RICK RAIDER #1

DANGER ON THE GOLD TRAIL (Part 4)

copyright 1980, 1999 Mike DeBaptiste, all rights reserved.

Chapter Thirteen: THE LAIR OF THE SNOW WOLF

Rick Raider felt uncomfortably hot. He was on a desert island tied to the trunk of a palm tree, the sun beating down upon him mercilessly. He twisted and squirmed, trying to loosen his bonds so he could free himself, but they had been tied securely and wouldn't budge. So total was his frustration that he let out an anguished cry.

The cry awoke him.

Rick opened his eyes, startled. He sat up and looked around warily. He was in a cave, laying on a bed of fur pelts next to a crackling fire of twigs and boughs.

The Snow Wolf! The Girl!

He remembered now, but there was no one else there in the cave with him.

Rick looked out the mouth of the cave and saw that the blizzard had ended. The sky was dark and clear, and a full moon hung suspended over the mountain peaks.

He shook his head in confusion. Was this the lair of the Snow Wolf? Or had he just imagined the wolf and the girl? But....then who built the fire? And how did he get here?

He tested his arms and legs to see if they were all right. When everything checked out okay, he stood up, feeling only a little bit sore from his near brush with death. He stepped back away from the fire a little, knowing he'd been lucky. He could have frozen to death in that blizzard!

Then Rick noticed the snowshoes stacked against the wall, and he laughed. He was in the cave leading to the secret passage down to Ophir. He sure wanted to know how he'd gotten back up there from the gorge.

Just then, he heard footsteps approaching from deep within the cave. His snowshoes were on the ground next to the furs, and he grabbed one to use as a weapon and shrank back against the wall into the shadows.

Suddenly, a girl emerged into the pool of light thrown by the fire. She was carrying a basket, and a large husky followed right behind her. Rick dropped the snowshoe and stepped forward.

"Jenny Malone!" he cried. "Don't tell me it was you who dragged me up here?"

The girl smiled, a look of relief on her pretty face. She nodded. "Yes, me and the dog.  I see you're okay now. I was so worried you'd be sick with a fever."

The big dog had run up to Rick and was sniffing at him excitedly. Rick patted the furry animal's head.

"I'm fine Jenny. Just a little sore from that tumble I took. So this big husky is the Snow Wolf, eh?"

Jenny laughed. "Don't tell me you've heard that old legend."

Rick nodded. "I sure did. Stampede told me and Charlie about it. When you and this dog came to my rescue, I thought it was the legend come to life."

Jenny sat down on the furs, placing the basket next to her. "That's Buck. I named him after the dog in Jack London's THE CALL OF THE WILD. I raised Buck from a puppy, and he actually is almost as big as a wolf. He's probably got wolf blood in him from somewhere down the line. He's the one who found this secret passage. I really missed him when I ran away to Dawson."

"I bet you did. He's sure a beauty."

Buck had jumped up onto Rick, his paws on Rick's shoulders. The dog's head came up to Rick's chin. Buck's tongue lapped at Rick's face.

"Oops! That's enough now, buddy dog," Rick laughed. "I'm still a little weak and you're a pretty heavy brute to have leaning on me."

"Sit down," Jenny told Rick, moving the furs back from the fire a bit. "I brought you some food. You'd better eat something."

"That sounds great. I'm as hungry as a bear."

Rick joined her on the furs and Buck curled up next to him, eyeing the basket of food longingly.

Jenny opened the basket and took out sandwiches and a thermos bottle. "There's soup in the thermos," she said. "I made it earlier today for my Aunt Elvira. She has a bad cold and a fever."

"I heard about it," Rick said. He poured himself a cup of the soup and told Jenny about Sally's experiences with Jake and Elvira Malone.

"My aunt and uncle told me about it." Jenny shook her head. "They actually bragged about how they kidnapped her from Lake City and brought her up across the border. They think they're so cool because they can do these terrible things. But they didn't think Sally would survive out in the valley alone. I'm glad she was able to get away from them and hook up with you and Charlie."

Rick bit into a sandwich. "How did you ever find me out there in the blizzard?"

"I was here in the cave," Jenny told him. "I had just come through the secret passage with Buck. I was going to take him out into the valley for a while, but when I saw the blizzard I turned to go back down to town. Then I heard someone running up the tunnel and saw the flashlight beam. I got scared and pulled Buck into the shadows to hide. I thought someone from town had followed me up here."

"It was you, Rick, but I didn't realize it until you started muttering that you had to get away. I was just about to call out to you when I heard someone else coming up the tunnel. As soon as you ran outside, a man with a rifle came out of the tunnel. I couldn't get a good look at him because I was so busy keeping Buck quiet. He was so excited because of you and the other guy, it was all I could do to keep him down."

Rick told her briefly about Professor Dickens, how he had followed the man down in Ophir and then been tricked by him in the cavern.

"I wonder who he is?" Jenny said. "He doesn't sound like anyone in the gang that I know. But then I don't know everybody. Whoever he is, he wasn't about to go out in the blizzard after you. He mumbled something about you being 'a foolish kid', and then he turned and went back down the tunnel again. As soon as the coast was clear, Buck and I went out after you."

Rick sighed with exhaustion. "I'm sure glad you were around, Jenny. It would have been curtains for me out there if you and Buck hadn't showed up. I stopped to hide behind a boulder and before I knew it I was drifting off in some kind of daze."

Jenny shuddered. "You have to keep on moving. It could be seventy to eighty below in a blizzard like that. The only way to protect yourself from freezing is by burrowing into a snowdrift."

Rick grinned sheepishly. "Well, I guess I should've known better. You're looking at a real cheechako."

Jenny laughed. "But you've done so well for a tenderfoot. Just getting to this valley in deep winter is more than most people could handle. Where are your friends?"

"I don't know. I left them down in Ophir when I started following the professor. They were going to the Caves of Fire to look for the prisoners. Charlie had your map. We found it outside Mrs. Grayson's house."

"Great! I sure hoped you would. It's a good thing I was able to squirm around enough to get it out and drop it, the way those two creeps were holding me." Jenny's eyes clouded. "Oh, I hope your friends don't get caught. Uncle Jake is furious because you and Charlie have been messing up all his plans. If he finds your friends down there, they'll be thrown right into the dungeon cells with the other prisoners."

Rick's jaw clenched, and his eyes slightly narrowed. "Prisoners. Dungeons. Caves of Fire and eighty degrees below zero blizzards! Sheez, this place is like some kind of nightmare."

Jenny smirked. "Tell me about it. Few people would believe this place is for real if you described it to them. This underground was originally inhabited by Indians. They often warred with other tribes and used to keep prisoners in the old dungeons."

"I'm surprised your uncle didn't lock you up in them," said Rick. "Doesn't he know you'll just run away again?"

Jenny frowned at the sandwich she was eating. "He doesn't have to lock me up. He has a better idea. He told me if I ever run away again, he'll send some men to Dawson to hurt Brian."

Rick shook his head slowly. "He'd do it, too, that scumbag! But don't worry, Jenny. We'll get out of this mess somehow. And then you can go down to Calgary and start a new life."

He told her about the money Mr. Barringer had sent for her, and about the job waiting for her at the North American Oil Company.

