NEW SERIALCLANCY OF THE MOUNTED POLICE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 24 July 1923, Page 3

NEW SERIALCLANCY OF THE MOUNTED POLICE.

4 STORY OF LIFE IN THE NORTHWEST.

OTTWELL BINNS).

(By

CHAPTER H. The fall was not a long one, and was broken by the deep water into which they dropped. They came up close to the bank, still locked in each other’s arms, the half-breed gasping and spluttering. Clancy, except that he was a little winded, was very much himself. ‘As he took a long breath, he caught sight of the bank behind his antagonist. It looked like rock, and the chance was worth trying. Suddenly he released his hold, and as they began to sink again, his opponent, clinging to him desperately, spoke for the first time: “Sacre! No. Ah not swimAh ”

The corporal made a great effort. Kicking his legs to keep himself from going under, he suddenly drove the other’s head against the rocky bank. In an instant the arms about him slackened their desperate grasp, and he felt the man slipping from him into the deep water. With a quick grab he caught the fellow’s clothing, and clinging with one hand to a mossgrown projection of rock and treading water while he recovered his breath, held the prisoner’s head clear of the water. Then after a little time, he turned the unconscious man face upward, and himself swimming on his back, towed him until he reached a place, but a few yards further on, where it was possible to land. When they were safely on the bank, he stood for a full minute breathing heavily; and then stooping and taking the other under the armpits he dragged him back to the camp. There, to guard himself against surprise, he carefully handcuffed the unconscious man, and that done, from a little pile of dry wood which the owner of the camp had gathered, made up the fire. He waited until the dry wood crackled into flame, and by the light thus afforded he looked into the face of the unconscious man. A hideous scar down the right cheek gave him the certain information that he sought. “ Dubose 1” he said, a light of triumph gleaming in his eyes.

In that same moment his prisoner sighed, grunted and then opened his eyes. Half a minute later, he heaved himself up, whilst an oath slipped from his Snarling lips: “ Mordieu I” A comical look of wonder came to his brutal face as he became aware of the handcuffs on his wrists, and an instant later he demanded truculently: “ What for you do dat?” ‘ Because you've got to answer for the killing of that Indian girl at Fond-du-Lac,” answered the corporal tersely. i “Ah not keel no girl,” replied Dubose sullenly. “ So you tak’ dese dam tings off, or par Dieu, Ah mak’ you pay-” T ... , Clancy shook his head. “ 1 think not, Jean, You’re too big and I fancy a little too desperate to let ran round loose. You’ll have to go down to the police-post and be passed on to Edmonton to stand your trial. If you are innocent, which I doubt, you 11 have nothing to fear.” 1 ‘‘An’ eef dey say Ah keel dat girl?” ' “ Then they’ll hang you as high as Haman 1”

“Ah not know heem!” said the half-breed sullenly. “ An’ Ah not go So Edmonton, non! Ah go up dere.” He jerked his head northward as he spoke. “Ah got business up dat way, an’ in t’ree months Ah be a vaare rich mans. Ah gif you one t’ousand dollaires ” Clancy laughed suddenly. “No go, Jean. If you had ten thousand dollars to shove in my fist I'ieht away it would make no difference. You’ll havto go to the post.” “ You t’ink Ah not pay ” “No! That’s not it at all. Though how you propose to pay a thousand dollars when you’re deep in the Comipany’s debt ” , ' “ Ah tell you dat in t’ree months A'a vairo rich man wit’ heaps of dollaires, Ah find gold mine. Ah mak’ you partner- ——” “ No you won’t, Jean,” broke in the corporal. “You’ll go with me to the post to answer for the killing of WagiUsh, so there’s an end of the discuision.”

“Ah not go!” asserted the halfbreed savagely- “ You see, an’ by-an’-

by you wish you haf my offer accept.” “ That remains to be seen,” sai l Clancy lightly, “ and it’s no use discussing it now. I’m tired? I’ve paddled miles to-night to get you, and I want to sleep; so as you’re so set against going down to the post, 1 shall tie you up for safety.” Hunting around, he found among the half-breed’s possessions a long strip of hide which the owner had used for making fast his dunnage, and with this he secured Dubose’s legs, slipping the end for greater security round a tree. That done he built up the fire, threw the half-breed’s heavy blanket over him and himself went off down the lakeside to bring in his own canoe and possessions. When he returned, he stripped and changed into dry clothing, anl then rolling himself in his blanket, tried to sleep.

But for a long time slumber eluded him. Tired though he was, there was a glow in his brain that kept him awake, and which arose from the sense of satisfaction at a task successfully accomplished. For eleven weeks, with but the faintest clues to guide him, he had followed Dubose along the innumerable and intricate waterways of the North; never quite sure that the elusive man ahead of him was the man whom he sought; but divining it from the numerous twists and turns that the course had taken in the first few weeks. Now the stern chase through a solitary land was over, and there remained but to get his prisoner back to the police post, whence others would take him down to Edmonton for trial. Caution and alertness would secure that end without any particular difficulty, and the return journey, avoiding the doublings and windings of the outward course, would be made in a third of the time. “ We shall bo back before the freezeup!” he murmured aloud, and with that thought in his mind fell asleep. When he awoke it was broad daylight and as ho arose and stretched himself, he saw that the half-breed had kicked away his blanket and was sitting on the ground with his hack to the tree to which the hide rope was fastened. “ ’Morning, Jean!” he said, as he turned to his prisoner. “Would you like a pipe,” . Dubose made no response to either the .greeting or the question. In his sullen eyes as he looked at his captor there flamed a sudden light of wonder. He stared at Clancy as at a man returned from the dead; and as he gazed his brutal face was transformed with amazement. Suddenly he burst out: “Mon Dieu! Eet ees Sir Clancy!’*

As he caught the words, on Clancy’s face in turn there came a look of astonishment. There were not tliree men in the regiment who knew of his right to a title; and excepting the two peopl> who yesterday had guessed it, he was prepared to swear that there was not another individual in the Territories who could be aware of the fact- Yet here was this half-breed ” “Tiens! But eet (jjunnot be!” Dubose cried incredulously. “ Sir Clancy he was lost in zee woods so long ago. Him dead for certainment ” “What’s that you say?” broke in Clancy sharply, his grey eyes alight with sudden excitement. “ Ah say Sir Clancy he ees lost dese ten years, dat you can not be heem, an’ yet ” “ You are talking of my father,” interrupted the corporal hoarsely. “ My father who went up North with his partner in ’9B and never came bac s. AN hat do you know about him, Dubose J Tell Tell me.” “So dat ees eet!” The wonder died from the half-breed’s eyes, and hie face became quite suddenly the usual brutal mask. “Ah might hay’ guess. Tiens! Of a certainment you are Sir Clancy’s son, so like dat for one leetle moment All tink dat you be heemself come back from zee dead.” (To be continued).