 Now, as gunshots echo across the windswept snow-covered reaches of the wild north-west, Quakerpuff wheat and Quakerpuff rice, the breakfast cereal shot from guns, present the challenge of the Yukon. It's Yukon King, swiftness and strongest lead dog of the north-west, blazing the trail for Sergeant Preston of the north-west mounted police in his relentless pursuit of lawbreakers. On King, on you askings. Gold, gold discovered in the Yukon, a stampede to the Klondike in the wild race for riches, back to the days of the gold rush, with Quakerpuff wheat and Quakerpuff rice bringing you the adventures of Sergeant Preston and his wonder dog Yukon King as they meet the challenge of the Yukon. Listen everyone, the swell-tasting ready-to-serve breakfast cereal shot from guns, Quakerpuff wheat and Quakerpuff rice are making a special offer to all you listeners. It's new, it's different, it's terrific. Keep listening. Hear full details in just a few minutes. With the opening of the summer months in the Yukon, much had happened in the vicinity of Fort River, a settlement not far from Selkirk. The Franklin gang had become a byword amongst the prospectors and Kirk Franklin, the leader of the gang, was feared because of his brazen way of taking what he wanted and because of the ruthless manner in which he dealt with those who might stand in his way. First, he and his gang robbed the bank in Fort River in broad daylight. Bricks, everybody, hurry up! This is a hold-up. You can't come in here. Now if anybody else wants to object, speak up. The next one will get a bullet. A couple of you go get the gold while we keep these men quiet. Right, Kirk. Red and I will get the gold. You can't get away with this. The monies will get you sooner or later. I told you to keep quiet, didn't I? And this will make you keep your mouth shut. Can't fool with Kirk Franklin and get away with it. How are you coming, Sandy? We got all the rest to get, Kirk. Good. Then let's get out of here and quick. Next, there were two prospectors who were taking their findings to town. Jake, for sure, struck it rich. After all the time we worked that claim, it's minding good to know we can go back to the States and sort of take it easy. Yeah, that's right. I still can't believe we really made good on that claim of ours. I've had about all I can take of the cold winters up here. You and me both. I never thought when it came here that the state as long as... Jake, somebody shoot matters. Do you reckon it's... Look, here comes three men on horses. All right, sir. Hey, what is this? It must be a holdup. Yes, right, it is. Get the gold from that saddlebag, Sandy, while we're keeping cover. Sure, Kirk. Hey, now, wait a minute. That's all we have. You heard what Kirk said. You heard what he said. Kirk? He must mean Kirk Franklin. That's right, he does. We better give him our gold. If you don't, you won't live to tell him about it. Come on, hand it over. Yeah, all right. We've heard of Franklin and his gang. Here's all we got. Good. Now get down from your horses. Look, if you take our horses, we can't get... Yeah, you can't get to town and report what happened. At least you can till we get far enough away. I'll get off those horses. Yeah, sure, sure, we're getting off them. Yeah, you can have them. Bring them over here, Sandy. Yeah, get up. Well, they'll have a nice long walk to town, Kirk. Yeah, no. Now let's get going. Kirk Franklin and his gang even invaded the cafe in Fort Ribbon. All right, let's just hold up. The first man to make a move will get lead. Get their wallets, man. Come on, let them get away with this. Let them down. All right, you ass for this. A few days later, Sergeant Preston arrived at the headquarters of the Northwest Mounted Police in response to a message from the inspector. Oh, there. Oh, easy now. Come on, gang. The inspector's waiting for you. Go right on in. Thanks, Jim. Well, Sergeant Preston and King, now to see you both. I got your message, Inspector. Well, sit down, Sergeant. Thank you, sir. Well, come right to the point, Sergeant. There's a gang of crooks operating near Fort River, gang led by a man named Kirk Franklin. I've heard of Franklin. He said to be smart and ruthless. That's right. Now, Sergeant, I want you to take King and go to Fort River. Our man, the constable up there, can't seem to get a line on Kirk and his men. He's asked for your help. Very well, sir. King and I'll do what we can to help him. When can you leave, Sergeant? We'll leave right now. We'll see you again, sir, after we've caught that Franklin gang. That's what I like to hear you say, Sergeant. Kirk Franklin and his gang are a menace to the Yukon. If anyone can run them down, I feel that you can, Sergeant. I, uh... With King's help. Count on King, sir, for a great deal of help, don't I, King? Well, goodbye, and good luck, Sergeant. Goodbye, sir. Have a long, King. Have a long, King. The following day, Sergeant Preston and King arrived in Fort River and entered the constable's office. One, King. Sergeant Preston. Oh, it's sure good to see you and King. Hello, Bill. I hear you've been having trouble up here. You can say that again. That Kirk Franklin and his gang have really been raising King up here. He doesn't seem to care who knows his