Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/306

288 "Goin' the other way!" he exclaimed. "What do you mean? Wasn't you detailed to patrol Coal Creek after poachers?"

Connie laughed: "No, I wasn't detailed for anything. I'm 'on my own,' now. My time was up last week, and I'm heading for Eagle. I just cut across to the head of Coal Creek on a hunch. I didn't have any authority to arrest anybody. You'll have to take the prisoner in—anyway, he's your prisoner. You've worked up the evidence."

"On your own!" muttered the Constable as if unable to grasp the idea. "You mean that—that you ain't goin' to re-enlist? That you're quittin' us fer good?"

Connie nodded: "Yes," he answered, "I've got to get back to Alaska. You see I've got a mine there and I expect my pardner will be coming inside again this year. You won't have any trouble taking Wiley in." The boy thrust out his hand. "So long, Shorty. Your time's up this spring, too—but I suppose you'll re-enlist!" Shorty, who had been studying minutely the toes of his mukluks raised his eyes to the boy's. "You bet, I'm goin' to re-enlist," he answered gruffly. "That is, if—" he stopped abruptly and gripped