 The challenge of the Yukon. On King! On New Husky! The Wonder Dog King, swiftest and strongest of Eskimo lead dogs, places the trail through storm and snow for Sergeant Preston as he meets the challenge of the Yukon. Sergeant Preston was typical of the small band of Northwest-mounted police who preserved law and order in the new Northwest country with a greed for wealth and power led to frequent violence and bloodshed. But in spite of the odds against them, Sergeant Preston and his Wonder Dog King met that challenge and justice ruled triumphant. It was Molly Gordon's 50th birthday and her cabin in Three Forks was brightly lighted for the occasion. Sergeant Preston, Lucky Martin, Molly's daughter Jane and Bill Anderson, Jane's fiance, sat around the stove relaxing after Molly's birthday dinner. And now that I've opened all my presents from you, I think it's time I gave you yours. Our presents? Why, Molly, it's your birthday. I know, but after a woman has had 50 birthdays, I think it's time she reversed things. I'm giving my friends presents to celebrate living this long. Well, this isn't usual, Molly. Well, here's yours, Lucky. Oh, thanks, Molly. And your Sergeant Preston. Thank you, Molly. And Bill. Thank you. I gave Jane hers this afternoon. What about this one, Molly? Oh, that's Ned. Too bad he couldn't get home. I should think he'd have remembered this job. Now, Jane, even though he's just your stepfather, you mustn't criticize. Please, dear. I'm sorry. Molly, red mittens. Oh, say, these are fine. And she knitted them herself. Mrs. Gordon, these are wonderful. I'm sorry that they all had to be red and look alike, but that was the only yarn I could get. Ned's are the same. But you'll all be wearing them under your fur ones, so they won't show anyway. Oh, that's fine. Now, if one of us loses a mitten, we'll know where to borrow a mate for it. I hope they fit. I made them all the same size. Mine fit perfectly, Molly. Oh, I should have given King a present, too. That bony hat after dinner was all he wanted. Wasn't it, fella? Oh, by the way, Sergeant, you promised me you'd show us the new trick you taught King. That'll be King's birthday present for Mother. Well, it isn't exactly a trick, Jane. It's part of King's business. I spent a lot of time teaching him to do it. What is it? Well, we all put personal belongings in the center of the floor, and King will take each article to the person who owns it. It wouldn't be hard for any dog to do it if someone had patience enough to make him understand what was wanted. Can he really do that? That sounds awfully smart for a dog, Jane. King's a lot smarter than an ordinary dog. You see, dogs depend on their noses rather than their eyes or memories. They know by the scent of a thing whose it is just as well as a human would if the owner's name were written on it. I want to see him do it. Here's one of my mucklucks, and lucky I'll put your parka down. Hey, this is going to be interesting if you can do this. And Mother. Oh, here's my handkerchief. Bill? Will this scarf be all right? Sure. All right, King, to work. Too bad to make him work at a pot. Oh, this isn't work for King. Dogs are like children. They like to be the son of attention. Don't they, boy? There. Everything's in a heap. We're ready. Come on, fella. This handkerchief. Who's is it? Take it, boy. Oh, thank you, King. Oh, thank God he did it. Good work, fella. Look how proud he is. He likes to have you praise him, Sergeant. Proudly, King took each article to its owner, returning each time for the coveted pat from his master who was no less proud. Then the great dog sat beside Preston, his head on the Mountie's knee. Well, I never saw a smarter animal. He ought to be in Vogueville. As I said before, Molly, it's his job. If we Mounties had more dogs like you, you ought to start a school for dogs. I have all I can do right now, Bill. Don, King. Oh, here's Ned. Hello, Ned. Hello, Ned. Where have you been? Hello. Hey, you missed a good birthday party, Ned. If I had as much money as you, maybe I could waste my time at him, too. Waste your time? Suppose you call sitting down in Barney's bar and saving up. Jane, that's enough. You weren't here to get your present, Ned. I needed some mittens for you. Here. Red ones. I hope you like them. I hear you made some money