"Oh, Rick!" Jenny's eyes sparkled. "That's fantastic. Now I want to get away from Ophir more than ever."

Buck looked up to her and his tail began to thump in excitement.

Rick laughed. "See, even Buck's happy for you. You can take him to Calgary with you."

Jenny shook her head. "I'll sure miss him, but Buck belongs up here in the Klondike. He wouldn't like the city. Maybe I could find a good home for him in Dawson."

Rick snapped his fingers. "Sure! Stampede would take him. Couldn't find a better home than that."

Jenny looked hopeful. "But first we have to free the prisoners and escape. How in the world are we going to do it?"

Rick frowned. "I just don't know. We have to find a way. And now it's time to get down to business!"

He helped Jenny pack the basket and they both got to their feet. Just then, Buck jumped up and growled. His fur stood on end as he took a step toward the tunnel. Rick tensed as he and Jenny looked in that direction. Then they heard a sardonic laugh, and Jake Malone and two other men stepped into the light thrown by the fire.

The scar-faced man held a gun, and it was aimed right at them. He scowled angrily at his niece.

"So you haven't learned your lesson, eh?" he snapped at her. "Still trying to get away! Well I'm gonna make sure you don't get another chance."

Jenny shrank back, terrified. Rick gaped at the three men and he felt his heart sink. Buck was stiff as a rock, growling in a low rumble, poised as if to attack at any second.

Jake Malone flashed Rick a wicked grin. "So, we meet at last, Rick Raider. You've caused me nothing but trouble the last few days, you meddling punk, and now I'm going to put an end to it!"

He turned to his companions. "Tie their hands behind their backs, boys."

Buck growled as the two men approached, and Malone lowered his gun at the dog. Rick thought Buck was going to lunge at the man but, suddenly, Jenny pointed toward the mouth of the cave.

"Buck!" she commanded. "Outside! Go!"

The big dog looked at her, whining, as if he didn't want to obey.

"Go!" Jenny repeated.

The dog moved in a flash. He turned and ran out of the cave into the cold northern night.

Jake Malone laughed as the two men grabbed Rick and began to bind his hands. "That dog did always listen to you. I guess he never liked me much, eh? Well, you won't be seeing him anymore. That's for sure."

Jenny shrank back but there was no way for her to get away. When the two men were done with Rick, one roughly grabbed her and the other trussed her up.

Rick glared at the men, a muscle twitching at his jaw. "You'll never get away with this, Malone."

The bearded man laughed again. "And what do you propose to do now, Rick Raider? There's no one left to help you out. Your three friends were captured earlier trying to sneak into the prison area. They're locked up with those expedition people and your meddling father. Won't he be surprised to find out you're here, and a prisoner just like him."

"And it's a good thing I saw Jenny leave the cabin with that basket," he went on, obviously enjoying himself and the fact that he'd captured Rick. "I knew she was up to no good when she started sneaking through the caves down there. Took us some time to find the entrance to the secret tunnel down in the cavern, but we did, thanks to the fact that you two were having such a nice long converstaion. All we had to do was follow your voices. And now your little jig is up, sonny."

He looked at the other two men and added, "Imagine a bunch of kids trying to beat grown men at a man's game!"

The three of them had a hearty laugh over that while Rick looked at Jenny with an expression that told her he'd like to strangle each one of them. Then Malone gestured down the cave with his gun. Rick and Jenny were shoved ahead, and one of the men turned on a powerful flashlight. Rick's mind was racing faster and faster as they made their way back down to Ophir. It seemed there was absolutely no way to accomplish his mission now.

But he just couldn't admit defeat.

No chance of that, he told himself. There had to be a way to get out of this jam, and he intended to find it!

When they reached the town, Malone's thugs helped Rick and Jenny up onto the back of a horse-drawn buckboard wagon. One of the men jumped up front to drive and the scar-faced man joined him on the seat.

"Let the others know we got the Raider boy," Malone told the man who remained on the ground. "Tell them the coast is clear. All we have to do is wait for word from Abdul Landa on the ransom money, and then we're outta here!"

The town was eerily quiet as the horse pulled the wagon along. Only a few people were out in the roadway and they all hurried along, mindless of the others. Rick could sense the reign of terror that loomed over Ophir. He felt sorry for the people trapped there by Jake Malone and the other convicts and outcasts who had taken over the old underground settlement.

The wagon entered the tunnel leading to the Caves of Fire, and soon they were riding through large caverns where great pools of burning oil flamed and smoked. It was hot in the caves and Rick wished his hands were free so he could take off his parka.

"This is really incredible," he whispered to Jenny, watching the flames dance up to the shadowy ceilings. "Where does all the smoke go?"

"There's some kind of natural ventilation," she answered. "No one's allowed in these caves except the leaders and those who keep the fires going, so I've never been able to find out exactly how it works. But I've heard there are fissures and rifts in the mountains that suck the smoke around the whole town and then pull it up outside."

Rick nodded, looking back to the leaping flames. He knew that was their way out of the underground, through the ventilation shafts. But first they had to get free!

The wagon pulled into a tunnel lit by torches hung on the walls. At its end they emerged into another large cavern from which led several smaller caves. There was a small log cabin near the far wall and, as the wagon approached, its door opened and a man stepped out.

"That's Spike Crawford," Jenny whispered. "He often oversees the prison cells. He's one of the men who kidnapped me in Dawson."

Rick nodded. "Sally told me about him. I guess they're going to lock us up, huh?"

"Looks that way. But I haven't given up yet, Rick. Something's got to give!"

The wagon stopped next to the cabin. Jake Malone jumped off to greet Spike Crawford, and the driver helped Rick and Jenny to the ground.

"Got Rick Raider here for you, Spike," Jake Malone said. "Now we got them all, even little Jenny. She was planning to cut out on us again."

Spike Crawford looked Rick over. "He looks like his dad. And I hear he's just as stubborn. Well, this'll put an end to his interfering. Put him away with the men, Jake. I'll take Jenny down by the women. This time she won't be able to get away!"

Jake Malone pulled out his gun. He motioned toward one of the caves. "This way, Raider."

Rick nodded to Jenny and she smiled back gamely, letting him know she wasn't giving up hope.Then he turned and walked to the cave. It was lit up by burning wall torches, and as he stepped inside it he could feel his anger rising.

He looked over his shoulder at his captor. "I can't believe you've been keeping civilized people imprisoned in these awful caves."

Jake Malone shoved him on. "Nobody told them to come poking around into our business!"

They passed several old wooden doors that apparently led into the cells. There were small barred windows on them, and Rick could see the soft glow of oil lamps inside. He wondered if his father or Professor Anderson were in one of them.

"All right, Raider, I'll put you in here." Jake Malone grabbed Rick and pulled him over to the door they were approaching. Then, "Hold it, and don't try any tricks. I'll cut those cords on your wrists."

Rick groaned angrily. "All right."

He stood still while Malone pulled out a knife and severed the cords that bound his hands. Then the man slid aside the long bar that locked the door, and pulled the door open. He motioned Rick inside with his gun.

"Go on, your buddy's in there. Hah! You two probably have a lot to talk about."

