Evening star., 1933-11-18

but had drifted apart, Marlin studied
Curt searchingly.
A year ago, when Curt Tennyson re-
signed from the Mounted, he had been
sick man. not SO much physically as
in spirit As head Of intelligence for
the western divisions, he had led hard
life, fraternizing with gangster circles,
following trails to European capitals.
and living for months with the narcotic
trafhckers on the West Coast.
Three years of that work usually put
a man on the rocks; but Tennyson had
been in daily contact with it, and the
very worst Of 1t, for seven years. Be-
sides nearly wrecking his health, 1t had
distorted his whole outlook. He had
seen so much of crime, he had looked
down into depths of depravity so long
and so steadily, that he had lost faith
in human virtues.
Thank God, you've come out Of it,
sonl" Marlin thought fervently. For
! he saw that Curt had completely shak-
en- off that miasma. A year in the Far
| North prospecting. flying, hunting the
gray phantom packs, had put him in
shape again.
Haven't had breakfast. Curt?" he
asked Neither have I. Let's go down.
We can talk there" He took docu-
ment from q locked brief case and
| thrust it into his pocket. "Rosalie II
excuse us; she has hers sent up.
AS they went down the corridor ne
! inquired, What sort Of an offer did
| the Consolidated make you, son?'
| "Oh, nothing to write home about,
/ Curt stalled wanting to find out FIRST
what Martins proposition" was III
! Just fair, and rather unexpected"
/ When would you have to be on the
job with them2"
"By the end Of this week The ice
is out now, and the Summer in that
country is SO short that every day
counts"
Marlin said nothing more just then
They went down to the breakfast room
found a window table TO themselves
! When the waiter had brought their
coffee and taken their order, Marlin
and thoughtfuiiy watched the bubbles
come up,
He could see that Curt was eager
about the Consolidated job. and for
! several reasons he hated to break into
bovhood on that bleak Manitoba farm
had been harsh and exigent; he hao
given seven years to the Mounted With
out ever having dime ahead or th'
pleasures that other young men had
. and his first year down North had beer
the first sunlit period in his whole life
His affection for Curt, his broad hu
man sympathy prompted him to sa!
nothing about this other matter. Bu
: necessity left him no choice. Last Sep
ter1ber a big case had burst upon th'
Vancouver division, their biggest cas-
since the war, and the worst failure II
| their history.
The Silent Squad had worked on
all Winter he had worked on 1t him
self. the commissioner had sent tw'
specials from Ottawa; but nobody hai
: got anywhere with It, When he though
of the brilliant jobs that young Tenny
! son used to turn in, OF his uncann
= skill, of how they all used to depen
Y on him in hopeless cases. he felt tina
S Curt stood at least a chance on thi
search. where the others had long sine
= thrown up their hands and quit.
}, "Curt"-he glanced around and low
a cred his voice, and then plunged di
x rectly into the busineSs-"what want
ed to see you about is this: Over 9
!. Vancouver there was man called FaI
e rell, a speculator and promoter Of tn
j, shady type. He gave out that he wa
d an Englishman. but he's not. He's
= Russian, and his real name Is Karal
l. han, Igor Karakhan. I'll give you b
of his background; Lord knows it CO.
n us enough work. During the Sovit
Revolution in IT he got out Of Russ
and went toto" Marlin reache
into his pocket for the document-"ar
went To-"
J. Germany" Curt supplied laconica
Of ly. He had glanced up with sudde
interest at the mention of Karakhan
le name Now he smiled at AXIS sudds
stsrt. In Berlin. II 1920" he we