on that fox catch you when Red James got Ned. I suppose you don't approve of doing business with Red. I know you don't like him. Maybe it's because he knows a few things about you, Lucky, that don't bear repeating. Really? I'd like to hear him. Ned, be still. You've been drinking. I won't be still. Well, Mrs. Gordon, it's getting late, I guess. We'd better be running along. You ready to go, Lucky? Yes, Sergeant. We have to get up early tomorrow. Must you go? Maybe I should have stayed at Barney's. Sorry I'm spoiling your fun. Ned. Oh, it's all right, Molly. It's been a fine party, Molly. I hope you have many more birthdays. Thank you. Good night, Molly. Good night, Molly. Thanks again for the present. Good night. Good night, Molly. Good night, Molly. Thanks again for the present. Good night. Good night, Molly. Good night, Molly. Good night, Molly. He was my best friend. I don't see why Ned resent you. A form of jealousy, I suppose. Well, I promised Jim I'd look after Jane and Molly. That's why I tangled with Red James. I told him to stay away from Jane. Oh. I knew young Bill had fought with him about it, but I didn't know you started. Red James is no good. It ought to be run out of town. Two weeks later, Ned Gordon sat at a table talking to Red James. Red was a big florid man in his early 30s. The years spent in the North country had aged as faith prematurely. And he talked to Ned. His voice was hard and uncompromising. Ned, the older, was obviously dominated by him. You had no business gambling with that money, Ned. Half of it was murder. I know I shouldn't have done it, Red. But I had a few drinks and felt lucky. Thought maybe I could double it. I'm the one who's supposed to do the thinking for us. Now you'd better get me that money and get it fast. Or maybe certain people will hear where you got them fox pelts. You're in this as deep as I am. You don't dare tell nobody. Not as deep as you. You're the one who stole them, and I got a perfect alibi. You're getting that money to me and soon. I'll tell you I can't. I ain't got a dime. I don't know where I can get it. They say lucky Martin is willing all his money to your wife and daughter Jane. If something should happen to him, sudden like. So that's why you're shining up to Jane. If you wanted to, you could fix it so I could see her once in a while. But she's engaged to Bill Anderson. That don't mean nothing. It meant you got a punch in the jaw from him last week. Well, maybe you better start thinking about doing something for me and quick. Lucky, how are you? Well, that snow is sure coming down fast. Yeah, there's lucky Martin. He's another reason you can't come to see Jane. He told you to stay away. She's your stepdaughter, ain't she? You got something to say? Or does lucky Martin run your whole household? Did I hear my name? I was just asking Ned if you thought you owned his wife and stepdaughter, or if you... That's enough, how do you read, James? You stay away from Jane, or I'll do more to you than young Bill did. Is that so? You and how many other people... Just keep that foul tongue of yours quiet. Someone's liable to quiet it for you. The following day, Sergeant Preston answered a loud knock at his door. Quiet, King. What's wrong? They've just found Red James' body. He's been murdered. Murdered? Come in, Bill. Who found him? Dan Smith. Somebody hit Red over the head with a club or something. I'll go right over with you. Where'd they find him? Right near his cabin. Dan wanted to see him about something and almost fell over his body. It was covered with snow. Were there any tracks in here? I guess not. It snowed last night, so any tracks would be covered. You couldn't tell now because about a half dozen people are trapping around there. I wish I could have got there first. All right, let's go. Come on, King. As Bill and Sergeant Preston neared Red James' cabin, they saw a crowd of people gathered around a body lying prone in the snow. The ground around it had been trampled by many feet, and all the tracks had been obliterated. The ground, the crowd parted as they saw the Mountie and his dog. A low growl rumbled in the big dog's throat as he centered the order of death, and he left his master to circle the area carefully. Here's Sergeant Preston. Hello, boys. How are you, Senator? Well, I'm glad nobody