Rick stepped into the cell and the door was shut behind him. He pulled the tight cords from around his wrists and began to rub them to restore the circulation as he looked around the cell. There were two beds of fur and straw along the earthen wall to his left. Between them was an old crate on which an oil lamp softly glowed. Stalactites and stalagmites grew along the walls in front of him and to his right. Timbers had been wedged between them on the right side wall to fully separate the cell from the one next to it. Rick peered through the timbers and calcified rocky growths, but there was no one in the other cell, nor in the one he stood in.

He shook his head. "What was Malone talking about?" he said aloud. "There's nobody in here."

"He was talking about me, hose-head."

His nerves already taut, Rick jumped at the unexpected voice. Charlie suddenly appeared from behind a cluster of stalagmites in the corner of the cell. His coat and jeans were covered with dirt and it was streaked on his hands and face.

"Connors! You scared the hell out of me!"

Charlie rushed over to him. "Dude! Am I ever glad to see you. They got me and Sally and Stampede right when we tried to sneak into these Caves of Fire. They put me in here, and I don't know where Sally and Stampede are. Is this place weird or what? How'd they get you, man?"

"Don't worry about that now," Rick said. "Why are you all covered with dirt? What have you been up to?"

"Getting us out of here. Did you know that Indians used to live in this underground and keep their prisoners in these caves? One of the dudes who captured us told that to Sally. She was flirting with him, trying to get information. Good thing, too, 'cause after Malone put me in here I got to thinking. Indians are really clever people. What would I do if I were an Indian imprisoned in this crummy cave?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, I get it. You wouldn't just sit here and rot. You'd do something to try and get out. Even if it was pretty hopeless."

Charlie grinned. "Exactly. And then I noticed all the soft dirt on the floor. Look at this."

He twisted his boot into the dirt floor and it went down almost up to his calf. "The floor in the next cell is as hard as rock, but this one has inches of dirt over it."

Rick caught on immediately. "Someone was locked up in here once and he tried to dig himself out."

"You got it. I looked around for a tunnel and found it back there behind those stalag-whatever-you-call-ems. Whoever dug it carried the dirt out here and scattered it all over the floor. And these jerkballs who are running Ophir now never even noticed."

"All right, Charlie! This is just what we needed. Does the tunnel lead out of here?"

"I'm hoping it does. It caved in some through the years and I've been cleaning it out. I crawled back in here when I heard the door slam."

Rick moved toward the corner. "Let's see if we can get out of here. If we can, I know another way to get out of the underground."

Charlie blinked. "Great! How?"

"I'll tell you about it later. Let's..."

Just then, they heard a voice in the cave outside the cell.

"You'd better be the last of all these interfering outsiders!"

Rick looked at Charlie. "That's Jake Malone. I wonder who he's yelling at?"

The door of the next cell was pulled open and a man shoved into it with such force that he fell onto the floor. Then the door  was banged shut and the bar slid into place. They heard Jake Malone muttering imprecations to a companion as he walked back down the cave.

The boys peered through the timbers and the stalagmites and stalactites at the prisoner. It was a man, and he got to his feet, brushing the dirt from his arms and legs.

Rick Raider groaned. "Oh, come on now. This I don't believe!"

"Tell me about it," Charlie muttered. "What the heck is going on here?"

They were staring at the man who had called himself Professor Dickens!

Chapter Fourteen: IN THE CAVES OF FIRE

"Well, boys," the prisoner in the next cell said. "It looks like we meet again."

He walked up to the timbers that separated them and grinned sheepishly.

Rick looked at him suspiciously. "It sure does. Why are you locked up in here? Aren't you one of the Ophirians?"

The man looked surprised. "You thought I was one of them?"

"Of course we did," Charlie said indignantly. "We know you were plotting with them. Don't try to deny it."

The prisoner shook his head and started to laugh. "I thought I had you boys fooled. I figured you believed I was Professor Dickens from Columbia University in New York City."

"Not for long," Rick told him. "Who in blazes are you?"

Charlie smirked. "You mean, who in the 'dickens' is he!"

The man smiled for a moment, then sighed wearily. "Well, it looks like we may never get out of here. My name is Jonas Cord, and I'm an agent with the InterTell Agency."

"Huh?" Rick was dumbfounded.

Charlie's eyes widened. "I don't believe it!"

"But I heard you talking to Abdul Landa on the phone in the hotel lobby," Rick said. "And I saw you with him in the restaurant in the Calgary Tower the next day. I overheard part of your conversation."

Jonas Cord looked speculatively at the boys. "So, you've been spying on me. Good work too. I had no idea you suspected me. I guess you were the ones who had me fooled. When I met you on the jet from Lake City, Rick, I knew immediately that you were Randolph Raider's son. I was at InterTell Headquarters earlier in the day when you called about the Ophirian prowling around your house. I figured you and Charlie were coming up here to look for your dad, but I didn't know how much you knew about the case."

"Just about everything," Rick said. "I helped my dad research the case. The agency said the investigation was being intensified, but we sort of forgot about that in the rush of events. We never dreamed you were an agent!"

Jonas Cord laughed. "The professor act is one of my best covers. It works every time."

"And it would have worked on us too," Rick said, "if I hadn't overheard that phone call with Landa. I thought you were in cahoots with him!"

The InterTell agent shook his head. "Abdul Landa called headquarters in Lake City, requesting an agent be sent to Calgary to meet him. He wanted to discuss the hostages. I was on my way to Dawson to look for Ophir, so I was given the job. I was supposed to call on a public phone to make it harder to intercept , and  I identified myself with the password  'Code Name: Ophir'.  We made plans to meet later in the day at the Calgary Tower restuarant."

Rick told him about the kidnap attempt at Mr. Barringer's office and that they had gone to the restaurant afterwards for lunch.

"I heard you and Landa discussing the ransom," he added. "But I didn't hear the entire conversation. I guess I was too quick in thinking you were one of them."

Jonas Cord shook his head. "From what you saw and overheard , it seems to me it was the only conclusion you could make. I notified InterTell about the Ophirians' demands and then continued on my way to Dawson, my main objective being to find Ophir."

"And we thought you were keeping an eye on us for the enemy," Charlie said.

"In a way I was," the man admitted. "But not for them. I felt it was my duty to get you to go back home. I know you're on the student program, Rick, but I figured you were just too young to be up against this gang and biting off more than you can chew. But you didn't pay any attention to my warning."

"Then it was you who sent the warning note wrapped around the rock!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Right. I really hated to break Stampede's window, but I wanted to frighten you, hoping you'd change your mind about going on."

Charlie laughed. "Yah, right. You don't know us very well. Nothing would've stopped us."

"I realize that now," the agent said. "I kept watch on Stampede's house and saw you getting the sled ready for travel. I figured the warning note hadn't scared you and that you'd be leaving for Ophir the next morning. I left earlier than you did, planning to waylay you on the trail and scare you back to town."

"And you ambushed us!" Rick accused.

Jonas Cord nodded solemnly. "Right. I hid in the dredging mounds and waited. When you came by, I shot several times. But it didn't scare you off like I expected."

"No chance!" Rick said emphatically. "We were determined to come to Ophir. Hey....no, it couldn't have been you who stampeded the caribou in that gorge."

"Yes it was, and I'm real sorry about that, boys. I was some distance ahead of you and I'd climbed up onto a ridge. I fired back at the mountainside,  hoping to start an avalanche between us to fill up the gorge and make it impassable. I figured if I couldn't stop you from going to Ophir, I could at least delay your getting there."

