 But challenge of the Yukon The Wonder Dog King's swiftest and strongest of Eskimo lead dogs blazes the trail through storm and snow For Sarkreston as he meets the challenge of the Yukon Typical of the small band of Northwest mounted police who preserved law and order in the new Northwest country Where the greed for wealth and power led to frequent violence and bloodshed But in Spence Preston and his Wonder Dog King met that challenge and justice ruled triumphant Pat Sweeney stirred up the fire in his cabin just before bedtime The wind howled through the trees outside and the old trapper piled the wood high in his stove He started as he heard the sound of a dog team Preston such alive. Hey, I sure never expected to have visitors in this weather. You got someone with me, Pat Come on in quick. This wind will make icicles out of us all. All right, King on him. Come on, Mike. You come too. Mike Who's Mike? I don't know. Mike's a dog. Here he is. Well, Pat'll give you a bed right away. Won't you Pat? Sure, and that I will take my cut right there in the con. Thanks Right on there beside him, Mike This is wonderful. See, that is a fine dog he has there, Sergeant. Yes, it is, Pat Will you look at that now? The man's asleep already. He's exhausted. I've been chasing him three days. Now, let's get his boots off. You go on, take care of your dogs, and I'll do this. Well, thanks, Pat. I will. And I'll have some good hot tea waiting for you This has been quite an unusual case, Pat. Eh, aren't you too tired to tell me about it? No, I'll be glad to It all started in the gold nugget bar about three weeks ago I stopped in there one evening and Charlie was there playing poker with three men. Suddenly, they began to quarrel Come on, Charlie. Where'd you get that ace? Out of your sleeve? Oh, you've had too much to drink. I'm quitting. Yeah Now that you're ahead, that's like you. Listen here, Pierce I'm not taking any more insults from you. One more quack like that and I'll knock your teeth in. Take it easy, Charlie I ain't afraid of you. Now, that curry you drag around with you and came away from me Don't you kick that dog. You come on. We'll settle this right now Nobody's calling me a cheat and he kicked my dog. You're crazy. Come on, Charlie You do can settle this tomorrow when you've cooled off. You better leave, Charlie I'll see you tomorrow, Pierce. And don't think I won't any time you'll feel like. Slim, you and Pete better take Pierce home I'm going Charlie's way. Come on, Johnny. All right Remember, Pierce. I'll see you tomorrow Good thing for him that pression came along and it give him a beating he wouldn't forget Come on boys. Let's have another drink before we go. You've had just about all you can take, Pierce Let's go. I can still make it under your own power. What's eating you, Pete? Peace, right Pierce. Come on. Let's go All right, Slim Anyway, I got a bottle over at my cabin. We'll drink there and then you won't have to carry me home Good idea. Let's go Have another drink, Sam No more for me, Pierce You ain't a sissy Why don't we like finish this one? As I was saying about Charlie What have you got against him? He's all right You think so, huh? Well, I don't Pierce, you're just jealous, Charlie, ever since he struck gold Now that he's got more money than you have, you're always trying to pick a fight with him Who said you made any good? You better tell you boys something. The only friends I got are I ain't worried about money I can leave here anytime I want Ah, you're drunk Drunk, am I? Let me show you something. Come on over here What you got? Why are you taking that stone out of the fireplace? I told us all about this but you too I want you to see this Looks like a case A jewel case Look It's a diamond pen Holy smoke, that's a big diamond This is my ace in the hole If my claim ain't any good I'll sell it and buy a good one Where did you get it? I won at gambling down in Whitehorse But don't you tell anyone about it I course not Now you can't say I'm jealous of Charlie now I'm king, I'm your Husky I'm king, I'm your Husky What's wrong, Slim? I'm just going to the barracks to get you Nothing happened? Sure has. Pete and I went over to see Pierce this afternoon Yes? When we got near his cabin we heard a big row going on Before we got to the door, Charlie was bloody and out of breath All he said was that from now on Pierce would never call him a cheat again I thought Charlie would forget about that quarrel last night He's pretty mad about Pierce kicking his dog, Mike Well, he didn't forget it Pete and I rushed into the cabin and found Pierce lying on the floor We thought Charlie had knocked him out Heard him much? Heard him Charlie was right when he said Pierce would never call him a cheat again He knocked him down and Pierce hit the back of his head And he's dead Dead? Let's get over that right away I'm king, I'm king, I'm your Husky Pierce was badly bruised on the back of his head And hit the sharp edge of the stove He must have died almost instantly I left Pete and Slim with Pierce's body And went directly to Charlie's cabin He just finished patching up the cuts on his face Cuts that Pierce had made with his fists He was surprised when I came in Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh What? Well, Dr. Jackson How are you doing here? You know, don't you, Johnny? I know I don't I hear you went over to see Pierce this afternoon I sure did I gave him a beating you won't forget You mean you don't Well, just what happened? He had a fight I hit him and knocked him out You didn't stop to see how bad he was hurt? I certainly wasn't going to pick him up and nurse him Oh, I left Anyway, a