 The challenge of the Yukon King the swiftest and strongest of Eskimo lead dogs Blazes 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 Yukon during the gold rush of 98. That was the year that brought over 50,000 men swarming into the Klondike region and the greed for gold led to frequent violence and bloodshed but in spite of the odds against them the force preserved a splendid record in maintaining the right the challenge of the north was answered and justice ruled triumphant the Yukon wilderness bristled with countless small settlements set up hurdly by men who came to the country to get rich quick placerville was such a town more righteous than many but it too had its share of lawlessness in the green parrot cafe men were crowded in the back room their voices raised in the center of the crowd stood fret alone a bewildered expression on his face what's the difference what he says we found the knife on him didn't we that's right he murdered banker mac just as sure as you're a foot high hey now wait a minute fellas we heard all we want him alone quiet you shut your mouth now glim all right we got to handle this thing fair and square like nothing fair and square about the way he knifed mac was there murders one thing we had much off here in placerville all the more reason why we got to take steps to make sure it don't happen again all the more reason we'll give fred the right to state his case playing for everybody to hear mind you know i ain't defending him none but well i say let him speak up i like in favor of it you ought to be strung up but if joe says let him speak then i agree with him i'm the owner of this cafe and it's my opinion time wasted the time talking and wasted what is of what hang him that's what i say sergeant presto when did you get in i got the news in the bartender when i came in i'm awfully glad you're here sergeant yeah so am i now maybe we'll get some real action on this you just get in sergeant yes i found the town nearby deserted everyone seems to be gathered in the cafe i'm mighty sorry about banker mac clem found him he rushed right over here with the news mac was knife sergeant and we discovered fred had the knife that seems to have been used well you can see for yourself sergeant we handle with careful so as not to disturb anything i might be animal blood but i don't look that way to me i've already seen mac i'd say he's been dead about 10 hours where were you last night fred i was right here right in this room playing cards with sam and mike that's what you was doing the early part of the evening what time did you leave here i don't remember what time it was where'd you go after you left i don't remember that listen he don't remember and i don't remember i tell you i came in here this morning and clema just brought in the news mike said that since the murder was done with a knife everybody ought to be searched that's how they got my knife everybody knows i always carry one that's your story friend well i know it's not such a good one but it's the truth i tell you yes you're right it isn't such a good one i'll have to arrest you on suspicion of murder meanwhile i want to do some investigating it was a few hours later mike andrew's restlessly pasted the floor of the office in the cafe leaning forward in his chair sam marshall's look of irritation was a contrast to the worried frown on the other man's face will you quit that walking up and down for the love of pete all right so i'll stop but you better start thinking of some way to stop Preston i tell you we don't have a thing to worry about but the whole town thinks fred's guilty sit down and take it easy now listen sam maybe you think i'm crazy but you ain't been up here as long as i have so what i'm making out everything's working just as i planned it i'm alone admitted he don't remember where he was everybody knows he was drinking and everybody knows he was burned up when mac told him he wouldn't lend him the money he wanted that's not what i'm talking about you don't know this mountie mounties are human all they want somebody to pin the crime on i'll let him hang fred then all you heard what he said he only arrested him on suspicion of murder he didn't arrest him for murder what's more he said he was going to do some investigating i'm telling you kreston's one man that's never been fooled forget it as a first time for everything this is perfect yeah but i've heard a lot of fellas talk the same way the ones that didn't swing are looking out from behind bars right now see on your account that i got into this thing you and that rich strikey yours you'll get every dollar out of it you put in mike there's no reason for us to have an argument over this i didn't mean anything you just leave all the details to me i took care of drug and fred didn't i oh i'm not arguing i'm just telling you that where mounties are concerned you have to be sure if i don't know and preston was doing town wait a minute wait a minute huh i got an idea it better be a good one look folks are mighty excited about this or maybe if we could persuade him like preston was delaying justice and that if uh well if if the people that take the law in their hands it might be a good way to prevent any more crime what do you mean ever see a lynch mob only yeah sure you think same maybe that's it maybe nothing that is it with malone strung up everybody will be satisfied and if the people do it nobody can go back on us yes sir that's it i'll give you a credit sam you sure know how to use your head that's a good thing one of us does you get busy stirring everybody up while sergeant preston's busy investigating we'll have our own private hanging the two men stirred up the townsmen and soon an angry crowd stormed the jail in placerville a small building that before it held miscellaneous indian and white prisoners for minor offenses in preston's absence the men overpowered the guard and soon marched fred all right we mean business fred but just keep stepping oh you're hanging the wrong man i tell you i