"But my attempts to start the avalanche didn't work. Oh, I've done it before, once on a mission in Austria. But it's not quite an exact science, you know. And I hadn't seen the herd of caribou coming around the mountain. The rifle shots frightened them and they stampeded."

"And almost trampled us to death!" Charlie added.

"Talk about a close call," Rick agreed.

"Do I detect a little animosity here," Jonas Cord teased them. "If you boys are going to play at being InterTell agents, you have to be ready for anything."

Charlie grinned. "Ready and willing, Sir!"

Cord laughed at him. "I doubled back along the ridges to make sure you boys and Stampede were all right. I was pretty scared for a while there. But once I saw you'd escaped harm, I decided to try a shortcut through the mountains to Bonanza Valley, hoping I'd get here a long time before you did. I was lucky. The shortcut worked. But I kept hoping you wouldn't find Ophir."

"We have a copy of Dan McGraw's map," Rick told him. "Mr. Barringer gave it to us. There was never any doubt we'd get here."

The next few minutes were spent discussing all the other aspects of the case. Rick told the agent about the stolen luggage in Calgary, how Jake Malone and his wife had kidnapped Sally in Lake City, and how Spike Crawford had abducted Jenny Malone from Mrs. Grayson's house in Dawson.

"Jenny drew us a map of the underground," Rick added. "We came in through a secret passage, the one I saw you in earlier today. What were you doing there, Mr. Cord?"

"I was looking for the prisoners. I don't have a map of the underground and spent a whole night wandering around looking for these prison cells. I heard someone following me in those caves and hid behind the stalagmites. It was you, Rick. Why didn't you stop? You were crazy to run out into that blizzard."

Rick grunted. "Don't I know it! But at the time I thought you were the enemy."

Rick told Charlie how he had followed Jonas Cord through the tunnels leading to the secret passage. "And when he surprised me, I ran up the passage and out into the blizzard. I almost froze to death out there, but Jenny and her dog came to my rescue and dragged be back up to the cave. I thought they were the Snow Wolf and the Girl! Then Jake Malone caught us there later and brought me and Jenny down here. How did they capture you, Mr. Cord?"

"I had come back into this area to look through the burning caves for the prisoners. A couple of men who attend to the fires saw me, just as I was creeping into a small cave to avoid them. They came after me. I guess no one's allowed in these caves except the workers and the leaders. The cave was a dead end and they had me trapped. There was no point in trying to shoot it out. That would have only brought more men down to the area. They took my rifle and brought me here."

Rick studied the agent curiously. "How did you get into the underground, Mr. Cord? Isn't the main entrance guarded?"

The man smiled. "Yes, it is. But remember, part of an InterTell agent's training is to get into guarded areas. It wasn't difficult, though. They use a series of passwords here, and it was matter of judgement to pick the right one."

Rick frowned. "I don't remember passwords being included on my dad's directives."

"There is often information withheld from directives, given only in private briefing sessions."

"What I'd like to know," Charlie chimed in, "is how Dan McGraw escaped from Ophir."

"He was taken out of his cell one day," Jonas Cord said. "Jake Malone took him to a cave where the gold dust and nuggets are stored before being smuggled out of the country. I guess he wanted to impress the old prospector, give him a site he'd never forget. But McGraw isn't a fuzzy old codger like Malone thought. On the way back to these cells, McGraw jumped off the buckboard and ran into the Caves of Fire. He managed to elude those who chased after him and escaped through some kind of natural air ventilation shaft."

Hearing that gave Rick a spark of hope. "I figured one of those shafts might be large enough for a man to get through. If only we could find the right one!"

Jonas Cord laughed ruefully. "First you'd have to get out of that cell, Rick. No, I think were going to be down in this hell-hole for some time to come."

"But we might have a way out of this cell." Rick told him about the tunnel Charlie had discovered.

"Then what are we waiting for, boys?"

Jonas Cord reached into an inner pocket and withdrew a leather case about the size of a small cellular phone.

"Okay, fellows," he said as he unsnapped the case. "If that tunnel gets you out of here, you are the official agents whose job it is to wrap up this Ophir mission."

He pulled a small radio-like device from the case and showed it to them. "This is a new communications device recently developed for InterTell. It transmits the spoken message to repeater antennas that have micro-processor encoding devices in them. These break down the message into a secret code so that if anyone else should pick it up, by any means, they won't be able to understand it. Then the repeaters send the message on to be picked up by another hand held unit like this , or a base station unit, that has a decoder in it to reconstruct the garbled message. Using these transceivers, InterTell can relay messages without anyone being able to decipher them."

Charlie whistled. "Hey, that's cool. A pretty awesome device."

"But how far can it transmit?" Rick asked. "We're far from civilization out here."

"Nothing to worry about," Jonas Cord told him. "To use the transceiver effectively, you've got to climb to a mountain top. I had a repeater antenna installed on the communications tower of the Dawson RCMP station."

He grinned and started to laugh. "I was carrying the repeater antenna in the cue stick case."

Rick and Charlie looked at each other and groaned. Then they burst out laughing.

"Pretty clever, Mr. Cord," Charlie said. "We were wondering all along what you had in that case."

"And we were sure it wasn't a cue stick," Rick added.

"I was going to the station to have it installed when I saw you boys on the street the other morning," he told them. "Something told me that you might be going there to ask about your dad, Rick, so I walked your way and came up with that story about playing pool at the casino. I did go in, but left after a while and went to the outfitters to buy a rifle. I saw that you'd gone into the RCMP station, so I waited till later in the day to go myself."

Charlie looked at him with admiration. "We were suspicious of you, but you still had us fooled. I can see why you're an InterTell agent, Mr. Cord. You know how to accomplish your mission."

"Well, this one isn't accomplished yet, boys. It's up to you to finish it off."

He showed them how to use the transceiver, and then handed it to Rick through the timbers. Then he took a small notebook from his pocket and ripped out a page. He wrote some figures down on it and gave it to Rick.

"That's my agent number," he said, pointing to the top figure. "Those others are the geodetic co-ordinates of Bonanza Valley. That means the geographical location according to latitude and longitude. If you escape the underground, you are to contact the InterTell headquarters in Fairbanks, Alaska. There is a base station in the office and the repeater in Dawson will transmit your message to it."

"Inform the agent there about the situation here in Ophir. Give him the geodetic co-ordinates of the valley and instruct him to contact the Canadian Forces station in Whitehorse, relay the information to them, and request that they send a contingent of Land Forces to the valley as soon as possible."

"There is a group from the Ophir gang camped out by now at some point along the Alaska pipeline, ready to sabotage it if the ransom demands are not met. I wasn't able to find out the location. Landa wouldn't tell me. If you can find that out somehow after leaving here, instruct the agent in Fairbanks to contact the nearby Eilson Airforce base and have them send troops to the location. Is that all clear?"

"You bet it is," Rick said, his eyes blazing with excitement.

"Great. After you've contacted InterTell, go down into the valley. Not far from the western wall is a cabin in a clearing in the woods."

Charlie nodded eagerly. "We know where it is."

"Terrific. I want you to set it on fire. The Canadian Forces helicopter pilots will see the flames and know where to land. Do you have matches?"

