TENSION TIGHTENS.
Toma walked nervously to the door and peered out.
“No go back to bed,” he stated. “I stay up. Dick, you run get Sandy an’
try follow Frazer. Tell ’em factor I am here all alone to watch Mekewai
an’ gold. Soon as factor get back here, then I go to bed.”
There was less smoke drifting in through the door now, an indication
that the fire at the warehouse might be under control. But it would be
some time before Scott, Meschel and Sandy returned. No doubt, they and
others had taken a good deal of the fur from the warehouse to a safe
distance outside. Dick was very anxious to know how the fight with the
fire was progressing. Yet, he feared to leave the trading room, even for
a moment, while the wounded Indian and gold were still there. Indeed,
Dick half expected that Frazer would return with the second Mekewai
brother and probably Wolf Brennan and Toby McCallum. In such an event,
Toma would be no match for them. By the same token, it was doubtful
whether the combined efforts of himself and Toma would be sufficient to
repulse them.
“You better go quick,” insisted Toma.
Dick turned beseeching eyes toward his valiant comrade.
“Toma, I can’t do it. I’m afraid. The minute I go through that door,
they’ll be down upon you like a pack of wolves. Four against one—what
chance would you have?”
Toma had started to protest, when Dick caught sight of an ominous glint
of metal less than a hundred yards away. Without further adieu, he
sprang forward and slammed the door, bolted and locked it. Then from the
front window, he and Toma looked out toward the place where the former
had seen the stealthy movement.
“Over behind that brush! Look!”
The young Indian drew in his breath sharply.
“I see ’em three men, Wolf, McCallum an’ Frazer.”
Alert, Dick stepped back. “Look out, Toma,” he jerked. “They may fire.
What do you say we route them out of there? They don’t know yet that
we’ve seen them. If you’ll stand guard here, I’ll run up to the loft and
fetch our rifles.”
When Dick returned, Toma was still standing there.
“Have they gone yet?” he inquired.
“No.”
The boys fired three rounds at the screen of willows and presently the
skulkers broke and fled precipitously. To Dick’s amazement, Toma
continued to discharge his rifle.
“What’s the idea?” he snapped. “You can’t hit them now. Isn’t one chance
in a thousand that a stray bullet will get to them.”
“That not why I shoot,” Toma informed him cooly. “Factor, Sandy, they
hear noise. They come back.”
Dick grinned. “Yes, that is a good way to summon them. If the factor
hears that, he’ll go frantic.”
And in truth the boys did not have long to wait. They heard voices
outside, then, before they had time to open it, loud pounding on the
door.
“Good gracious, Dick, what is going on here?” the factor shouted as he
came into the room, quickly followed by Sandy and Meschel.
“Cracky!” Sandy’s eyes popped. “What’s that?” He stood staring at the
now groaning form of Henri Mekewai.
“Frazer was here in your absence. So was that scum you see lying on the
floor. There’s a secret compartment in the wall of your office and two
pokes of gold were concealed there. I walked in upon them just as they
were taking it from its hiding place. I was so surprised at seeing the
gold that, even though I had them covered, I was off guard for a moment
and the Indian leaped upon me.”
“And you shot him!” gasped Sandy.
“No, I struck him over the head when we tumbled to the floor.
Previously, I had wounded Frazer in the hand when he tried to reach for
his gun. During my struggle with Henri, Frazer seized the two pokes and
started to rush by me. I grabbed for him and nearly upset him. He
dropped one of the pokes, but in spite of all I could do, he escaped
with the other.”
“But who were you shooting at just before we came?”
“Frazer and the two prospectors. They were returning to get the other
poke. Did you succeed in saving most of the fur?”
“Some of it was badly scorched and ruined,” the factor informed him.
“However, the fire is out now. I have placed Langley, the blacksmith,
and two half-breeds in charge. The fire is of very mysterious origin. It
broke out among the bales of fur in the back of the building. I believe
now it was the work of an incendiary. No doubt, Frazer started it. When
Sandy’s uncle drove him away from the post, he probably took one of the
keys of the warehouse with him. Today when no one was looking, either he
or one of his accomplices boldly entered, started the fire, then came
out and locked the door.”
“There’s no question but what Frazer set the fire,” said Dick grimly. “I
suspected it from the first. I followed you and Sandy almost to the
warehouse, when it suddenly occurred to me that we had left the door to
the trading room open and the place unprotected.” He paused and looked
earnestly up into the factor’s face. “Can’t you see,” he went on, “that
it was all of a prearranged plan? Unsuccessful in his efforts to get
into your office, Frazer hit upon the very clever idea of firing the
warehouse, knowing that all of us would rush out to the scene of the
fire, leaving this place wholly unguarded.”
Mr. Scott thumped his two hands together and looked at Dick admiringly.
“You’re right. If it hadn’t been for you, they’d have succeeded.”
“You mean, they almost succeeded in spite of me. Don’t forget they got
one of those pokes.”
The factor moved forward. “Show me the place where the gold was hid. You
spoke of a secret compartment. I want to see it.”
Dick led the way into the little office and pointed at the gaping hole
in the wall. When closed, the door of the compartment fitted so nicely
into its place that, standing three feet away, it was almost impossible
to tell where it was. To complete the deception, a calendar had been
hung down over it from a nail in the wall.
“And you didn’t know a thing about that cabinet?” Surprised, Dick turned
upon the factor.
“No, it’s a revelation to me.”
“I wonder from whom he stole the gold.”
Mr. Scott shook his head. “I can’t imagine. It’s all a mystery to me. In
spite of the fact that I’ve been working here for nearly three years, I
must confess to a complete ignorance of Frazer’s nefarious schemes. I
always suspected, however, that he was dishonest and I had almost proved
to my satisfaction that he was stealing from the company. It was no
surprise to me, therefore, when Mr. MacClaren came over from Fort Good
Faith to audit the books.”
Sandy had grown restless and impatient.
“Where’s the gold?” he demanded.
“Come on,” said Dick, leading the way, “and I’ll show you that too.”
Returning to the trading room, he stepped behind the counter, stooped
and lifted up for their inspection both poke and gun.
“Do you suppose they’ll come back for it?” the factor inquired
nervously.
“Of course they will. They won’t be satisfied with half of it. Just
before you came over from the warehouse, they were preparing to rush the
post.”
“What will be their next ruse,” puzzled Sandy.
“I don’t know but you may depend on it, they’ll think of some scheme.
Frazer is a dangerous opponent. There is only one way that I can see to
put a stop to this.”
“How?” Sandy and Scott inquired in one breath.
“Just this,” Dick gestured emphatically. “Assume the offensive
ourselves. Instead of waiting for him to carry the fight into our
territory, let’s go down and make it interesting for him.”
“Now I think you talk sense,” Toma’s eyes snapped.
“We’ll do it,” Sandy exclaimed excitedly.
“Right now,” Toma appended.
“You bet!” Sandy began dancing up and down. “I have an idea. We’ll
recruit a little party and start out. There’s Langley, the blacksmith,
and those two half-breeds down at the warehouse, Toma, Dick and myself.
That makes six in all. Six against four.”
“Seven,” corrected a vibrant, musical voice.
Startled, every person in the room turned sharply and looked in the
direction from which the voice had come. Dick gasped and reached out
toward the counter for support.
There in the doorway stood Corporal Rand!