Evening star., 1933-12-04
CHAPTER XVIII.
WHO is RALSTON?

Wl1O Id IIA4o 4oNE
TT WAS twilight in the mountains.
Where the sun had dipped behind
the northwest ranges it had left
i in the sky a plaque OF reddish
golden, bordered with purple Only
a poorWill, WhiStling its reptitiouS mat
ing call near the Klosohee lean-toS,
and family Of young muskrats splash.
ing about the crude hangar which
housed Karakhan's plane. broke the
deep mystic hush.
His refuge, at the headwaters of the
Lilluar. had been all that Karakhan
hoped for, and more. The big cabin,
his home for nine months. was COM
Portable with handmade furniture, bear
rugs on the floor, a spacious fireplace
and even a small radio.
At his door lay jadegreen lake, ice
fed. teeming with steelhead and gray
ling. just west OF the lake two great
mountains, Sunali and DinaggWah had
given him unimaginable shooting
moose and caribou, big-horn and goat
and the surly trundling grizzly.
The vigorous life outdoors had braced
him, hardened him. The old WEAKNESS
had vanished. In its stead new energy
flowed in his veins.
Yet he had grown tired Of it all. Tired
of the monkiSh auSterity. Tired of his
isolation from the world of men-and
women. Tired of their rotgut whisky
which LIE Noir brought Tired of slaugh-
tering big-horns and hearing the lone
some scream OF the eagle Tired of the
superstitious Indians who harbored him
and who had fallen under his sway. The
city was a drug in his veins, and he
could not live for long without it.
A few months more of this, till he was
sure that the hunt had been completely
abandoned. and then his fight out, a
port in the Orient, freedom-and the
wide world before himl His fortune
now, lowering near three millions, gave
him power to hunt bigger game II he
only could deliver some smashing blow
against the Soviets. who had exiled him,
confscated his estates, killed his rela-
tives and bounded him for years-that
would, be scope for his talents and game
worth stalking!
But lie Noirs report was ripple Of
wind across the placid water. Was the
breed lying?
He lit a goose-tallow candle and set
1t where 1t shone on lie Noir'S face, but
left his own in shadow. It was possible
that just before the flight out when
there was no prospect of more money,
the breed would betray him 10 the
Mounted in order to collect a reward.
Even discounting that risk, it was never
wise to leave any one behind who knew
With no SoFuP'e or T0mPHn1fi7h M
gratitude for lie Noir's faithful service he
intended to play safe-by doing away
with the man. He would need one more
batch of supplies, in August He would
let lie Noir make that trip. And then he
would quietly slip him dose OF the
strychnine with which LIE Noir poisoned
wolves on his fur path.
Just what sort of people are this
Curt Ralston and these two Nichols?"
he asked. trying to trip LIE Noir up.
lie Noir told him again, repeating the
whole story.
Karakhan's doubt about the report
vanished, The details came too readily
to be manufactured. and they squared
exactly with his first account.
Tapping fresh cigarette, Karakhan
reached the candle for light He had
never known Sonya or Ralph Nichols;
brown hair, brown eyes. faint accent
flashed a picture of Sonya Volkov be-
fore him.
His blood ran faster at the thought of
her-in his loneliness he would have
given a small fortune to have had her
there But of course. it was ridiculous
to imagine that this girl might be Sonya
Volkov. She had not the faintest no.
ton where he was; and she would not
come to him anyway. the little puritan.
How far up the Lilluar did you say
thev are?" he asked LIE Noir. g.
"Dey mus be most to de pass. now.
I leave dem bout As miles below dere,
an make beeg hurry op mere"
They might be just some party Of
trippers making little iaunt into the
mountains
Non. non Day take on too moch
grub dere at Russian Lake. I talkit to
dose guides an fin out. Dey breeng
grub for mebbee two mont treep'
You say that this Ralston fellow Is
some prospector Looping the bush7'
Oats wat he say he is; bat me.
I don't b'lieve heem He got no CAL
lous on hees hans, lax prospector got.
He do things lax ceety man-say tank
you, keep shave, and talSit lax book
learn feller"
Something queer about this Ralston.
Karakhan sensed intuitively. A trained
geologist would know that the forma-