie could blow them clear into the lake. Tie did not expect them to attack him at all, for over he had made a bold the box of dynamite enemy fair warning; and the meti look-cut had undoubtedly seen laying the mine . •So Dorn thought very little about liis own safety, as he waited for Luke to return. In that hour* he did not greatly care what happened to him, except that he was Aurore’s sole dependence and that her safety was bound up with his own. His camp and island and the daily rou tine of the days ahead were intol erably bare and bleak after the glory of those hours with Aurore in her wildwood of stately pines. F For once Dorn’s habit of self-mas tery failed him and he had no con trol over his warring emotions and made no effort to life himself from despair. Aurore’s words had been final and absolute. He knew she had not spoken them lightly; no knew she had weighed every syllable of them and had driven herself to tell him against her own compassion and love, Though ho speculated idly what the story of those four darkj, unfathomable years could be, he no longer wished to know. told spect had J tiling from facts . and ugly He carried within him a picture of Aurore innocently asleep in the ■brush lodge he built for her, a*nd that was how ho wanted to think of her always. At midnight Dorn began wonder ing why old Luke had not returned. Several times lie had heard, from across on the mainland, the weird lioot.of an owl and the dismal bark of a fox; and he 'know these sounds were- signals passing between the enemy ’breeds scounting around through the cedars; A little later ho .suddenly hoard an alarm-bird calling down the low er end of the island, and the low at the station showing to give with the him She had him she wanted to keep his re- ; as long as she could; that she been something, had done somo- *, which forever set her off him. Dorn realized that ugly must lie -behind those words, ho drew back from knowing facts about Aurore McNain. half an hear no other sound came to him till finally out on the lake he heard the sleepy call of a great northern ■diver. That was old Luke signal ling his return. Through intermin able minutes Dorn waited, expect ing every fumbling tent, But old Down near yell rose suddenly, high-pitched, in articulate, and ending abruptly; then a thrashing of underibush, and snarling oaths. Dorn leaped quivering to his feet. That yell had come from old Luke’s throat, tacked; against cry had in his against hopeless odds, old Luke tried to warn his’white friend. Before Dorn’s eyes rose the cient oath between him and Luke. He did have one fleeting thought ef Aurore, of the terrible consequences to her if he went out and both he and the Indian were killed; -but in that the thought had not power to him. To stand there in his. tent while old Luke was being dered was alien to his nature, ing his electric torch, his heavy au tomatic, he .brushed through flap-front and ‘ran like a deer the dark path. Thirty steps from 'the lake he stopped and listened for of the struggle, and heard More cautiously he groped, the landing and stood there black silence, listening intently. No [rustle or whisper from the bushes around him. Whatever had hap pened, it was all 'over now. He listened for twenty seconds, and from the dead silence he under stood: old Luke had been clubbed unconscious and taken prisoner, or else murdered. A fury seized Dorn and shook him. In savage, reck less anger he swore: "If Luke’s alive I’ll tear him away from them. If they killed him ...” To his lips came the sinister Cree oath, “Lokoyas eeyumoon”—plenty blood shall flow. Whirling, he started back up the path, meaning to circle down thro’ the spruces to the lower end .of the island; there the alarm-bird had first called, there the ’breeds had landed and left their boat', and they would take old Luke there if he was a prisoner. A few paces inland Dorn heard a rustle in the path ahead of him and stopped short, realizing that those French-Ba'bines had cut hiiii off and were creeping upon him, a cordon of invisible enemies; and when he heard the padded sound again, -clos er, nearly upon him, he snapped on the electric torch for an instant and whiped up his automatic. Eight feet ahead of him 'in the path he beheld the form of a man—■ a .squat jhairy-faced ’breed creeping like a great cat ready to spring, his eyes glistening like the beady rain drops on the buslie:*. Dorn shot point-blank and a yelp of pain went up with the bark of the gun. An other enemy, guided by the flash of fire, leaped upon Dorn from behind. With one hand Dorn wrenched him self free from the- powerful ’breed, and crashed the pistol-butt against the man’s head; and before the other metis could close in he had smashed and was At the a thicket cd himself beside the water-edge trail and waited, knowing that the ’breeds would have to pass him to reach their boat, As he crouched there tor several long minutes, his hot purpose cooled and he came to realise again that his own life