Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 18, 1928 — page 123: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

\ THE EVIL PANORAMA. plowed its way toward the distant North. The calm sea was washed in a glow of glorious sunshine, the sky overhead marred but not even the fleeciest of clouds. The girl was dressed as a boy, her hair close cropped, her limbs incased in baggy trousers that slipped into heavy though small boots at her knees. Raynor wore his pistol plainly shown, the girl wore one with the butt only ex- posed above her belt. They talked of what lay ahead and, in return for stories of the older West, the girl told the detailed story of her father. ‘* He was always adventurous, Tad,” she began. ‘‘ Never a man like his brother, to remain at home and live moderately upon what he could earn from his profession. ‘He was but a lad when the gold rush of ’49 roused the world, but he dreamed of explorations and fortunes to be won from the earth in out-of-the-way corners of the world. “ At the close of the war—he fought with the Union—he never could settle down to home life again. He dreamed too much of riches and adventure. As if by an act of Providence, mother died at that time. Father left me in school and set out on his treasure hunt. “« From time to time we heard of him, but the letters were months old when we got them. First he came to Frisco, then north to Seattle. After that his letters stopped and we know now, that he was in Alaska. What originally attracted him there we nev- er shall know. “The next we heard was from the packet of charts and the ietters he sent with them, and the gold that he intrusted to Captain Mack of the schooner which looped the Horn. Mack told me himself that father gave him nearly a hundred thousand dollars in a separate gold poke for his delivery of the fortune I now have and the maps to the claim. “Tt has all become clear to us since meeting you and your father. It is easy to see that my father plannéd to return and mine more gold. He knew that he had let his secret leak out aboard that ter- rible Gold Bug, and he knew that his life was not safe, 921 “With that in mind he intrusted the gold and the maps to the captain to take to me. It was well that he did so; that very night—”’ Tad Raynor slipped his fingers along the rail, and patted her hand consolingly. After that they talked of other things, “Tt was just about a year ago that the Tiger—or the Adder—-was wrecked off Nome,” Raynor explained. ‘ The men who escaped necessarily fled to the interior, for they were wanted for mutiny and murder. “Either they remained inside at the claim, or they waited a few weeks until the ice drove the cutters downward and then outfitted at Nome and took the winter trail to the claim. “They will have a year start on us. But they may never have reached there. They may have fought among themselves, or died of exposure, or perhaps frozen before they ever outfitted! “* There is no telling about that until we get there. But guessing that they made their way through, it’s reasonable to think they found the claim all your father said it was and are hoarding gold while the law is forgetting them, so to speak, Barb. “ Your father named the claim after you, and by that name it had become known all along the Coast. “Don’t you see the position that places them in, Barb? They won’t dare file on it because to do that will be to admit their identity! All they can do is work it for all it is worth, and get out with enough money to care for them as long as they live. “ The way I figure things, they wouldn’t come out this summer. Summer is when they can work best because the ground will not be frozen so hard. They'll wait till the snow comes in two months or so, then make a dash for the States with what they have, and go back for more if they want to, next year.” The girl agreed with him and he caught in her eyes the light of hatred that reflected from her thoughts. She was a courageous little thing, he knew. She had no fear of: the terrible trip ahead, none of the men they must meet. Like her father, she met whatever pre- Gomichbooks (Elo) f