Evening star., 1933-11-17
CHAPTER /
CHAPTER 1.
TNHE hotel manager glanced up,
stared for q moment at the
weather-bron man beside
II the registry desk then suddeuIv

TIME hotel manager glanced up,
stared for q moment at the
weather-bronzed man beside
~ the registry desk, then suddenly
recognized him.
why, how d'you do, Mr.. Tennyson!
didn't know you at first, you've
changed SO. Glad to have you with US
again, str"
His tone implied that man who
had been down In the far North hunting
wolves by plane over the snow wastes
back In Edmonton alive.
'Mr. Desplaines is with you, I sup
pose. Would you like something nice,
o three-room suite?"
Make it one room" Curt bade, for
he had less than $50 and his partner
had nothing He signed for himself
and Smash Desplaines. by the way,
Lacelle, will you ask the desk clerk to
phone around to the other hotels and
fnd out where A. K. Marlin is staying?
Supt. Marlin of the Mounted Police.
He was to get In from Vancouver yes
terday"
HE and Miss Rosalie are right here
with us, MFR. Tennyson. That reminds
me"-Lacelle turned and reached a let
Ger from the mail rack-"the superin-
tendent asked me to hand you this when
you registered. II you're having con-
ferences with him, I'll give you a room
near his suite"
Curt ripped the envelope and read
Martins letter. It was brief, puzzling.
"As I wirelessed you at Fort Resolu-
ton, RoSalie and I'll be in Edmonton
for several days; and I'd like to see you
as soon as you come in from Great
Slave. I hear that the Consolidated
Minerals have offered you a job. Don't
tie up with them definitely till you get
tn touch with me; I've got propo-
sition of the utmost Importance to talk
over with you-A. K"
Curt frowned uneasily as he read the
note again. just what was this 'propo-
sition'? Hardly a bid for him to re-
join the Mounted Police; AK surely
knew he would never go back into the
force. Utmost importance"-when AK
said that, 1t meant something extraordi-
nary.
With slight limp, his relic of war
time crack-up, he crossed the lobby to
the elevator where bellhop was wait
Ing with his key and duffle bag.
A number of people, lettering over
their morning newspapers. looked up,
saw him, followed him with interested
curious glanceS. His rough flying
clothes and the goggled helmet in his
hand told them he was an aviator
Thirty-two or three, he was only me-
dium tall but as hardened as a range
wolf, with lean jaw, thin, ascetic lips
and hawk-sharp gray eyes.
Exposure to Summer sun and Winter
wooly-whipper had weathered his face
almost as dark as an Indians. There
was a quiet power about him which set
him OF from other adventures of the
North who occasionally appeared in the
capital for o day or two. They were
usually breezy, robust, nkable: he was
poker-faced and silent, with an air Of
cold aloofness that repelled people
Upstairs In his hoom, Curt glanced
cut the window into the hotel court
where the gold June sun lay a bene-
diction over the flower beds and prom
enade: and he marveled at the contrast
between his world Of today and his
world Of yesterday.
Today an elite hotel, snowy linen, a
. button; while yesterday at that same
hour he and Smash and Paul st. Clair
had been frying o whitefsh for break
fast on the lonely muddy shore of Great
After his year of absence he had
looked forward eagerly to visiting the
city again, but now that he actually was
back he felt disappointed. The city
Jared on him.
That savage. beautiful land. with its
mountains and blue lakes and foot-IooSe
freedom, had Become his home and 1t
drew him back like the arms OF a loved
one. After his harsh years abroad and
his seven unpleasant years in the
Mounted, he had come into sunlit hap
ptness down north. Though he had
been In Edmonton only an hour, he al
ready wished he were in his plane
again and heading down the Athabasca,
Slave and broad Mackenzie TO the
musk-ox prairies and wlnite-wolf noun
tains Of the sub-Arctic.
Curious to know what AK wanted of
him 80 urgently, he bathed and shaved,
changed to his civilized" clothes, and
stepped down the corridor 10 the Marlin
suite.
At his knock he heard a quick trip
ping footstep; the door opened an inch
or two; he had 9 glimpse of RosaIie
Marlin, her eyes still heavy with sleep,
the candelabra behind her shinmering
IN her lovely auburn hair. He had
caught her in amusing negligee-one
cheek rouged, a powder puff in her
hand, a dressing robe flung hastily
about her shoulders.
The pretty frown on her face van
1shed instantly when she saw who had
knocked. Curt" she cried, opening
the door wide. You? Five minutes
ago was dreaming about you, and
here you are!" She flung her arms about
him and stood tip-toe for his hug and