The Snowflake herald., 1918-04-12


go out alone nights"
81 dare say can, but I'm not going
to-"
II think you had better use a little
sense, Gordon. l dare say l am exag-
gerating the danger But when you
go around with that jaunty devil-may-
care way of yours, the men think you
are looking for trouble-and you're
likely to get it."
"Am II"
81 know what I'm talking about.
Nine out of ten of the men think you
tried to murder Macdonald after you
had robbed him and that your nerve
weakened on the job. This seems to
some of the most lawless to give them
a moral right to put you out of the
way. Anyhow, it is kind of justifica-
tion, according to their point Of view.
I'm not defending it, of course. I'm
telling you so that you can appreciate
your danger"
"You have done your duty, then,
Peter"
"But you don't intend to take my ad-
Weep
''I'll tell you what l told you last
time when you warned me. I'm going
through with the job I've been hi'aC
to 90, just as you would stick it out
in my place. don't think I'm in much
danger. Men in general are law-abid-
ing. They growl, but they don't so as
far as murder"
Peter gave him up.
The next issue of the KUsiak Sun
contained a bitter editorial attack upon
| Elliot. The occasion for it was a
p1 ess dispatch from Washington to the
effect that the pressure of public opin-
ion had become so strong that Win
ton, commissioner of the general land
office, might be forced to resign his
place. This was a blow to the coal
! claimants, and the Sun charged in
vitriolic language that the reports of
! Elliot were to blame. He was, the
! newspaper claimed, an enemy to all
! those who had come to Alaska to earn
an honest living there. He was a
snake in the grass, and as such every
decent man ought to hold him in scorn.
Elliot read this just as he was leav-
ing for the Willow Creek camp. He
thrust the paper impatiently into his
coat pocket and swung to the saddle.
Why did they persecute him? He had
! told nothing but the truth, nothing. not
required of him by the simplest, ele-
mental honesty. Yet he was treated
as an outcast and a criminal. The in
! justice Of it was beginning to rankle.
He was temperamentally an Opt.
the gold camp and did not lift from his
! spirits till he started back next day for
| Kusiak. The news had been flashed by
wire all over the United States that he
was a crook. His friends and relatives
could give no adequate answer to the
fact that an indictment hung over his
head. In Alaska he was already con-
victed by public opinion.
In the late afternoon, while Gordon
was still fifteen miles from Kusiak,
his horse fell lame. He led it limping
to the cabin of some miners.
There were three of them, and they
had been drinking heavily from a jug
of whisky left earlier in the day by
the stage driver. Gordon was in two
minds Whether to accept their surly
permission to stay for the night, but
the lameness of his horse decided him.
Not caring to invite their hostility
| he gave his name as Gordon instead Of
Elliot. He was to learn within the
hour that this was mistake number
! two.
From a pocket Of the coat he had
thrown on a bed prOtruded the news
paper Gordon had brought from Ku-
siak One of the men, a big red-head-
ed fellow, pulled it out and began sulk-
fly to read.
While he read the other two bick-
cred and drank and snarled at each
other. All three of the men were in
that stage of drunkenness when a
quarrel is likely to flare up at a mo-
ment's notice.
''Listen here" demanded the man
with the newspaper. "Tell you what,
boys, I'm going to wiring the neck of
that pussyfooting spy Elliot if I ever
get a chanct."
He read aloud the editorial in the
Sun. After he had finished, the 9TH
ers joined him in a chorus of curses.
II always did hate a spy-and this
ones murderer too. Why don't some
one fill his hide with lead?" one of the
men wanted to know.
Redhead was sitting at the table. He
thumped a heavy fist so hard that the
tin cups jumped. "Gimme a crack at
him and I'll show you!"
! A shadow fell across the room. In
the doorway stood a newcomer. Cor
don had a sensation as if a lump of ice
had been drawn down his spine. For
the man who had just come in was Big
Bill Macy, and he was looking at the
field agent with eyes in which amaze
ment anger and triumnh hlazpd