identity either. I see. You found any trace of their hideout? No, I haven't. Kirk Franklin is smarter than most people think. He has a way of covering his tracks. So I've heard. But he must be hiding out somewhere near Fort River since he and his gang were so active in his vicinity. That's what I figure. But so far, I'm stumped. If there were just some way we'd bring him out in the open... What do you mean? What I mean is, if there were some way we could get him and his gang to attempt a robbery that we knew about beforehand. Yes, but how would that be possible? Wouldn't be unless we planned it that way. You mean arrange a trap for Kirk Franklin and his gang? Exactly. But how would we go about it? Bill, Franklin probably has someone spying for him here in Fort River. Oh, that's possible. Yes, it is. So far, I don't believe anyone knows I came here. You know the agent at the express office? Yes, I know Hank Dever's very well. Good. With his help, we may be able to trap Franklin. How? I'll listen closely and I'll tell you. This is the plan I have in mind. That evening, Hank Dever, the express agent in Fort River entered the cafe and approached the man at the bar. Hi, Mr. Dever. How's everything to express office these days? Oh, all right, Dave. Of course, a job like mine has a lot of responsibility these days. Why, these days? Any more than any other time? Well, now that summer's here, we get big gold shipments every now and then. Got a big shipment tonight. Got to go on a sale Kirk in the morning. It means I have to be on duty tonight. Well, I guess your job's no sense of that. That's right. It isn't. Instead of going home, I'm going to eat here. I'm going back to the office and stay there to let shipments on its way. I sure be glad to get it off my hands. I can tell you. Well, boys, what do you have? Later that night, a man stopped at a cabin a few miles from Fort River. Ho, ho, ho, ho, now! That brings you back from town so soon. Yeah, we didn't expect you for several more hours. I heard something you might like to hear about, Kirk. Yeah, what is it? I was at the cafe a while ago and the express agent come and eat. I heard him telling the buck he had to go back to the office. Because he had a big shipment of gold that had to go out in the morning. What gold? No use letting that get out of our hands, Kirk. I'm thinking the same things, Andy. You're going to wait until it's on the way, Kirk? Why wait? The easiest way is to get it while it's at the express office. Yeah, that's right. There's only one thing, Kirk. Yeah, what's that? Yeah, Frank, what are you talking about? You have me planted there in town to keep my eyes open, you know. Yeah, sure, but get to the point. It's just this. I keep a pretty close check on that constable's office and I happen to see another Mountie. A tall, well-built fellow with a big husky. He rode up and went into the constable's office this afternoon. Well, maybe he's just riding through Fort River. He might have gone on by now. No, no, he's still there. I made sure of that. You... You say you had a big dog, was it? Yeah. Biggest and finest looking dog I ever saw. Man, I know who that Mountie is. Now, well, in the bed, he came to Fort River for a purpose. What's more, I bet that purpose is to hunt us. To hunt us? What makes you think that, Kirk? Because that Mountie is usually sent to track those that others can't get a learn on. He's about the best the Northwestern wanted police have. His name is Sergeant Preston. Sergeant Preston? Holy smoke, yeah, I've heard of him. Yeah, so have I. We better forget all about that gold shipment and clear out while we have the chance. Wait a minute, both of you. I didn't get a reputation for being smart without reason. Remember that? What are you driving at, Kirk? Yeah, what do you mean by that? Just this. Maybe there is a big shipment of gold at the express office. Then again, maybe there isn't. I don't get what you mean. I mean, it seems mighty funny to me that the express agent went into the cafe and shot off his mouth like Frank says. Up to now, he's been cagey about anything concerning the express business. But I tell you, I heard him. Sure you did. But how do you know he wasn't put up to saying what he did in the cafe? Why? That Sergeant Preston's plenty smart. And it could be he's trying to get us to do just what you two want to do. Go try to rob the express office. Then you think maybe it's a trap, Kirk? Yeah, I do. But we'll use it to our advantage. Preston and that constable are going to find they have to go some to put one over on Kirk Franklin. We'll continue our story in just a moment. Fellows and girls, here's how to get in on one of the most exciting offers you've ever heard. Here's how you can collect official challenge of the Yukon dog picture cards. These dog picture cards are the keenest trading cards you've ever seen. There are 35 different cards in all and they're yours at no extra cost. Just go to your grocer. Ask for Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice. You'll get two. That's not one, but two cards, each different inside every package. You get authentic photographs of real dogs. They're brand new. They're keen color Codochrome photographs. They're made specially for you listeners and are offered exclusively with the breakfast cereal shot from guns. What's more, these trading cards are the real McCoy. They're stiff back and have the same shiny glossy finish as game cards. 