didn't have anything to do with every party heard you arguing with them saying he'd be sorry he didn't stay here but i didn't mean no matter what you meant it's cool let's get this over with four-star snooze gotta get a rope to tie his hands looks like this is my only chance and i'm taking it out he's getting away after him come on preston here he is makes no difference what you men thought they're all responsible for the escape of a prisoner sergeant if there's anything we can do well there's nothing you can do now king and i'll set out the trail fred when we return the men who are behind the attempt to lynch him will answer to me on the trail north of placerville king ran ahead of sergeant preston's pack as the mountain sled covered the miles the heavy snow began to fall but the great dog never hesitated sweeping away from the trail the wind driven the snow into solid banks but the sled tracks covered a level evenly blanketed stretch skirting the frozen river suddenly the great dog king stops oh you husky oh what is it king turning back i wonder king somebody the snow fell on the mountain and on king's thick fur as he stood by his master planting himself in front of the man as if to protect him glancing to the nearest drift of snow he waited a moment and then raced toward it on the far side was an opening large enough for a man to pass through the inside of the drift had been hollowed out igloo fashion it was there fred malone had sought refuge what the king he's found me preston's trail me don't worry i won't try to escape how can i out here might as well go out that's funny seems like you want something you'll maybe try and tell preston he got in the court but preston must let him be here by now well i don't see him all right king you don't have to pull me i'm coming why is he leading me i say that's a dog team well i'll be it's preston and he's hurt he's been shot have to carry him you never mind sergeant he'll be all right taking you to my deluxe cabin who shot you now don't you worry king we'll get him back on his feet might take a couple of days but he'll be all right how long have i been here fred two days sergeant how do you feel fine i uh when i first saw you out in the trail i thought you'd tried to kill me i owe you an apology if you were the man who fired that shot king would be growling at you this minute he warned me you see but i didn't realize the danger in time someone else wanted me dead yeah but who probably the same man who wanted bank or mac did that then you believe i didn't do it you're saving my life proves that to me fred listen to me we'll go back to town i'm still a little weak but i'll ride in the sled for the sake of appearances i'll have to put you in jail but with your help we'll bait the trap for a murderer news of sergeant preston's return to town with his prisoner in custody spread rapidly with it another story spread a story that did more to upset the easy complacency that had settled on sam marshall than the appearance of the malty whom the cafe owner believed was dead early darkness settled over placerville as sam and mike andrew's left the green parrot sure i told you he was dead i shot him all right but he's jinxed jinxed pretty healthy looking jinx you're as good as handling a gun as you are everything else you must have missed him he fell i tell you i saw it how we get into max the back door it's not a place by heart once i get to the desk it'll be easy i sure hope so cut through here right one good thing the place is dark i don't think he might have kept that ledger malone was talking about at the bank do you he kept all his personal business separate from the banks here maybe that idea of malone's was wrong i never knew mac kept a set of books for what he lent out privately mac was a banker once he put a dollar in anything he wrote it down fine time now to think of it he could have saved a lot of trouble if you'd have remembered that the other night i'd have remembered it who thought he used malone's knife and then planting it on him when we took him to the tent not you i should have kept my mouth shut about the map i should have been satisfied to let mac stake me out stake you out on what money you lost at my place gambling i could have gone to him and told him you could have but you didn't he knew you stole the map in the first place we're splitting the gold 50 50 and don't forget it once i get my hands on his ledger here it is a way like yeah this is it now nobody on no either one of us had any connection and where you are both of you press i've heard all i need to hang both of you that trick with fred's knife is an old one sam when he said he couldn't remember what had happened that night i suspected he must have been drugged today i questioned the men here in town and learned that you tour behind that attempt to lynch him and they almost did too there was one thing that baffled me about this whole business i couldn't understand the motive for the murder obviously it wasn't rob but i sure picked a good way to wipe out alone so mac staked you mike and you turned around and lost the money to sam and a dirty skunk mac wasn't the kind to make the same mistake twice oh you can drop that ledger now sam there's nothing in it what i put it there today myself what's that dog growled at me for get away from me hey he's gonna recognize you king never forgets mike he knew you fired at me on the trail you're crazy i never this is the one now boy i don't know what you're talking about well maybe if you look at him more closely king hey get him away call him off it was me i get it all right fella that's enough boy all right well sergeant i'm sure glad this is clear death yes fred thanks to you and king here another case is closed challenge of the ucon the copyrighted feature of the challenge of the ucon incorporated brought to you every week at the same time originated in the studios of wxyz detroit the characters and events in tonight's drama were fictitious bob height speaking this is the michigan radio network