moved, Red's buddy. This is just where we found him. Anybody seen him last night? Uh, how about you, Ned? Uh, I saw him in Barney's bar for a while. I left before he did. He was having an argument with Lucky Martin. Yeah, they were fighting about something. They never liked each other. Look, Sergeant, King just dug something up out of the snow. What is it, fella? Bring it here. It's a mitten, a red mitten. Yes, it's exactly like the ones I'm wearing. Whoever killed him must have dropped it. This is one of the mittens your wife gave away the night of her birthday party, Ned. Sure looks like it. It is, Pete. Yeah? Go over to Lucky Martin's and tell him to be at my cabin in half an hour. And tell him to bring the red mittens that Mrs. Gordon knitted for him. Sure. Ned, I want you and Bill to do the same. Go home and bring those mittens to my cabin. I'm wearing mine right now. Oh, and Ned, you'd better bring Molly along to identify them. One of you will be one mitten short. I'm keeping this one. In Sergeant Prustin's cabin, the atmosphere was tense with suppressed excitement. Prustin faced the three suspects, Ned Gordon, Lucky Martin, and Bill Anderson. Molly sat beside the motty with a troubled look on her face. She clasped and unclasped her hands nervously. King, Prustin's huge lead dog, lay quietly beside her. This is awful, Sergeant. I'm sorry to bring you into this, Molly, but you'll have to identify the mittens you knitted. Give me yours, Bill. Yes, sir. Here. Now, are both of these the ones you knitted, Molly? Yes, I knitted these. Ned, how about yours? Here they are. Look at them, Molly. These are from the same batch of yarn. Lucky, how about yours? I just brought one of mine, Sergeant. I must have lost the other one somewhere. You have only one, eh? I'm sure I had both of them when I got home last night, but I've looked all over my cabin. Lucky, you couldn't have killed Red James. Of course I didn't kill Red James. What's this all about? A red mitten just like these was found beside Red's body covered with snow. But it can't be mine, I tell you. I wasn't near his cabin last night. You had a fight with him in Barney's Bar. Everyone heard you. Did anyone walk home with you, Lucky? No, I went home alone, but I went right to bed. Red James had something unlucky. He said he knew plenty he could tell. He lied. He knew I didn't like him. Molly, can you tell these mittens apart in any way? No, Sergeant. They're all the same. Same color, same size, same yarn. Well, there's one way we can find out. Hey, King! What are you going to do? We're going to do the same thing we did at your party, Molly. Let King decide who owns these mittens. What are you talking about? I guess you arrived too late to see it that night, Ned. All right, we'll put all the mittens in the center of the floor except the one that was found. All right, fella. Start with this one. He's taking it to Bill. Thanks, old boy. Yep, this is mine. I tore it right here. This one, fella. Ah, to Ned. I don't see what he's doing. You will. That's it, boy. Another one to Bill. I hope he decides I own the last two. All right, fella. This one. He's taking it to Lucky. And now the last one, King. Well, Lucky, I guess that clears you. Ned, how did your mitten get left beside Red's body? It ain't my mitten. This is a frame-up. That dog knows whose mitten that is. No, Ned. Why did you do it? Shut up, you. No, I won't. I don't know where that blood on your pocket came from. Well, you... Well, do, Ned. You're under arrest. But I tell you, it's a frame-up. Lucky's the one who did it. Lucky's the one you tried to frame. But how did Ned get my mitten? I think we'll find that Ned didn't miss his mitten until after it had stopped snowing. He couldn't go back for it because of tracks he might leave near Red's body. So he went to your cabin and stole one of yours. Ned, I think I should warn you that anything you say will be used against you. Well, King Old Boy, you got me out of a very bad spot. He certainly did, Lucky. Good work, King. These copyrighted dramas originated in the studios of WXYZ Detroit, and all characters, names, places, and incidents used are fictitious. They are sent to you each week at the same time and reach you from our transcription studios. Howl Neal speaking, this is the Michigan Radio Network.