 The Challenge of the Yukon. The King on your Malibu! The Wonder Dog King, swiftest and strongest of Eskimo leap dogs, blazes the trail through storm and snow for Sergeant Preston as he meets the Challenge of the Yukon. Sergeant Preston was typical of a small band of Northwest mounted police who preserved law and order in a 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. Though the ice still glazed the lake and snow covered everything, there were definite signs of approaching spring. The Yukon days were longer and brighter and the sun at times felt warm on the prospector's face. It was early morning when Sergeant Preston sat in Pat Gallagher's cabin having breakfast. You had to come around the shore of the lake, didn't you? Yeah. That's the only reason I hate to see spring come. I could shorten my trip by 20 miles if I could come straight across. But it's too dangerous now. Bad holes, frozen over with thin ice and covered with snow. The ice has been dangerous for over a week. Drink some more tea and warm yourself while I put some salt park in the griddle. Thanks, Pat. Mmm, this tastes good. Ha! Listen to King. Don't tell me it's more visitors I'm having. You're the first one who's been here in three weeks. I wonder what he's working on. What's the matter, King? He's looking out at the lake. Pat, look. There's a man crossing the lake, the fool. Doesn't he know he'll break through? Hey, you! He can't hear you. He's too far away and his ears are covered. We've got to stop him before he reaches that thin ice. Come on, Pat. My dog team's ready. We'll catch him. I'm afraid he won't be in time. I'd better bring a paw in case he breaks through. King, old fella. See that man out there? We'll after him, boy. Catch him. Go on, boy. That's it. Hurry, Pat. I'm coming. I've sent King on ahead. We may catch him in time. Here's the paw. I'll show it on the sled. On your collar, Newt! The man had a long lead on Preston, but Preston's dog team was fast and King was faster. Great dogs sped across the ice in huge leaps as he pursued the fool-hardy stranger. Suddenly a cry of horror broke from the lips of Preston and was echoed by Pat. There goes the ice. He's gone through. Poor Dibble. Say he's preserving the ground shore. Faster, you malamutes! Faster! King will try and save him, but we can only make it in time. Without him, birds and crows, he won't have a chance. Unless King can haul him up someway. Faster, you malamutes! Look, there goes King into the water after him. Pat, we've got to get there in time. King hesitated only a second before leaping into the icy water. Swimming powerfully, he reached the struggling man who grasped frantically at the heavy fur of King's neck. Hurry, Pat. King's holding him up. What should I steer, sir? Bring that paw. Here it is. Keep your feet, King. Keep your feet kicking mine and hang on to the dog. This way, King. Now you, grab the end of this paw and let go of the dog. Pat, help me pull him in. There it is. Just a little more. Watch out, Pat. Otherwise, he'll break it at the edge. Over this way. I've got him. You get King. Here, King. Over this way. Here, boy. Now, up. There you are, fella. Good boy. I sure owe my life to that malamute. Gosh, what an animal. I ain't never seen such a big fella. He held me up late nothing. My wet clothes would have pulled me down in a minute if it hadn't been for him. Well, why unsundered it to try to cross that lake this time of the year? Everybody knows how dangerous it is. I guess I ought to be grateful for being alive. Sergeant, what would you take for that dog? I guess maybe I should retire him for the rest of his life as a reward. You couldn't buy him for any kind of money. Anyway, being retired would be pure punishment to King. Gosh, I ought to do something for him. Hand me that dripping money belt, will you, partner? I know just the present I'm going to give him. Back in my claim, I found a nugget that looked just like a dog's head. You're going to fasten it on his collar, and it will take care of him in his old age. This money belt alone must almost suck you. You're stuck in it somewhere. You're right, partner. I was heading back to this stage with more gold you ever clapped your eyes on. Well, look here. Hey, somebody's robbed me. What's the matter? Lead slugs and bullets. There ain't any gold in there at all. All my dust and all my nuggets gone. Maybe you'd better tell me just what happened to you last night. What did you say? Well, when I hit town, the first person I seen was an old partner of mine, Jake Pierce. I hadn't seen him since I first come to the Yukon almost 10 years ago. You weren't in very good company, Pete. That you weren't. Jake Pierce is the worst ball peen that was ever born a woman. Well, I hadn't seen him for years. And anyway, I stayed at his cabin two days, and we celebrated my luck. Well, last night we had a final wind-up and towards the end of the evening, a man come in. You want to see, Muskie? This is my old partner, Pete Luscombe. Hi! Now, Muskie's been trapping around here for years, Pete. He can tell you just a trail to take out of here tomorrow. Have a drink, Muskie. I like a little information. I ain't familiar around these parts. Me? I crap all over the country. Where do you go tomorrow? Well, I want to go to Land's End and catch a boat from there. You take trail south, across Lake Tahatchee. Let's save you 20, 30 miles. Is the ice all right, Muskie? Me come cross with team this morning. All solid for a week more. Well, that's good news. That'll save me a day, maybe. Sure. Now, you won't have to start too early. Now, come on. We'll fill them up again and we'll drink to your rosy future, Pete. I guess I should have gone to bed, but I had a couple of drinks more with them and I couldn't do anything else seeing as they were drinking to my future. Do you remember what happened after that? All of a sudden, I got so sleepy, I couldn't hold up my head. Don't worry to the rats. They put something in your glass, they did. She ain't put it in the bed, I guess, sir. Didn't know nothing till he woke me up this morning and joked about it. You know exactly how much you had in the money belt, Pete. Oh, it was many years' work. I had five pouches of dust alone, not counting the nuggets. My grandmother's ghost. And spending your time with riffraff like Jake and Muskie. Well, the trouble is, Pete, you have no