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Tomorrow, get both delicious kinds. Quakerpuff wheat and Quakerpuff rice. You will have four cards right off the bat. That's how easy it is to collect them. So save them, swap them, start now. Now to continue our story. When one of his men reported to Kirk Franklin that he had overheard the express agent tell about a big gold shipment which was in the safe of the express office, Franklin said he felt sure it was a trap, planned by Sergeant Preston and the Constable. Also he said he intended to make things come out to their own advantage. Both Sandy and Frank were very curious about Kirk's plans. Look, Kirk, if those monies did plan to trap us and are waiting for us to try to rob the express office, how do you expect to use it to our advantage? That's what I'd like to know. Well, if there was a big gold shipment there, you can bet the express agent told the Constable about it. And him and Sergeant Preston would be sort of guarding it tonight. Yeah? And if there isn't any gold there, and it's a trap like I think it is, then they'll be hanging around the express office waiting for us, see? Yeah, but it's... And while they're waiting there all night, we'll be getting gold somewhere else. It'll be a long way out here by morning. Just where are we going to get the gold you speak of? The Fort River Mining Company office, which is a couple of miles outside of town in the opposite direction to the express office. They always have a lot of gold in the safe since their summer mining has started. Yeah, that's right. And as you know, the Constable's been checking over there every night. But tonight he'll be waiting at the express office if my guess is right, and I think it is. And you mean we'll rob the mining company office? Why not? Those monies won't hear about it till morning. And by that time, we can be well on our way. That's a good idea, Kirk. Yeah, it is. And it'll be a good laugh on the monies too. All right. Let's go get our horses and start with the mining company office right now. Right. Meantime, Sergeant Preston with King and the Constable waited behind the building across from the express office. The two men conversed in low tones. I wonder if one of Kirk Franklin's men really overheard Hank Divers at the cafe. If it's still in this vicinity, I feel sure he'd have someone spying for him around town, Bill. Guess I'll have to agree on that, Sergeant. Franklin knows everything that goes on here in town, seems like. Yet we've been waiting here a long time. I know. Quiet, King. Someone's coming, Bill. Writing fast, too. Yeah. Coming from the other side of town. He stopped in front of your office, Bill. He's going in. Something must have happened. Come on. We'll see what he wants. Hey there. Who are you looking for? I come to find the Constable. Didn't recognize you, First Constable. Chad, weeks. What brings you to town at this hour, Chad? Something's happened out my way. That's what. Chad, this is Sergeant Preston and his dog, King. Glad to meet you, Sergeant. Looks like you got here just in time to help the Constable track some crooks. What happened, John? Well, I got a small claim out near the Fort River Mining Company. Yes. A while ago I heard sort of like an explosion over at the mining office. And three men went right in the trail past but can't really be split. Well, I got suspicious, so I come over to tell you. Uh-oh. The one night I don't check over there and something has to happen. You mean you usually check the mining office every night, Bill? Yep. The Franklin gang, I'll bet. Kirk Franklin did have someone spying in town, only he's smarter than I gave him credit for. Let's get our horses and get out there. Come on, King. A short time later, Sergeant Preston, King and the Constable arrived at the mining office and found that the safe had been blown open. They've cleaned out the safe, Sergeant. Yes. That's it, King. Got the scent. Let's go out to the horses. Those crooks have a good start, but we'll catch them sooner or later. Come on. Ready, fellow? Easy now? Easy. All right, King, after them. Let's go, Bill. Get up there. Yeah. After robbing the mining company, Kirk Franklin and his two men rode all night towards Selkirk. Hey, Kirk, let's stop for a while and rest a bit. Yeah, I'm hungry, too. We've been riding for hours, seems like. Maybe we have, but we're not going to stop until we get into Selkirk. But why? You said nobody'd know about the robbery till morning. I know, but you can never tell. And I don't take chances. As long as we're out on the trail like this, that money Preston can easily trail us. I want to get into Selkirk where there's plenty of people and we can hide out till the boat leaves there tonight. All right. What I heard of that money if he does get on our trail, that dog of his will lead him to us. Whatever we hide out. Yeah. I heard stories about that husky of Preston's, too. All right, then. Just in case Preston and his dog get to Selkirk before the boat leaves, we'll see that he has a good trail to follow, so