The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1934-01-08
Chapter &C
soNYAss MISSION

that sSonya's trip had some sig
nifcance which he. in his hasty
coeksure certainty. had missed en-
tirely. sw M seed
Ralph" he pleaded urgently,
knowing that Ralph had but min.
ute orltwo more. TRY to tell me-
what did you mean about her being
left alone up there? ?" ~
Ralph did not seem to hear him.
but pursued his own drifting
thoughts. I'm glad-she listened to
you 1nd-dfdn't go. !.now she's got
courage. but just girl by herself,
she'd never have manageable kill
him. Shed have failed. and he'd
have left her there. He'd have
thrown her-to those Others"
q ITO kill him." Curt echoed.
jolted from head to feet. That broken
phrase sent his world crashing out
of its orbit. He could only stare at
Ralph. stupefied. "Him"--that word
meant Karakhan. It pointed straight
at him. But Sonya. killing the man
to whom she had written that letter
surely Ralph must be so delirious
that he did not know what he was
saying. Or was he delirious?
Ralph" he begged frantically. in
a race against the towering Dark
why's she hunting Karakhan? Tell
me hat. What does she want with
him? Ralph do you understand me?"
His question went unanswered.
Ralph lay quiet. his lips apart.
his eyes closed. For minute he did
not stir. Then with a sudden jerk he
moved. rose to his elbow and grasped
Curtis arm with an unnatural
strength.
Curt! Don't let her go back
therei Don't ever let her try to kill
him! Take her out of this country"
Il will. Ralph. I'll take her out.
But Ralph. listen! Tell me-"
3 curt! Wake her! Bring her here.
acknowledgements"
His grasp broke from Curtis arm
and he fell back.
y In desperation Curt shook him by
the shoulder. Ralph! Ralph!" But
he got no answer. He pressed a fin
ger into Ralph's wrist. and felt no
pulse. And then he slowly realized
rthat the answer was forever beyond
him. -
TOR long time afterward Curt
sat there beside the fire. with his
thoughts in a chaotic whirl. His
mind, so tired by two days of incon-
iceivable strain that even Ralph's
death could numb it no further. re-
fused to g apple with Ralph's broken
words and make a coherent story
sof them. 1t was like trying to fit to-
Tgether most battling puzzle when
sthe parts were all jumbled and the
key pieces missing. !.
I Sonya. trying to kill the Russian
Il turned upside down everything
.that he had been feeling and thinking
about her. He had read her letter.
had heard her own words to LeNoir:
and against all that he had only a
= few hating phrases from man who
was dying.
Yet he believed Ralph. and all his
former idealization OF Sonya came
flooding back to bolster up his be-
lief. Ralph's mind undoubtedly had
been wandering: but even In the
most wandering thoughts there was
somewhere a core of actually: and
Ralph had returned again and again
to that one colossal fact--Sonya had
come into this country to locate and
kill Igor Karakhan.
: He got up. after time, and STUN.
bled aimlessly along the landwash.
He was unconscious OF his exhaus-
tion, OF everything except the daz-
ing, revelation which he had just
barely cheated death itself out Of
s. The explanation of her letter and
of her tryst with LeNoir had been
cut of; but he knew that those facts.
which had started him on the path
of his horrible mistake. and the
other damning facts which had con.
sfirmed him IN IT. must have their In
Interpretation.
IL Through all his numbed cropping
ran an inexpressible gladness. He
could have faith In Sonya's integrity
again He felt as though ne had
been staggering through a black
hmorass aad had come out into the
sunshine once more.
LIE had no idea of the motive driv-
a 4 ing her to kill Karakhan; he
could not even guess. at It: but she