Rick shook his head. "No, but there are sure to be some in the cabin. Our friend Sally stayed in it for a few hours and she made a fire."

Jonas Cord nodded. "Then you're all set. When the troops land, lead them to Ophir."

Charlie punched one hand with the other. "Yo, I'm looking forward to that. And I hope to see the surprise on Jake Malone's face when we do."

"If we do," Rick reminded him. "We have to get out of this cell first and escape the underground."

"We'll do it." Charlie was confident. "We're officially working for InterTell now!"

The boys squeezed their arms through the timbers and shook hands with Jonas Cord.

"Good luck," he encouraged him. "And now get your butts out of here!"

The boys hurried to the corner of the cell. Charlie took the flashlight from his pocket and switched it on. He aimed the beam behind the cluster of sparkling stalagmites and stalactites. There was a hole in the wall, one that no one would see unless they were back there looking for it.

"Here." Charlie handed Rick his hunting knife. "You go first. You'll probably have to do some digging."

Rick took the knife and squeezed behind the rocky growths. Charlie handed him the flashlight and Rick got down on his hands and knees. He aimed the beam up the tiny passageway and crawled in.

"Not bad," he said to Charlie, who was right behind him. "Whoever dug this out did a pretty good job."

Charlie snorted. "The credit goes to me, bud. I just spent all afternoon cleaning it out. Wait till you see it up ahead."

Rick crawled forward about twenty feet, and then he knew what Charlie meant. Ahead of him the passage was blocked by dirt and stone that had caved in through the years.

He moaned. "Time to get to work, I guess. I hope the mountain doesn't fall in on us."

"Really," Charlie agreed. "Just pass the rubble back to me and we'll make our way out of here."

Using the knife and his hands, rick loosened the earth clogging the tunnel. He shoved it back to Charlie and Charlie threw it back behind. They progressed slowly, and it grew unbearably hot in the narrow tunnel. Sweat streamed down Rick's face as he hacked away.

He started to laugh. "I'm going to wind up with pneumonia! Earlier today I was literally freezing to death, and now I'm sweating to death. It's a good thing Jenny brought me that food. I would've been weak from hunger by now. Did they bring you anything to eat, Connors?"

"Yep. But I still haven't figured out what it was. Bummer food. But I ate it."

"I never doubted that," Rick laughed. "You'd eat ... hey, I broke through! The tunnel's clear up ahead."

Charlie grunted. "Beautiful! Lead on, man. I'm starting to get claustrophobia in here."

Rick shoved back the remaining dirt and crawled ahead. The passage turned to the right a little and again was blocked by fallen rubble.

Rick groaned. "Here we go again. Another block up!"

But as soon as he started hacking at it with the knife, he knew it was only a minor cave-in blocking the tunnel's end.

"We're outta here!" he said excitedly, shoving the dirt behind him. "I can feel cooler air. We'll be on our feet in a minute."

When the hole was large enough, Rick squirmed through. He played the flashlight beam around, finding himself in another cave. Charlie squirmed out and they stood up, brushing the dirt from their clothes. Rick handed the knife back to Charlie.

"I guess we're forever indebted to the Indian who dug his way out of there," he said.

"We sure are," Charlie agreed. "I wonder if he took one of those ventilation shafts out of the underground?"

"He might have. There's probably all kinds of secret ways to get back outside. Let's see where this tunnel leads."

They crept along and within a couple minutes the cave ended, leading out into a large cavern where a pool of oil flamed and smoked.

"Weird, isn't it," Charlie said, as they looked at the burning reservoir. "Like somthing you'd see on Star Trek."

"Totally. Notice how all the smoke rises up, straight as could be. None of it pours out into the cavern. It couldn't be better if engineers had designed it. The mountains have got to riddled with fissures and rifts that suck it out."

"All we have to do is find one we can fit through," Charlie said. "And it's going to be a smoky place when we do!"

Rick nodded in agreement. "We'll just have to hold our breath." He motioned for Charlie to follow. "Let's see if we can get to the other side of that pool."

They stepped out into the cavern, hugging the wall as they crept down to the far end of the pool where a ledge ran around behind it. Next to the ledge was the mouth of a cave and, as they approached it, they heard a door slam shut from within. Footsteps echoed in the cave, coming in their direction.

Rick pulled Charlie back and they shrank against the wall. They had no time to run. The next moment, Jake Malone stepped out of the cave bearing a rifle and holding a jangling key ring.

Charlie grunted. "Sheez! Never a dull moment around here!"

Rick wanted to punch him. Had Charlie kept quiet, Jake Malone might not have seen them. But the startled man turned in their direction, his rifle leveled directly at them.

"Who's there? I can see you. Step out into the light!"

Rick's heart sank as he and Charlie stepped forward.

The gang leader's mouth dropped open. "Hey! How did you boys get loose?"

Rick heard Charlie muttering under his breath about  'me and my big mouth!', but he was paying no attention to him. His eyes had riveted upon the ledge alongside the flaming pool, where a furry shape was creeping up behind Jake Malone.

Then there was a loud vicious growl, and a blur of black and white streaked through the air and knocked Jake Malone down to the ground, his rifle clattering as it bounced away from him!

Chapter Fifteen: THE CAVE OF GOLD

Rick Raider leaped ahead.

"Yo, Buck! Good going!" he cried, swooping down to pick up the rifle Jake Malone had dropped in his fall.

The big dog was snarling viciously as he attacked the frightened man.

"Call him off! Get him off me!" Jake Malone boomed. "He'll kill me!"

It was evident that Buck hated the man, even moreso now that he knew Malone had taken Jenny away. Rick aimed the rifle at the man and was just about to command the dog to stop when Charlie said:

"Cool it, Rick. Wait a minute."

He walked closer to the squirming man and snarling dog. "Hey, Malone. You want that dog off you?"

"Yes! Get him off me. Damn it! Don't just stand there!"

Charlie put his hands on his hips as if he had all the time in the world. Rick watched him curiously, wondering what he was up to.

"You know what, dude?" Charlie drawled to Malone. "We need some important information. Like....uh....where the Helsinki are your men planning to blow up the Alaska pipeline? Maybe if you tell us, we'll call the dog off."

Rick grinned. Charlie was doing some quick thinking to make up for his darned big mouth!

"Atigun Pass!" Jake Malone cried, as Buck bit him on the ear, causing the man to yell. "Oh! Get him off me! I swear it's Atigun Pass. I swear!"

Charlie circled around the man and dog. He was getting grossed out. Malone was bleeding! But he felt he had to carry on in the interest of international security. "How do I know you're telling the truth? Maybe we ought to let this dog just chew you up, eh?"

"I'm telling the truth!" Buck was now biting Malone's neck. The man was shouting, his arms and legs flailing. "Abdul Landa has a big chopper they'll fly out to the pass if we need to take action. Now get this animal off me!"

"All right, Buck," Rick said, stepping forward, rifle aimed right at Malone. "That's enough, Buck! Stop it!"

The dog obeyed, edging back, his fur on end as Jake Malone scrambled away and huddled against the wall. Blood dripped down his cheek and beard, and he looked at the dog with angry, terrified eyes.

Charlie edged over to Rick's side. "Where'd you meet that wolf at?"