he'll be sure to find our hideout. Hey, are you crazy? What do you mean by that? I know of a place along the waterfront. We'll go there. Sort of a loft inside for store and supplies. Well, what about it? I'd rather keep going than to wait there and be caught by Preston. Now, look, they'll probably trail us there. But we'll be expecting them. We'll be hiding up on that loft. And when they come in, we'll let them have it before they know what's happened. Get up. Come on. Get up. Later that morning, Kirk, Sandy, and Frank arrived at the small building on the waterfront. They planned to use as a hideout and as a trap for Sergeant Preston, King, and the Constance. Hold it. Hold it. Set it on. I think the horses aren't by Frank and they won't be seen. They come on in. All right. Come on. Get up. Get up. Let's go inside, Sandy. Get up. You never brought us here before, Kirk. Well, no need to until now. There's a loft up there I was talking about. Use that ladder, Neil, to the back wall to reach it. The cracks between the boards up there are big enough to point a gun through it and anyone coming in. Yeah, I can see that. The horses are all set, Kirk. Good. Now we'll fix them grub. Then we'll go up on that loft and take turns watching. If Preston comes before the boat leaves, he'll walk right into a trap. It was early afternoon when Sergeant Preston arrived in Selkirk with King and the Constable. King led them directly to the waterfront. Those clerks must have planned to take the late afternoon boats from Selkirk, though. Yeah, looks like it. They must be hiding out along the waterfront until it leaves. King will lead us to the hideout. Unless we're ready for a gun battle and we find them, Kirk Franklin won't give up without a fight. Trailing him has been so easy. It doesn't seem possible. It could be Kirk Franklin and his men who robbed that mining office. It wouldn't have been easy without King, Bill. We'd have lost the trail as soon as we had town. Too many others riding along the streets. Yeah, that's true. I guess they counted on that in case they were followed. Oh, look. King's going toward that small building there near the river. Yes. We'll stop here and go on on foot. Oh, there. Oh, oh. Only windows seem to be in the front. Well, the person is side, so we won't be seen. Come on, King's there at the door. Approaching the building at an angle, Sergeant Preston and the constable soon reached the side of the hideout. They stopped a moment as King would left the door and gone around to the back, returned and came up to Preston with a low whine. King found the horses at the back, Bill. That means the crooks are inside. We could sneak around to the door by bending down as we passed the windows. Then we could break in on them. No, I want to get a look inside first. Now, you wait here while I go to one of the windows. All right, sir. Come on, King. Inside the building, up in the loft, Kirk shook Sandy and Frank, who had been sleeping. Thanks, Sandy. Wake up. What? What's the matter? Quiet, both of you. What? What's up, Kirk? The horses are acting uneasy like I heard them winning a few minutes ago. Gave me the idea somebody might be snooping around. We better get our guns handy. Yeah, we better. The opening between those floorboards there is big enough for us to aim through and see through. Get down on the floor and be ready. All right. I can see the front door good from here. Yeah, so can I. I got my gun ready to plug the first one that comes in. Hey, hey, look. Somebody's at the window. Yeah. They'll see there's no one in here, so they'll come in to look around in a minute. I don't shoot till I nudge you in case there's more than one. I'm sure it's Preston out there and maybe the Constable from Fort River. They're in for a surprise if they decide to investigate this place. After looking in the front window, Sergeant Preston waved to the Constable to join him at the corner of the building. See anyone inside? No. Quiet, fella. Let's go inside and have a look around. Maybe they've walked uptown. No, I'm sure they didn't. The way King acts, I'm certain they're in there someplace. But if you couldn't see anyone... I noticed something, Bill. Well, what's that, Sergeant? This building's rather high and there seems to be a board ceiling inside. That would indicate a loft. Maybe they're hiding up there. I thought of that. And if they are, they expect it not only to be followed, but to trap anyone who came here. The boards that make that ceiling aren't too close together. We could starve them out if we were sure they're up there. No, that would take too long. I have a better plan to find out if they are up there and to force them to come out. You and King stay here. I'm going down to dock. I won't be long. Stay there, King. A short time later, Sergeant Preston came back carrying a metal bucket. What's that? Half a bucket of tar with some coal oil on top. What's it for? There's just enough coal oil in there to start a blaze. It'll be confined to the bucket that it will cause a great deal of dense black smoke because of the tar. You figure on driving them out with that smudge part. Is that it? Seems like a good idea. I'll have to figure out how to get that bucket inside. Up in the loft, the three