 The challenge of the Yukon. The Wonder Dog King's swiftest and strongest of Eskimo lead dogs blazes a 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 a new Northwest country where the 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. The two men standing behind the protection of a huge boulder formation stamped their feet in the snow. One of them held a rifle. As he eased it over his arm, he rubbed his hands together for one. Much more of this weight in this trigger finger of mine will be stiff with cold. He'll be along any minute now. Yeah, sure. Joe said he'd be passing here and that we were to be here waiting when he did, so shut up. Your cut out of this will be enough to make you forget the cold anyway. It better be. Hey, look up the trail. It must be him now. It's about time. You ready? I've been ready for the last hour. Good. Get him as he comes by. We better drop him now. Come on before them dogs run off. Hey, look at these foxes. Yeah. Joe knew what he was talking about. All right. I'll take the old time. It's letting you take ours. We'll head back to town. The time we get there, it'll be dark. All right. Come on. Mush your huskies. Short time later, a light snow began to fall, blanketing the trail and the motionless figure of the old trapper. It was then that Sergeant Preston approached the boulder formation and as he reached it, the molly called to his team. Yes, fellow. I see him. It's Dan Snyder, the trapper from up in the hill country. Yes, King. He's dead. I'd say he was shot about an hour ago. We'll get him on the sled and take him back into town. The tracks are round. The snow take care of covering. There, stranger. You having trouble? Maybe I can... Hello, there, Sergeant. I didn't recognize you first. Pete, how are you? Fine. What happened? It's Dan Snyder. He's been murdered. Murdered? Yes. Know anything about it? Not me. I just happened along. Making a run from Center City. I'm due at the office inside of a half hour. You're still working for Joe Simon, eh? Yep. Driving freight. Joe's gonna be mighty sorry to hear this. Seems like he had some kind of an agreement with Snyder to drive his furs the rest of the way for him after he reached town. I see. Well, if I can't do anything for you, Sergeant, I'll be on my way. Got a schedule to keep. I'll see you in town, Pete. Yeah. Too bad about Snyder. Well, that's the way. See you later. Hush, you husky! Hush! Come on, boy. Get him on the sled. I'd hope to put a stop to these trail workers and robberies up here. There. Too bad I didn't get here sooner. All right, fella. Untamed! Untamed! Arriving in the small town of Three Forks, Pete Wallace went immediately to the office of Joe Simon's freight line. Wait till you hear why I'm late. Hi, Len. Charlie. Hi, Pete. You fellas got down, Snyder. That's right. He did pretty good this season, too. You ought to get a look at some of the pelts we brought in. Never mind that. I'll come here late. Hi, man. Preston on the trail. The Mardi? Yeah. I didn't know he was up here. I figured maybe you'd be interested in knowing. What brings him to this neck of the woods? Mardi's poison once he gets wind of something. No, you're just kidding, Edgy. He ain't got a thing on us. Like everybody else, he thinks we just run a freight line. Maybe so, but he ain't one to let murder go without trying to find out what's behind it. I'd like to have a dollar for every man that swung because Preston got on his trail. What are you getting at? When I met that Mardi, he was kneeling beside Snyder, looking at the bullet wound. Besides Snyder? That's right. He'll stop in here when he's in town to see you, Joe. If he had any inkling there was any stolen furs around, he'd take this place apart. We've got to get rid of him fast. Now there ain't only Snyder's to think about. There's the ones we got from a creedy last week. The windslows are still in the back room. For me, I'm taking my pay and getting out of town. Shut up, all of you. Where'd you drop Snyder, then? Where you told us to, by the boulder. That Preston'd be in town any minute. You ain't going to find me here. I'm leaving. You can pay me now, Joe. You ain't going to go nowhere. This is where I tell you to. Now listen to me. You're going to load them pelts on sled, you understand? Who's going to load them? All of you. You'll all take a sled and get out of town, see? Go north. Same way Preston came in. Only take the back trails. Yeah? But if we're going to get rid of them pelts, we've got to go to Seahawks. You're going north. He won't backtrack. There are enough provisions in the back room to last a couple of days. Stay in one of them caves with the cliffs. Then one of you come into town. Then I'll let you know what to do. What are you going to do? I'll be here to meet Preston. Now get going. You too, Pete. This is one case that Mountie will never crack. A short time later, Sergeant Preston was in Joe Simon's office. I'm convinced that this is just one of a series of robberies, all of them with the same purpose. Well, it's a mystery to me. But Dan sure didn't have any enemies. The motive was robbery as it was with all the others. It isn't safe anymore for a trapper to drive his first to a trading post. What do you plan to do, Sergeant? Make a thorough investigation here in town. And the pelts don't turn out? Then it's just possible that the murderers have a hideout somewhere in this vicinity. Well, if the boys was here, maybe they could help you. They know this territory like the palm of their hands. But they had other runs to make. I'll find them