"That's Buck, Jenny's dog. He won't hurt us. He just doesn't like Malone." Rick turned to the terrified gold smuggler. "Are you sure you told us the truth?"

The man hung his head, unable to look Rick and Charlie in the eyes. "I told you the truth. What do you think? There's some way you can stop them?"

"We'll stop them, all right," Charlie taunted, picking up the key ring Malone had dropped. He grinned at the dog who was still hunched down and growling, looking ready to attack the man again at any second. "What are we going to do with this dude, Rick?"

Rick motioned with his head down the cave Malone had stepped out of. "He just came out of a room down this cave. We can lock him up in there."

He gave Charlie the rifle and went over to the dog, patting it on the head in a friendly manner. "Stay cool, Buck. We're going to lock this sucker up and you won't ever have to worry about him hurting Jenny again."

Charlie pointed the rifle at Malone. "All right, get up. The tables are turned now. Get going!"

Muttering under his breath, the Ophirian got to his feet. He looked at the rifle in Charlie's hands and then at the snarling dog, and he hung his head in defeat. He walked shiftlessly into the cave.

The boys and Buck followed, Rick keeping the dog at bay behind him. About ten feet down the narrow cave was a big iron door set in a frame of timbers. Rick took the key ring from Charlie and turned on the flashlight, shining it on the lock. He tried several of the keys to open the door and finally the right one clicked. He pulled open the heavy door and stepped aside, holding back the dog as Malone and Charlie entered the room. Then Rick and Buck followed.

Rick played the flashlight beam around the room. "Wow, check this out."

"Beyondo," Charlie breathed, almost a whisper. "Totally beyondo."

Shelves lined the walls of the cave room, each one laden with crates and baskets brimming with nuggets of gold. Sacks of gold dust were piled on the floor and many of the nuggets, having fallen from the shelves, lay on the dirt floor glittering and sparkling in the flashlight beam.

Rick let out a low whistle. "It looks like the U.S. Mint."

Charlie nodded. "It sure is one pretty sight."

Jake Malone leered at the boys. "Take whatever you want. A handful of those nuggets could see you through college. A basket would take care of you for life. Just let me go. Take what you want and get out of here. You can get outside through the ventilation shaft behind that oil pool out there. Nobody will come after you."

Charlie flashed angry eyes at him. "The only thing I'll do with these nuggets is make you eat them!"

"Right, Malone," Rick told the man. "We don't want gold that doesn't belong to us. We're not your kind. Go on, get back against that wall."

Charlie gestured with the rifle and the scar-faced man edged across the room to the back wall.

"You can stay here and count your gold till the troops come," Rick told him.

"Yeah, play with it while you can," Charlie added. "You won't be seeing any gold where you're going next."

They edged out of the cave of gold, Buck following along, growling at Malone until Rick slammed the door shut and locked it with the key.

"Now to get out of this underground," he muttered. "Malone said there's a way out behind the oil pool."

He looked at the dog. "Buck must know the way out. He came from behind the pool of fire out there, and the last time I saw him he was running outside into the blizzard from the secret passage cave."

"Right," Charlie agreed. "He must've circled around and come in through one of the ventilation shafts." He looked at the dog. "Okay, Buck, it's up to you to get us out of here."

The big dog barked at him.

"Outside!" Rick shouted. "Take us outside, Buck!"

The dog leaped ahead. Rick and Charlie hurried after him out into the cavern. Buck ran onto the narrow ledge rimming the cavern wall and the boys followed, the heat of the burning oil engulfing them.

"Whoa!" Charlie grunted. "Here we go with 'hot' again!"

Rick coughed from the acrid smoke. "Just keep thinking about how cold it'll be outside!"

"You're right. I forgot it's the dead of winter out there."

Buck ran on, stopping at times to turn and bark at the boys.

"It's a good thing we ran into him," Charlie said.

"Tell me about it," Rick agreed. "We'd be back in the dungeon cells again if it weren't for Buck."

The ledge turned along the back wall of the cavern. The smoke was heavy and the heat of the flames intense. The boys had to step around stalagmites that were hot to the touch. Buck pranced on gingerly, and Rick and Charlie knew that the pads of his feet must be burning from the hot rock of the ledge.

Rick's eyes began to water, and they were burning so badly he was having difficulty seeing.

"Come on, Buck," he urged. "Lead us outta here!"

The ledge came to a sudden end at several large boulders. Buck jumped onto the first one and then barked back at the boys.

"We're right behind you!" Charlie coughed.

The dog jumped from boulder to boulder, and then he suddenly disappeared. The boys had clambered onto the boulders and, when they had crawled to the last one, they saw a hole in the wall above it.

Rick pointed. "Buck went in there. What a bummer! I guess we have to crawl through a tiny tunnel again."

Charlie coughed. "And one filled with smoke too! Sheez!"

Rick pulled himself up into the hole and Charlie handed him the rifle. He heard Buck barking up ahead. He crawled forward in the hot smoky darkness and turned on the flashlight as Charlie climbed in behind him.

"I don't care if it's a hundred below zero out there," Charlie groaned. "I can't wait to get out in the cold!"

They didn't have to crawl for long. The small passage widened into a larger tunnel and they were able to get to their feet. They hurried after Buck, who they could see ahead in the flashlight beam.

"Strange dog, isn't he?" Charlie said. "Dogs usually won't go near smoke and fire. He goes right into the thick of it."

"Courageous dog, you mean," Rick corrected. "He knows Jenny's in trouble and that we're out to help her."

"Right. Hey......Rick, I feel cold air!"

The tunnel ascended sharply and they almost had to climb hand and foot up the incline. But the further they went, the more the heat diminished and the air grew cooler. Buck was up ahead, barking excitedly.

"We're almost outside," Rick shouted over his shoulder. "Won't be long now!"

The incline leveled off and the boys hurried on through the overpowering smoke. All of a sudden, the air became intensely cold and the cave ended. They ran out onto the mountain side.

"Wahoo! Snow! Cold beautiful snow!" Charlie whooped away, diving into a deep drift.

Rick fell to his knees and put the rifle down. He filled his hands with snow and pressed it to his burning eyes. The icy frost particles worked their soothing effect and he wiped them from his face, pulling on his ski mask and gloves. Grabbing the rifle, he got to his feet.

Charlie had stood up and was brushing the snow from his clothes. Buck was rolling around in the snow groaning with pleasure. When Rick whistled at him, the dog jumped to his feet.

"Good going, Buck," Rick praised him. "You saved the day, buddy!"

The excited dog jumped all over them as the boys looked around. They were high up on a mountain side that was riddled with a score of small caves. The black smoke from the underground was pouring out of them.

Charlie pulled on his ski mask and gloves. He slapped Rick on the back. "Looks like we made it, Raider."

"We sure did. And now to call InterTell." Rick pointed up to the top of the mountain. "Let's go for it!"

They climbed upwards, slipping and sliding in the deep drifted snow. Buck followed alongside, making his way in rabbit-like hops. The boys could see the tracks he had made on his way down from the top of the mountain.

"We're on the outside of the valley," Rick said. "The secret passage must be on the other side of this peak. That's where Buck came from."

Charlie pointed to the surrounding mountain tops. "Those are the jagged peaks that mark the gorge leading to the passage. The cabin in the valley is up a ways north on the other side. I hope we can find it after all the snow down now from the blizzard."