couple of his pals came and took care of him Slim and Pete Sorry to have to do this, Charlie But I have to put you under arrest Arrest? For what? You heard him call you a cheat last night You saw him kick Mike He deserved a beating and I gave it to him Charlie Pierce is dead What? When you knocked him down, he hit his head It killed him Killed him? What will this mean? That means you'll go on trial for murder Murder? You're dead Come on, Charlie I'll have to put you in the local jail You'll be there until we can take you to Edmundon for trial I guess there isn't anything I can do about it It's a far gone, Charlie What about Mike here? Will you let him stay the jail with me? Sorry, but it's against the rules, Charlie You better let me keep Mike I'll bring him over to see you Thanks, Sergeant All right, I'll go with you But I'm telling you right now I'll never hang for the murder of Pierce I'll never hang, I tell you Mike, Charlie Well, I put Charlie in jail Made arrangements for him to be sent to Edmundon in two weeks for trial The following Saturday night I was walking down the main street in Dawson It was after midnight Suddenly I heard a lot of noise, men shouting But none of them were shut It was a crowd of men gathered in front of the gold nugget bar And one of them saw me coming Did you see what happened? They started slugging each other All of a sudden, better hang on to Pete Here comes Sergeant Preston Just in time, Pete shot Slim Let them out of here, boys He is shot Who did this? Pete did it That right, Pete I did it in self-defense He was going to shoot me Slim's still alive Boys, carry him into the back room of the gold nugget I'll have to handcuff you, Pete I done it in self-defense, I tell you There'll be plenty of time to prove that Go ahead, get in the bar You'll have to wait until I see if anything can be done for Slim Out from the back room was unconscious I put all the men out of the room And went over him to see where he was shot As I did, his eyes opened and he tried to talk It was very weak, but he had regained consciousness I put my ear close to his mouth And got what it was he was trying to tell me They were the last words he ever said I covered his body and left Taking Pete with me back to jail As we entered the jail I saw no sign of old Jake the jailer And I heard a strange bumping noise from Charlie's cellar I left King to guard, Pete And hurried toward it Watch him, King Try anything, Pete Don't worry Well, the cellar was open Jake, what? No Here, wait I'll get that gag out of your mouth There Now, where's Charlie? He grabbed me when I brought him a supper Took my keys and my gun I've been tied up here for hours You mean he's trying to escape in this weather With no supplies? He's probably got some in his cabin Cut these ropes, will you? I've got to go after him right away He's had a good long sigh I've been kicking this floor out Trying to attract someone's attention I've got another prisoner for you, Jake See if you can keep him here He's more important than Charlie You can't find out where Charlie went He's smart enough to cover his tracks It's snowing for hours He won't have to try But I'll find him I don't see how you can Won't have any trouble trailing him I have his dog, Mike We'll follow Charlie to the ends of the earth And King and I will follow Mike At the end of the second day of that When I stopped the hill Saw the smoke of the campfire ahead I tied my dogs and left the sled Started out on foot with Mike on leash King running free As we got near Mike began to yelp with eagerness Then I knew it was Charlie I unleashed Mike And let him run ahead King and I circled the fire Darkness had settled And it became silently toward the fire I could see Charlie with his dog in his arms He was babbling with delight Oh, are you a boy? Oh, it's been a long time, hasn't it? We're together now You got away, Mike You followed me Oh, good old boy I knew you'd come if you got the chance So did I, Charlie Preston You never should have tried to escape In order like this So you let Mike lead you to me You'll never take me back to hang I told you I'd never hang Charlie, no, drop that gun Get him All right, King I've got his gun Back, fella Are you hurt, Charlie? No Why don't you let me do it, Preston I'd rather die than go back There's no reason for you to shoot yourself You're going back, yes But not to hang I was trying to catch her, Charlie To tell you you're a free man A free man? But I killed Pierce Killed Pierce? I don't know you didn't, Charlie Pete and Slim had a fight Pete shot Slim Just before Slim died He told me that he and Pete had done it But how? Why? Well, you knocked Pierce out all right, Charlie But Slim and Pete were the ones Who hit his head on the stove and killed him It seems that Pierce had an iron pin they wanted And they saw the chance to get it Wow Your dog hadn't If my dog King hadn't stopped you from shooting yourself You'd never have known it Well, come on, Charlie You look pretty weak That's when he happens near here Let's go Go for that, that's what I meant When I said Charlie wasn't exactly a prisoner Well It's sure a good thing he had a dog He might have find him From the looks of him He wouldn't have lasted long on the trail With no equipment I've never seen anyone quite so tender For him That you had a dog like King Saving his life the way he did Yes, you're right, Pat Now I think we'd better call it a day What do you say, King, old boy? These copyrighted dramas originate in the studios Of WXYZ Detroit And all characters, names, places And incidents used are fictitious They are sent to you each week at this same time This is Larry McCann speaking