Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 18, 1928 — page 131: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE EVIL smoke. He talked at some length with the natives, and instructed them fully and carefully as to their course. Then he turned to the girl as he adjusted his parka again. “Tl be no longer than need be, Barb,” he promised. “ You will be more than safe here; there is nothing to fear. When I re- turn I hope I'll have some real news.” “YT have no fear, Tad,” she laughed easily. Then her hands set about adjust- ing her own parka, and he paused and looked down upon her in surprise. In a matter of fact way she said: “ I’m going with you, of course. I did not travel all this distance just to sit by when the first rightful foot treads upon the claim that cost my father his life.” “ But, Barb, this is only a little trip to sound out things. There is no sense—” “Tn trying to keep me from going,” the girl laughed frankly, her nimble fingers pull- ing the parka close about her face. “T just won’t talk about it, Tad. I’m going!” He shrugged his heavy shoulders and waved one hand in a sort of helpless ges- ture which told her quite clearly that, while he had no approval of her plan he would not insist upon opposing it. Thus the two, rifles in hand, started down the steep slope toward the little sheet of ice that beckoned to them with a strange and powerful call. Their course lay over places that were precipitous as well as dangerously slippery. Time and time again Tad Raynor nego- tiated a rocky declivity only by use of the most exacting care, and each time he turned to aid the girl downward he found her practically at his side. The lake lay in a basin, such a basin as might once have been the crater of a vol- cano. About its shores there was a flat beach that sloped gradually upward to the mountains that surround it. “Tt is wonderful,” Barb Howland said softly. ‘Think of father alone in this vast waste and discovering this tiny little place on top of the world, Tad! He has worked in this spot—dreamed of the hap- piness and wealth that would be mine be- cause of his sacrifice and courage. He even named the place for me!” At that moment Tad Raynor found the 9A PANORAMA. 929 strength and inspiration to slip his arm about the girl’s shoulders once more. She did not object. She seemed, in fact, ob- livious of his presence. The tiny lake held a hallowed charm for her, and she seemed totally immersed in the thoughts which it inspired. They circled the little spot watchfully. Not a sound reached their ears beyond the distant howl of a wolf; not a thing moved within their vision. Yet there was an eerie presence that both seemed to feel. “Somebody is here, Barb,” Raynor whispered as they halted beside a rock. “ I haven’t seen or heard a thing, but I’d swear that some one is here—mebbe even watch- ing us this second.” “IT have the same feeling, Tad,” she ad- mitted, a nervous laugh in her words. ‘Perhaps it’s just the nervous reaction of the end of our quest—or maybe it’s a weird sense of contiguity that is the gift of this silent country.” They stood thus a long moment, their ears filled with the whispering of the pines and the strange sounds that shifting snow and cracking rocks offer. Then Raynor shook himself as though fighting off the eerie feeling that gripped him. ‘““ According to the maps, Barb,” he said softly, ‘“we should circle the lake to the south, pass through an opening in the rocks, and walk about a hundred yards into a basinlike hollow. There lies the strike that your father proclaimed the greatest of all time. ‘‘ Perhaps we had better explore a little under cover of night. The pass should lie a few hundred yards ahead.” Without answering, Barbara Howland caught his arm, and they started through the gray gloom, the great trees about them standing out for several feet upward along their trunks as the snow and ice made a background for them. | They found the pass in the rocks with- out difficulty, but each was quite ready to admit to the other that the strange feeling of espionage had increased as they waiked, that each was certain some strange eyes were following their every move and wait- ing until the proper time to strike. “Lord, Barb!” Raynor whispered husk- Gomichbooks (E com