meant Aurora's too, and so must bo guarded preciously; and that if Luke was a prisoner, ho could not be saved by precipitating a fight with clubs and pistols there in the dark—-a hopeless fight against those five fire-eating Sabines, He thought "If they’ve got I’ll let them go and watch for haven’t, If he’s couple or three istant to hear the Indian at the flap-front of the Luke never came, the landing a long 1-Ie had been ambushed, at- he was. fighting for his life those Fxench-Babines. That been a cry of warning. Even extremity, in his battle had an- old moment hold safe mur- Seiz- the down edge sounds none, on to in the his way out of the trap running up the path, lower end of his island, in of devil’s-club, he amibtish- Luke with them, by and then follow a chance. If they dead, I’ll got a or thorn and then re- up, I’ll hear they be a air.” and he caught "Chari o-la, Indien-ci,” den whom turn carrying was old Luke, and a prisoner; and that the big ’.breeds were taking him * to the enemy camp at the Lake of Dead Waiters, and would torture out of him the information of Aurore’s fhge. When they passed, Dorn rose with his decision already made, follow and try to get Luke away from them. I’ll listen, and if I a plane go up, that will mean know where Aurore is and it’ll signal for me to get into the He went back to his tent made a few hasty preparations, Then he stepped down the path to the landing and recovered old Luke’s rifle; and paddling across to the mainland, he skirted the station clearing and hurried on east, lone handed, following a trail through the black* tamaracks, to attack enemy camp beside the Lake Dead Waters. CHAPTER XIX The Earthquake Stick As he neared the Lake of Waters, Dorn cut aside from travelled path, for he knew perfect ly well that at least one of those French-Babines was lying low for him somewhere along their back- trail. Circling out into the dark woods, with a star to guide him, till at last he caught the red glow of Carter-Snowdon’s camp s-:re hundred yards ahead. He dropped to hands and then, and with all caution closer to study the camp before at tacking it. Several of those ’breeds would certainly be posted out in the darkness; and as he wormed noise lessly through devil’s clulb and, buck brush, he kept warning himself: "They caught old Luke, at night, in the woods. Anybody who can do the of Dead the three knees crept that he ent the do this camp than I, jwe there beside him, slipping along with him over the dank moss and rotting needles to save the old In dian who had been so loyal to both of them. When he could hear muffled voices ahead, Dorn stood cautiously erect; and, bush tree, view A big wasteful fire had burned to red coals. To the right of it a tent yas pitched and from the tent came blasphemous groans of the ’breed Dorn had shot. On beyond the •camp jay the starlit sheen of Eaux glories. In the fire-glow shadows moved, vague and blurred at first to born; but as his eyes grew used to the strain, he identified and made out what they ing. Did Luke, hog-tied hand unable to see over the deer* lie drew himself up into a and from that percn had clear of the camp. draw nut of it two iron rods and then thrust them b»ck Jnto the glowing coals to heat better. He could plainly observe how nervous Carter-Snowdon was and how the sentinel ’breed, a little sickened already, {kept glancing around to see if the ghastly business had started yet. But Soft-Shoe was unmoved,. Dorn knew he was the instigator of this torture scheme; he had plan ned these details of fire and ice and knife, apd meant to consummate the affair with his own hands, Not even the ’breeds had the brutality for it. Dorn watched back from the fire, and say to Carter-Snowdon; "We’d better get this sir. It isn’t long till morning. He’s still pretty groggy, but lie’ll wake up when we start to work on him.” Dorn swore grimly alley-wolf him come heard him over with his men were do- and foot, his head slumped pitifully on his breast, was bound to a tree about twenty-five feet from the fire. Cold and business-like, Soft-Shoe stood near him with some glittering in strument in his hand, waiting till the old Indian was conscious enough to talk, In front of the two Car ter-Snowdon paced back' and forth, nervously 'chewing a cigar. ‘The heavy biplane was drawn close in ashore, but the avaitor was not about. Dorn reasoned, ’’They sent him up to the station, likely; they didn’t want any unnecessary nesses here to-night.” Joe Yoroslaf was busy with task beside the fire, but Dorn not understand what Yoroslaf was doing. At the edge of the shadows a ’breed was flattened against a tree with a rifle in the crook of his arm. ‘‘The other three of them are out here in the woods. Those snags and rocks I crawled past—it was my good luck that none of them came to life!” A shudder ran through Dorn when his eyes fell upon a block of ice on the moss near old Luke. He under stood its purpose; he had heard gruesome stories of the ice-torture with