"We'll find it, Charlie. I'm sure Buck knows the way if we can't figure it out."

Breathing hard, they passed several of the smoking caves as they made their way to the divide in the cold Yukon night. Reaching the summit, the boys stood there a moment looking at the beautiful wild land of upflung snow-riven peaks surrounding them. Then, Rick took out the small leather case and withdrew the encryptive transceiver. He pulled out the antenna and pressed the button to key the radio for transmission.

"Rick Raider calling InterTell for Jonas Cord, agent KG009. Do you copy, InterTell?"

He depressed the button and looked at Charlie. They waited anxiously.

Suddenly, the reply came.

"Agent KG027, speaking from Fairbanks InterTell. I copy loud and clear, Rick Raider. Who are you and where is agent KG009?"

Charlie grinned. "That thing's the bomb. It works!"

Rick identified himself as Randolph Raider's son. He gave the agent specifics on the present situation in Ophir, and gave him Jonas Cord's instructions, including the geodetic co-ordinates of Bonanza Valley.

"I have a copy on that," the agent responded. "The U.S. Air Force is to send troops to Atigun Pass here in Alaska, and the Canadian Armed Forces will be requested to send troops to Bonanza Valley in the Yukon Territory. Over."

"Just one more thing," Rick said. He gave the agent a telephone number. "Call the Connors' home in Lake City. Tell Mr. Connors that the lost expedition has been found and that everyone is soon to be rescued. Also tell him that Sally Anderson is here in the Yukon and that she is well and unharmed. Over."

"I have a copy on that also," returned the agent. "Will call Lake City with the good news. Over."

"That's all, Fairbanks. Over and out."

"Roger and out, Rick Raider," came the reply.

"Hey man, how does it feel to have your name broadcast all over Alaska and the Yukon?" Charlie asked.

"Way cool, bud." Rick slipped the transceiver back into its case and pocketed it. "But it'll be a lot better when I have my own agent number to use instead of my name."

Charlie nodded. "You and me both. After this, InterTell ought to put us on the payroll."

"Don't you wish. But we're not done with this case yet. We have to set fire to the cabin down there to light up the skies for the Land Forces."

"Then let's do it," Charlie said. He patted the dog's head. "Maybe we'll find some food for you down in that cabin, Buck. A nice big ham bone for you to chew on."

Rick started to laugh. "And if we do, Charlie, you'll probably want to fight him for it. You gotta be starving after all this exertion."

Charlie lunged at him, but Rick jumped aside and began to make his way down the mountain.

Charlie shook a fist at him. "I'll get you one of these days, dude. I really owe you some!"

Halfway down the mountain side, the boys came upon a trail almost completely buried by the heavy snow of the blizzard. They trudged along it, slipping and sliding at times down the steep incline. At length, they reached the valley floor and Buck looked up at them, barking expectantly.

"This way, Snow Wolf," Rick said to him, grinning behind his ski mask. He began to walk north. "Here's hoping we find that cabin without any problem."

"Everything looks different after that blizzard," Charlie said. "It must have dumped three feet of snow. I wish we had snowshoes. This is really difficult!"

Rick looked up at the mountain side. "It's too far away to go up to the secret passage to get our snowshoes. Maybe there's some in the cabin. We can use them on our way back to Ophir."

They walked north until they reached the area where they'd come out of the woods after leaving the log cabin earlier in the day. As they entered the forest, Buck began to run ahead, leading them on once again.

"He must know we're going to the cabin," Rick said.

Charlie nodded. "Right. He's one smart dog. Hey, look at the trees!"

The tall fir trees were laden with snow, their lower branches drooping to the ground. Some of the smaller ones were bent over, forming arches that the boys and dog walked under. The moonlight filtered through the branches casting weird shadows all around them.

From somewhere nearby came the mournful howling of wolves. Buck's fur stood on end and he began to growl.

Charlie looked around. "I hope we don't run into those suckers."

Rick shook his head. "Wolves don't attack men unless they're provoked."

"Buck would provoke them all right. I doubt if he'd stand idly by if a pack of wolves came out of the shadows."

Rick realized that Charlie was right, and he kept the rifle ready in case any wolves crossed their path. The howling seemed to get closer and closer and, as it did, Buck grew more restless and he snarled angrily.

Rick tried to soothe the dog. "We should get to the cabin soon," he told Charlie. "Then we won't have to worry about wolves. The fire will keep them away."

Charlie wasn't so confident. He looked behind warily when a mournful howl came from that direction. He tensed when he saw a shadow moving through the trees some distance back.

"Someone's back there," he hissed. "Following us!"

Rick whirled around, but he could see nothing.

"A person? Or the wolves?"

"It was a man. I'm sure of it! I saw him in the moonlight, way back there."

"Who could it be?" Rick asked. "One of the Ophirians?"

"Maybe. Jake Malone might have gotten loose. Someone could've found him in the gold cave and let him out."

Rick nodded. "Could be. I was hoping we'd seen the last of him. Let's hide behind that deadfall. Whoever it is, he's not going to get us!"

"Right," Charlie agreed. "Come on, Buck. And you'd better be quiet."

They hurried around to the other side of the deadfall, two large fir trees that had fallen down one on top of the other. They stooped down, Rick readying the rifle and Charlie holding the dog so he wouldn't be able to dart out.

For a couple of minutes there was nothing to be heard but the sighing of the wind and the howling of the wolves. Then, slowly, there came the sound of someone trudging through the snow.

Rick and Charlie peered anxiously through the branches. Another minute passed and the sound grew louder. Buck began to squirm, sensing that a stranger was approaching. Charlie had to use all his strength to keep the dog at his side.

Then a man stepped out from behind a tree. He was wearing a ski mask and parka, and the boys couldn't see his face. He'd been walking without snowshoes, just like them. And it was obvious he'd been following their tracks because when he moved on again it was in the direction of the deadfall.

Buck began to growl. Charlie tried to smother the sound by pushing the dog's face into his parka, but he couldn't control the excited animal. Buck broke loose from his grip and, in a flash, he rounded the deadfall. With a vicious snarl, he leaped through the air at the man.

"AAAAEEEEIIII!"

The man's cries echoed throughout the forest. Rick and Charlie jumped up and ran around the deadfall.

"Buck! Stop it!" Rick commanded, leveling the rifle at the man and dog as they tumbled in the snow. "Buck! Get off him! Now!"

The dog hesitantly edged back, snarling, his wolf-like fangs gleaming in the moonlight. The man sat up, looking from the dog to Charlie to Rick. He let out a long sigh of relief.

"All right, Mister, get up!" Rick said gruffly. "And don't try any funny stuff. I'll use this rifle if I have to."

The man got to his feet and, to the boys' surprise, he began to laugh. In a quick movement, he pushed back the hood of his parka and pulled off his ski mask.

"You'd better not use that rifle on me, Rick Raider," he said in a stern voice. "If you do, you'll regret it the rest of your life!"

Rick's jaw dropped. His eyes widened and a sensation of shock swept over him. He still didn't believe his eyes when, a moment later, he heard himself cry out:

"DAD!"

Chapter Sixteen: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

"Yo! Mr. Raider!" Charlie Connors shouted. "Now this is what I call a surprise!"