in responsible for this no matter how long it takes. You know, I had an idea you might know if anyone brought some pelts into town. No, I stick pretty close to the office, Sergeant. I wish you luck. But I'm afraid I can't be of much help. Sergeant Preston spent the rest of the day in the beginning of the next combing the town for some clue to the murders. Finding Dan, he returned to Joe Simon's office. Whoever did it, maybe they went straight through to Seahorse, Sergeant. No, Seahorse was two days' journey from here, Joe. Any stranger passing through would have to arrest his dogs to pick up supplies. And even if he were to drive through, he'd have been seen and remembered. Yeah, I guess you're right. Ain't many strangers coming in, but I still think... I'm going back to that boulder formation. There's a hideout either to the north or south of here, and I'm going to find it. Well, if that's the case, I'll go with you. What about the freight line? It's been a while without me for a few days. Maybe I can be of some help to you. Well, let's get started, Sergeant. Several miles north of town, the three men, Pete, Len and Charlie, sat in a cave that was a storehouse of rich furs. Pete was looking at what's left of their supplies. Bacon. Beams and bacon for the last... I haven't eaten more beans so you can forget about them. I haven't eaten nothing but bacon for the last three weeks. Every time I go out on a run, that's all I get. What are you complaining about? Hey, I want some caribou steak. What's wrong with taking our rifles and trying to drop one of them? Yeah, that's a good idea. This is the best place for hunting them, too. I'll go with you. What about you, Len? I think I'll try my luck, too. It's been a long time since I've done any of that kind of shooting. One of the three of us ought to be able to get one. Come on. The three men left the cave. When they returned, they looked in amazement at the tracks, showing in the snow. That's a grizzly. He was here, but he's gone now. Tracks when he went in and came out. And what would he be doing? The pelts. Maybe he got into them. Why would... Looks like he ain't going to complain about eating bacon from now on. What? Matter of fact, it looks like he ain't going to eat anything but caribou. So that's it, huh? That grizzly cleaned up every last bit of the bacon. Wild Sergeant Preston and Joe Simon travel the back trails. This looks like a hopeless stab to me, Sergeant. I don't know about that. All those tracks we saw back along the trail? Yeah, we lost them a mile back. The snow has covered them completely. Now, with the less, we're going to keep going. On King! On your manamutes! Running ahead of Sergeant Preston's team of Malamutes, the great dog King frowned momentarily to himself. He tilted his nose in the clear Yukon air, and his perplexity increased. He caught the scent of a grizzly bear on the trail ahead. Sighting the huge animal ahead on the trail, King stopped. Sergeant Preston also saw the bear. All right, fella. Are you going to kill him, Sergeant? No, we'll wait and see if he attacks. I guess he thought the better of it. All right, boy. On King! On your manamutes! It was then that King realized why the scent of the bear brought with it another scent, the heavy, greasy scent of bacon. The Malamutes knew that somewhere the grizzly had looted the rations of a camper. He knew, too, that it was but a short time ago. King! On King! From his master's past conversation, King understood they were traveling a man. Was it possible that the man they were trailing had carried bacon in his pack? It was worth investigating, but no time could be wasted if they were to backtrack along the trail the grizzly had taken. The snow was falling and would soon cover the tracks. The Malamute turned to the timber. Sergeant Preston, riding the runners of the sled, gave the dog his head, following his lead. As they approached the cliffs, Joe Simon turned suddenly in the mountain sled. I've seen as much as I've... I wouldn't raise that gun if I were you, Joe. What's your idea? You might say I anticipated to draw. But you're gunning the snow. Now we'll just go on letting King lead the way. My gun will be with an easy reach. Remember that. Looks like this is the end of the trail. Hello, you Malamutes! Now walk ahead of me, Joe, and if you're wise, you won't attempt a signal to your men. I don't get this, Sergeant. What made you think that I had a need... We'll explain that later. We heard the dogs, boss. Raise your hands, all of you. What's the idea of leading him here? I thought you would... I didn't lead him here. No, you didn't lead me here. But you took me off when we were getting near the cave. So this is the hideout, eh? Mother and a furs here to... Don't reach for that gun, Pete. You're under arrest, all of you. You win, Preston. I'd like to know one thing. How'd you know I was mixed up in this? When I was making my investigations in town, your men were seen to leave with three loaded sleds. They left town by a back trail. So that was it, huh? I knew Pete had just returned from a run and he wouldn't start out immediately on another one unless it were very important for him to be out of town. But you didn't know where he went. You acted like you had a compass or a map. King deserves a credit for that. What gave him the clue was something I'll never know. Yes, fellow, thanks to you, the case is closed. 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 the same time and reach you from our transcription studios. How are you speaking? This is the Michigan...