crooks with guns aimed through the openings between the boards watched for someone to enter. Suddenly, the door opened. Hey, look, Kirk. Somebody opened the door and then jumped out of the way. Yeah. Hey. Hey, then, look at the smoke and bucket just outside the door. What's going on? They're shoving that bucket inside with a long pull. That heavy blank smoke, it'll smother us. It's rising up here already. Yeah, they're trying to trick us. Get down the ladder quick and keep your guns ready. Come on. It's rising. Slide along the wall so they can't see you from the door. We ain't getting the windows to hurry. Here's the window. The smoke is so thick down here, but it soon will be. I think we can stand it a while and maybe pick them off through the window. Getting thicker, I can't stand it. You've got to stand it. They think we're still in the loft. Maybe they'll show themselves. Get ready to plug the first one you see. Outside, Sergeant Preston and the constable stood at the corner of the building, waiting for the smoke to drive the crooks out. Some of the thick smoke swirls from the doorway. They must not be in there. That smoke is so thick it ought to drive them out by now. Yes, it should. As the two Mounties talked, King moved along close to the building and under the window. His keen ears had heard the muffled coughing inside, which had escaped the two Mounties. Suddenly, one of the windows crashed and the shot rang out. Keep down, Bill. They're at the window. They've broken it to get air. We'll get enough air through this window, Mountie. You won't get asked before we put a bullet in you. You might as well give up, Franklin. We'll get you a sooner or later. Noticing the direction from which Preston's voice came, Kirk dropped to the floor and crawled toward the door. The thick black smoke swirling through the opening acted as a cloak and he hoped to get a quick shot from a prone position from one side of the doorway. But the great dog King was just alongside the door. King heard the scuffling as Kirk crawled toward him. The intelligent dog waited until he saw a hand holding a gun move around the edge of the sill. And then before Kirk could shoot, King sprang. My wrist! Get that dog away! Help! Leaving the constable on guard Sergeant Preston ducked under the window and ran along the porch. Then pointing his gun at the figure that struggled in the doorway he spoke. Come on, King. Let him go, boy. Hold on, Franklin. You're covered. The dog, you made me drop my gun. I've got it now. Now then, the rest of you call out here on the porch. Come on. Come on, Sandy. We've got to get out of this smoke. They got Kirk. I'm there enough. Hot me. I won't give up. But Sandy didn't reckon with King, hearing another voice inside the big husky went through the swirling smoking into the building. And Sandy tried to get a better aim through the window. The big dog jumped. Oh, help! The dog! King went up to the other one. Come on, Bill. Guard these two. All right. Get this dog off me. Get him off me. All right, King. Down for her. All right. Come on outside, you. I'm coming. I'm coming. Well, Bill, I guess this is the last one. Looks like this is the finish of the Franklin gang, Sergeant. Yes. We'll take them to headquarters. It hadn't been for you and King. I couldn't have trailed him King's happy to be of help, aren't you, fella? Both King and I are glad to know this case is closed. In just a moment, Sergeant Preston will give you a preview of Wednesday's adventure. Don't wait until it's too late. Start now today. Collect official challenge of the Yukon dog picture car. Go to your grocer by the special new packages Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice. Inside every package, you get two. That's two trading cards. Each different. These dog picture cards are brand new, made specially for you. They're yours at no extra cost. 35 different breeds of dogs in all. Best of all, you can get King himself. Don't wait. There's no delay. Nothing to mail in, not a box top, not a single penny. Remember, these official dog picture trading cards come only with Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice. Two cards. Each different. Come in each package. Buy both delicious kinds. Get four of these cards tomorrow. These radio dramas, a feature of the challenge of the Yukon Incorporated, are created and produced by George W. Trenlow, directed by Fred Flower Day and edited by Fram Stryker. The part of Sergeant Preston is played by Paul Sutton. They are brought to you every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the same time by Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice. The breakfast cereal shot from guns. Listen Wednesday when Sergeant Preston and Yukon King meet the challenge of the Yukon in the case of the Bad Penny. Dick Martin was favored to win the biggest dog race in the Klondike. But he was haunted by a fear of losing. I entered the race determined to win so that Dick might learn there's no disgrace in losing a fair fight. I didn't see the finish of that race because the rifle bullet knocked me out and nearly took my life. Be sure to hear this exciting adventure Wednesday. This is J. Michael wishing you good bye, good luck and good health from Quaker Puffed Wheat.