proof they took your gold. Yeah, yes, you're right, Sergeant. It's only my word again there. Pete, I have an idea. Good evening in the Golden Pleasant Cafe. Jake Pierce was talking earnestly to Jim Cain, a prospect for me, but Jim, you just got back from your claim. You ain't gonna need your dog team. I'll pay you a good price for it. Oh, my team, for you, Jake. I've seen you handle dogs before, and I ain't able to put my animals in your hand for any kind of money. Maybe you'd be interested if I threw in this nugget. It's the shape of a dog's head and... Hi, Sergeant. Hello, boys. How are you? Yeah, there's Sergeant Preston. Oh, that's Pete. Hi there, Sergeant. Hello, Cain. How are you, Jake? Fine. Well, Pete, you're back. Hello, Jake. Yeah, I'm back again. I just happened to meet up with the Sergeant this morning, and he said that that half-breed didn't know what he was talking about last night. The lake ain't safe to cross, so I'll come back to town to try and pick up a dog team. I'll need it if I've got to check all him extra miles around the lake. Know anybody with a dog team for sale? Pete says he's had plenty of money. Jake's just been trying to buy my... We'll talk about that later, Cain. Let's all have a drink. Well, maybe we better go to your cabin first, Jake. I want to get some dust out of my money belt. I'm running a little shot of cash. To do that, I got plenty. I'll let you have all you need. What'll you have? Better count me out. I have to get back to my cabin and feed the dogs. I'll see you later. Good night, Sergeant. Good night, boy. Well, sir, I'm Pete Lasker. Don't believe I met you. I'm Jim Cain. Pete's an old partner of mine, Cain. Did I hear you say that you had some dogs for sale? No. We just heard that Jake wanted to buy them. They ain't for sale. Well, maybe you'd consider renting them to me. I'm going to Land's Inn. I'm taking a boat from there. Gee, did you get them back? Well, now I might be interested in the kind of proposition. Pete, I just remember I got to see somebody. Stay here. I'll be right back. Remember, you're bunking with me tonight. Well, sure, Jake. I'll wait right here for you. Jake rushed to his cabin at the edge of town. Muskie was strapping up the last pack containing Jake's belongings when he entered. You get your team. No, Muskie. Everything's off. Everything's in packs. Something wrong? Pete's back. He didn't try to cross Lake. Well, that blasted Mountie stopped him. He came back to get a dog team. You know we robbed him? No, not yet. He ain't opened his money belt since we done it. Maybe we better go right now. Yeah, he'd suspect something for sure if I beat it now. I got a better plan. He's going to run a dog team from Cain and plans to take off early tomorrow morning. If we could get rid of him tonight, we could take the team ourselves and everybody will think he left with it. Get rid of him? You mean my knife? It is better than a gun. A shop might bring trouble. We could put him on sled, then bury him somewhere. Now, Muskie, you hide in that closet behind in curtains. I'll bring Pete back here. And when he's in the right spot, you know what to do. It wasn't long before Jake brought Pete back to the cabin with King's dog Dean. Pete was nervous. He knew something was about to happen. But he also knew that he was under the eye of Preston somewhere in the shadows. Preston, with King at his heels, drifted silently behind him, keeping out of sight. Hey, here we are. Don't worry about betting down these critters, Pete. I'll tend to them later. Now you're all ready to take off early. That was a good idea bringing the dogs here tonight. I'll fix the nightcap for us first, and then you can hit the hay. It's stuffy in this place. Mind if I open the window for a few minutes? Oh, go ahead. I'll get some glasses. Come on, pull up a chair, Pete. Here's your drink. Quietly, Preston crept to the open window as revolver drawn and with King at his side. Pete sat with us back to the curtain closet. The oil lamp on the table cast weird shadows on the walls. Minutes dragged by, and Preston watched, every nerve tense. Suddenly his eyes were drawn to the curtains behind Pete. They were parting slowly, revealing Muskie with his knife drawn, creeping silently toward Pete. Jake was talking loudly to cover any sound Muskie might make. I'm glad you were able to do a cane in the retina of that team. It'll make the job a lot easier. Holy Jupiter. What was that? Get those hands up, Jake. I've got you covered. Preston, that hair freed almost nice. Oh, my shoulder. You can't blame me for this, Preston. I didn't know Muskie was there. You could see him as painfully as I could. Keep those hands up. Take that gun away from him, Pete. Come on, King. Twist him. King, after him, boy. Go get him. Jake, riding the runners of the sled, spent over the frozen ground like an arrow. The dogs, terrified by the shots, raced along practically. But King, Preston's huge malinute, herstued them swiftly, covering the ground as suddenly as a shot. Muskie, rush faster, faster. Keep going, you devils. Faster. Suddenly, out of the darkness behind him, a gray shape hurtled through the air, straight at Jake's shoulder. Help, help, help. Get down here. We're coming, King. Hold him, boy. Help. Get down here. Get down here. Get down here. What's wrong, King? No. Good work, King. All right, boy, I'll take over. Here, you give me that gun. I'll get up and start walking. One funny move, and I'll let King finish the job. The next day, three people sat at the fire in Pat Gallagher's cabin on Lake Tohachi. King, the great malinute, rested his head contentedly on Preston's knee, as Preston fastened his collar. On the collar, a huge nugget, the shape of a dog's head, gleamed in the firelight. Well, King, old boy, you're looking mighty dressed up with this. Sure, and it's a nice thing for you to be doing, Pete. Giving him such a fine present. Well, it's little enough compared to what he did for me. Well, it's his job, Pete. Isn't it, fella? If every time he did a good job, he got a nugget. He'd be walking gold mine, tatty wood. Well, he's more than a gold mine to me. There you are, boy, and collar's fixed. And now, I guess the case is closed. These copyrighted drummers 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 rate you from our transcription studios. Al Neal speaking, this is the Michigan Radio Network.