which the Cossack promysh- leni-ki, generations ago, had extort ed sea-otter peltry from the miser able Aleuts. ‘‘God is high in His heaven and the Czar is far away,” their 'boast ran; and Dorn thought of that boast now ana as he felt of liis bulging jacket-pocket he reflect ed: "Not so far away as they think! If I can only get close enough to be sure I won't kill Luke . . While he watched from and carefully planned how up nearer that camp, he detective walk over to the wit- some could the tree to creep saw the fire and You damned to-night I can’t spare time to kill you, but if 1 ever get in reach of you again, I’m to break your neck like a man' thumb’s a trout. You’d better act natural and die quick!” For a moment or two he studied \ OJ’QSl af ng's in , Rnid. this tixxi® he made out that the man was tying rawhide thongs around a heavy rock. Dorn shuddered as the mean ing of it burst upon him. ‘‘.God! That’s for old Luke's bodyj—after they’ve finished with him”; and his glance went on past the ’breed to the Lake of Dead Waters, dark and lonely and abysmally ueep. He slipped down from the tree, and abandoned his rifle there; and flattening himself on the ground he began creeping inch by inch upon the camp. As his detective brought one of the irons from the l’ire and came up to the old Indian, Carter-Snowdon turned his back and sidled away. He had no heart to w^scli. He was angry at himself for not having gone up to Titan station and left this ugly work for hm men. Orders for ether persons to carry out had always been his rule and haibiit; it kept one pleasantly aloof from nasty actuality; on achieved results, with out a feeling of guilt or writhe of conscience. But here was one' time that he was rubbed up against bru tal reality. The whole scene near him—the black tamarack, the dark- silvered lake, the fantastic leaping shadows, the swarthy faces of the mountain 'breeds—was a little bit grisly; and Carter-Snowdon was afraid the murder might haunt his memory. When he heard a sharp, nerve jarring grunt wrenched from the old Indian, he came very near whirl ing around and ordering the detec tive to drop that iron; but he clamp ed down on himself and walked a bit farther away away to the edge of the shadows. He was thinking: “If I let him go on, I’ll damned quick know whore she's hiding! She’s dangerous, sme could whis per and bury me like an avalanche. But to-morrow morning I’ll have her again, and at one of my moun tain lodges she’ll no longer be dan gerous. And the thought of having Aurore was an effective any squeamishness over Smoky. Carter-Snowdon could stand, it was utter mystery to him why Aurore had left him so suddenly, or why the girl should ever want to at all. She had not silencer c£ the old not under-’ that night devil that leave him previously shown the slightest sigh/Of wanting to break away. Quit?* the contrary Carter-Snowden reflected, with rous ed memories; and it maddened him to think of Aurore new m the com pany and protection or that carto grapher, Dorn. He Jiad believed at first .that she must have known this Dorn in her girlhood days; 1 remembered that she had mentioned th© man’s name, must have been a stranger must have fled with an utter ger. It was galling to think of her taking up with a nobody; it was almost impossible to believe that she would prefer a government car tographer to himself. He felt sure that her flight was a suuden, fool ish caprice and that she probably regetted it aleady and would be quite willing to come back. But willing 0 not, she was dangerous; one word from her would have thundering echoes; tne thing to do was to get her again forthwith. And ths old Smoky was a means not to be passed up. (Conrinueu next'’ week) hut he never So he ■; she • st ran- VISITED BY AUTHORESS Mrs. Nellie McClung, distinguish ed Canadian authoress and lecturer paid a visit to St. Marys last week. She spo'ke under the auspices of the Women’s Institute and was greeted by an audience that filled the Town. Hall. HURON COUNTY’S WARDEN Louis H. Rader, of Dashwood, was born in Stephen Township 48 years ago, but for twenty-two years has been operating a 175 acre farm in Hay Township. He has been a mem ber of Hay council for twelve years aiid this is his fourth term in Huron County Council. In politics he is a Conservative and in religion a Luth eran. He serves as Superintendent of the Sunday School, as president of the choir and as chairman of the congregation in the Dashwood Luth eran Church. He comes of a famlily that have been residents of Huron County for three or four generations Twenty-two years ago lie married Miss Clare Miller and they .have a family of eight children.—Huron Ex positor. ri<Ie Appeal Pocketbook Appeal MOTORS PRODUCTS PRODUCED IN CANADA llic Chevrolet type of ecowoiBBiCal traunsportaitMon has them both tow PRICES $635 695 720 725 735 745 775 800 825 845 850 870 895 Standard Roadster - - - . Sport Roadster..................... 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