Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-02-20

She turned and met his glance. Her
what are you waiting for? Aren't
we ever to get out of this beastly val
ley?"
He started off without any reply but
with glow of exultance under his.
outward show of Indifference. Lilith
Ramill thought she was about to
escape from the Wild.
He had promised to guide them all
to the Mackenzie. The probabilities
were now in favor of even her father
making it. The girl would go back to
what she called civilization-to luxury
and self-indulgence, to jazz and night
clubs-the vapid pursuit Of sensation.
Yet part of her would Hnger be-
hind in this lest valley of the DESC
late subarctic Rockies. She had eaten
of wild meat; she had smelled the tang
of smoke from mans first friend, the
with the Primitive-and had lived 1t.
The real woman of her had awak-
ened-had thrust aside the superficial
self whose world was made up of arti-
ficiality and dissipation. She had been
compelled to face the raw realities of
1t to come.
Fortunately, she had already been
hard. Now she was fit. Under the
smear Of mosquito dope. the lines had
smoothed from her face. The drawn
look had disappeared. Instead Of the
scarlet of rouge, her lips were cherry
red with healthy natural color. She
had gained weight. Her body now
looked lean rather than emaciated.
AS Garth overlook the girls father,
he eyed him with smaller yet no less
genuine satisfaction. For every pound
gained by the daughter, the father had
been rid of three or more. Though
still far from hard, the millionaire had
worked and sweat into vastly better
condition than at the start OF his
training.
Huxby did not come into sight, out
of the placer trough, until the others
were we'll up the tundra slope, half
way to the glacier. That gave Garth
an excuse to tell Lilith to ease her
father along while Huxby was closing
up with them.
Garth himself swung briskly ahead.
So far, nothing had been said to Hulk
by about the cache cave in the ice
tunnel of the glacier stream. He knew
only that the caribou carcasses had
been put on ice.
The one thing of which Garth felt
most certain regarding the engineer
was that he would never give over try
ing to get the platinum placer until
every possible scheme had been baked.
Mr.. Ramll might quit. He already
possessed a fortune.
But Huxby was still a relatively
poor man, and he had now made GER
tain that the placer was worth at
least million dollars. Behind his
polished front, he was no less I'M
scrupulous than his millionaire part
ner, and he was absolutely cold
blooded.
Among the cards, that the future
was to deal in the game, the ice cave
might prove to be anything from
two-spot to an ace. If the play should
shift back to the valley, cache full
of meat would most benefit the player
who knew about it. No less so, the
caribou skins. In any event, it would
do no harm and might prove Of adj
vantage to leave Huxby in doubt re-
garding the location Of the cache.
Lilith made the last climb to Garth
without effort. But Huxby ploddel
up almost as winded as Mr.. Ramill.
He lowered from his shoulders the
small but heavy load in his wolfskin
knapsack. The chunks of frozen carl
bou meat beside the bulky blanket
wrapped bundle on Garth's blackboard
drew his displeased attention.
You can't expect me to carry any
of that venison. I'm no pack jack of
the woods. Forty pounds is quite
enough to suit me-"
| Garth hefted the wolfskin sack.
"My guess is forty-fve. Figuring
| roughly, that makes forty-one troy
pounds, or four, ninety-two troy ounces
| Call it five hundred even. Platinum
is around sixty dollars an ounce troy
The values of the alloy will average
at least thirty. That gives us total
| of say, fifteen thousand dollars. Not
| so bad for few days paaning."
Huxby's face showed that this was
| no news to him. For all his cool self
| control, his fingers clutched tight
| hold of the wolfskin as he drew it out
of Garth's careless grasp.
Ever since coming into the valley
he had spent the greater part of every
long day scratching spots all over the
| great placer claim and panning sam
| pies of the gravel. Fifteen thousand
| dollars was no fortune But if a few
score panfuls of grassroot dirt could
yield that amount, there could be no
doubt of the vast treasure beneath.
Even if bedrock lay at shallow
depth, the platinum placer was worth
| at least million dollars.
Though Garth smiled at the engi-
neer's betrayal of cupidity, he took
note of 1t as an additional warning.
He had said that Huxby was COM