Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

= a — = os Pal Lae g it, ie onl ee at ads ; \\ By JOHN HOLDEN Author of ‘‘ The Drifter,’’? “ The Boss of Camp K,’’ etc. A NOVELETTE—COMPLETE IN THIS ISSUE T was a mere coincidence that Constable Peter Kemp of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police happened to be in the Rodiscaw land office when the mysterious woman entered. He did not have any par- ticular business there, just dropped in to enjoy a five minute chat with Billy Robin- son, who combined the duties of Dominion land agent along with his more lucrative business of retail grocer, notary public, town assessor and real estate dealer. Kemp had enjoyed a good deal of leisure that summer. No crime of any’ conse- quence had occurred in the little northern Alberta town or the surrounding district for more than six months. The newcomers —mostly homesteaders from the States— were law abiding and hard working farm- ers, and the older residents had long since acquired a wholesome respect for the flam- ing red coat of the “ mounties.” True, a case of petty thievery had been reported thirty miles down the Athabasca River at Hay Creek, but so far Kemp’s su- perior officer had not ordered him to bring in the offender, and it seemed likely that Kemp would not_make the trip for that purpose alone. The offense was too insig- nificant. The offender, a drunken sot named Calvin Hubbard, could be picked up at any time. It. was probably on account of the fact that real crime had been lacking for months that Kemp paid an extra amount of atten- tion to the woman when she stafed to Rob- inson that she wished to file on a quarter section of Dominion land. Not that she suggested crime—far from it—but her de- 824 CO DOO C©