The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-01-02
Chapter 35 DEPARTURE

DEPARTURE CURT stood up and gave Sonya - his hand to rise. As his glance , met hers he saw tears in her eyes. saw her lips trembling. "All right. Curt" she said quietly. with a hu, mility that shamed him. She glanced down at the ground, started to say something more, checked her self and turned away to her tent | He thrust the clips into his pocket ], and walked up to the little stone fort which he and Paul had rolled to- gether. Paul was carefully inspect. ing it and plugging chinks so that no arrows could sift through. They did not count on having to use the defense; but their situation was delicate, LeNoir was crafty fellow, and 1t was wise to guard against the unforeseen.
 At the upper tip of the island Ralph was sitting at the water edge occasionally drawing in fish on the hand-line he was holding. He looked lonely and disconsolate. Curt won dered whether Sonya had really told him the truth about her trip. Ralph was an unselfish soul. but to bring the girl he loved into that country and help her join another man seemed a bit too self-effacing even for him. Probably she had spun him some lie.
 As he brought Paul an extra rock he was startled by the low quavering call of an owl six hundred yards out upon the lake. He dropped the rock, stood listening. LeNoir? II couldn't be; the red star was nearly two hours high. But then the call came again. no nearer but louder: and he distinctly caught the falsetto quality of 1t.
 Hell. It is LeNoir. Paul! He's come early for her."
 Paul nodded. "Yes. it's he. Siam. Klale and he must want to get the whole business over with tonight"
 They crouched down behind the rocks and waited. Curtis eyes were upon the tent, where Sonya would come out. He had not imagined that her going would be an oi deal. he had even thought he would take say age pleasure in being free of her for good: but now when she actually was leaving. 1t seemed impossible to let her go.
 ' When she stepped outside the tent and looked around cautiously to see where Paul and he were. he rose up. overwhelmed by the impulse to go down there and keep her from leav. ing. Paul checked him. took a part of the burden of decision upon him, self.
 Don't. partner! You'd be sorry Let her leave. She'll be in no dan. ger. Remember. we are following her and can see that she gets safely out"
 Sonya hurried on down the island In the owl dusk her slender form grew fainter and fainter till Curt no longer saw her. A canoe grated on the pea-gravel as she tugged at the craft to get it afloat. A dark blur moved away from shore. Curt GOV cred his face with his hands to shut out the sight of 1t. When he looked up again. the blur was gone.
 DAUL touched his arm, moments l afterward.
 "We'd better be somewhere else in an hour from now. This island is going to have visitors"
 Curt pulled himself together "Yes. we'd better go." he said jerk fly. "We'll take what we need of our outfit and get away to one of these other islands, and then split up."
 Francois and Jocku haven't come back"
 Curt turned toward the caribou island. barely visible in the deep dusk. It just then occurred to him that he had not heard the guides shoot. Their silence was strange; they had been gone long enough to make two such trips.
 He hurried to the lower end, launched the remaining canoe and darted down lake. A few rods of. shore he called in a guarded voice:
 "Jocku! You and Francois get out of there. Come alive! We haven't any time to waste"
 No answer came back. His voice sent the little band of caribou tear. ing through the swamp birch to the other side of the island. but neither Francois nor Jocku answered.
 The explanation dawned on him with crash. He remembered. too late. that the guides had sat of by themselves all day. talking in low