Rick had run up to his father and they were hugging, laughing, and shaking hands excitedly. Charlie joined them, clapping both of them on the back.

He laughed, shaking his head slowly. "That was a real smart move, Rick. Threatening to shoot your own father."

Rick looked at him. "What do you mean? I didn't know it was him!"

"Oh, real good excuse," Charlie went on. "You're ten feet away from your own dad, and you don't even know him. And you talk about me being goofy."

"Hey, give me a break, Connors!"

"Oh sure, just like you always give me one. I can't wait to spread this story around Lake University!"

Randolph Raider was chuckling. "I see that you boys haven't changed a bit since I saw you last."

"Not a bit," Charlie affirmed. "And I owe Rick for some. This'll take care of them all!"

Rick smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess I have it coming."

"I'll say," Charlie heartily agreed. "Hey, what are you doing out here in the valley, Mr. Raider? You're supposed to be locked up in the Ophir dungeons."

"I was until just a little while ago. Jake Malone came to my cell, bragging that he had caught you boys and Sally. I didn't believe him and I told him so. I never would've dreamed you kids would come up here looking for me and Professor Anderson. So he said he'd prove it, and he took me to your cell. He shoved me in it and slammed the door, saying he'd come back for me later. He was going to the cave where he stores all the gold. He'd taken me there once and tried to bribe me, tempting me with the gold."

"He did the same to us," Rick said. He told his dad how they had caught Malone and put him into the gold cave. "We just missed you, Dad. He must have brought you to our cell right after we escaped."

Randolph Raider nodded. "He didn't even bother to look inside. Just laughed and said the joke was on me. Ha! The joke was on him. You'd escaped. Well, I was really surprised to fine Jonas Cord in the next cell. He told me about your adventures in coming to Ophir and that you had escaped through a tunnel in the corner."

"And so you followed us, right?" Charlie asked.

"Right. Cord gave me his parka, gloves, ski mask, and flashlight and told me you planned to escape from the underground through one of the ventilation shafts. I crawled through the escape tunnel and out into the cavern by the pool of burning oil. I figured you must have followed the ledge around to the back of the pool. I was right. I found the hole on top of the boulders and took the shaft out to the mountain side. There I found your tracks and I've been following them since."

"Good work, Dad," Rick chided him. "No wonder you have a job with InterTell."

"What I want to know," Randolph Raider said, "is where you got that dog. I knew you had one with you from the tracks. But when he came charging at me, I thought he was one of the Bonanza Valley wolves."

"His name is Buck," Rick told his father. "He belongs to Jenny Malone, Jake Malone's niece."

The dog barked excitedly, sensing that they were talking about him.

"But that's a long story, Dad," Rick said. "And we don't have time for it now. We have to get to the log cabin out in the valley and set it on fire."

"Then you contacted Fairbanks InterTell?"

"Yes, the U.S. Airforce is on its way to Atigun Pass in Alaska. Malone told us his men were there, awaiting word to blow up the pipeline. And the Canadian Armed Forces are on their way here."

"Excellent!" Rick's father was obviously very proud of their accomplishments. "Then let's move on, boys. We'll set that cabin on fire and light up these dark Yukon skies for the whole world to see."

They arrived at the log cabin in the clearing a few minutes later. They piled the firewood and furniture in the center of the main room, dousing it with a can of oil used for the oil lamps.

There were several pair of snowshoes in the cabin and Charlie took three outside for them to use on their way back to Ophir. Rick and his dad found matches in the cabin's supplies and each of them lit one ceremoniously, throwing them onto the pile of wood and furniture. As the flames flared and spread, they hurried outside to join Charlie and Buck.

"It's too bad we have to destroy such a nice cabin," Rick said, as the flames spread to the walls and roof.

Mr. Raider nodded. "The Ophirians won't have any use for it now. The leaders will soon be in jail where they belong. And after what the rest of them have been through lately, I'm sure most of the others will leave for the outside world."

"Ophir will become a ghost town, "Charlie added. "Just like the old one down by the creek."

"But not for long," Rick told him. "There's gold and oil in this valley. People will be stampeding up here just like they did in 1898."

Charlie shrugged. "Ophir might turn out to be a happening place in the future. But believe me, I think I've had enough. I won't come back to see it."

"Nor I," said Mr. Raider. "I've been in that underground for weeks, and it feels so good to be out here again that I don't ever want to go back."

They backed further away from the cabin as the heat from the fire grew more intense. While they awaited the troops, the boys told Mr. Raider all about their adventures on the trail to the secret city of Ophir.

Rick's father was impressed, and he told them so.

"You boys showed a lot of courage, and Sally and Stampede too. If it weren't for you, the USA and Canada would have had to pay that billion dollar ransom, and Malone and his gang might have gotten away free. You deserve a dinner at the White House and one at the Prime Minister's residence in Ottawa, at the very least."

"You know me, "Charlie said. "I'll eat anywhere. But what we really should get are official agent numbers from InterTell."

Randolph Raider laughed. "Let's not get funny ideas now about doing the impossible."

Rick looked at his dad. "And why shouldn't we? We just did the impossible right here today. You think we're going to stop now?"

"Right on!" Charlie nodded vigorously. "You tell him, Rick. This is just the beginning."

The minutes dragged by, and the waiting seemed to go on forever. The flames leaped high into the air and the fire crackled and roared, echoing at times like gunshots across the clearing. Rick was just going to suggest that they look for branches and boughs to add to the fire when they became aware of a whirring noise high above them. Three pair of anxious eyes looked up at the star-filled sky.

"There they are!" Rick pointed above the peaks of the valley wall.

Three double-rotor helicopters swooped down into the valley a moment later.

Buck began to bark excitedly as the whirring machines descended, and Charlie let out a whoop.

"Hey, this is just like in the movies," he shouted. "Here comes the Army to the rescue!"

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Later that night, a very happy group of people were assembled in the Malone cabin in the underground city of Ophir.

Around the fireplace in the large living room sat Sally Anderson and her father, the distinquished Professor Anderson, and Stampede and his niece, Debbie Ross. They were animatedly discussing their various adventures centering around Bonanza Valley.

"Well, this sure is one story for the books," Stampede said, slapping his knee. "Tomorrow it'll be front page news all over North America."

Debbie gave Sally a grateful look. "And I hope you, Rick, and Charlie get the credit you deserve," she said. "You three and my uncle accomplished some pretty awesome deeds."

Professor Anderson nodded in agreement. He winked at Debbie. "Next time we go away on an expedition, we're taking Sally and the boys along too. Then we'll know we're in good hands!"

"But I missed the best part," Sally groaned. "I'd love to have been there with the boys and Mr. Raider when they led Lieutenant MacPherson and his troops into Ophir. Just to have seen the looks on the faces of Jake and Elvira Malone would've made my day."

"It sure made Rick's and Charlie's," Stampede told them. "When they came here to get Elvira, she couldn't have been more surprised. Sniveled and cried all the way to the dungeons! And when they took Malone out of the gold cave and he saw the troops, the man just plain hung his head in shame."

Rick and Charlie were in the center of a group who were avidly listening to the full account of their thrilling escape from the Caves of Fire. Among the listeners were the old prospector Dan McGraw, Lieutenant MacPherson of the Canadian Armed Forces, and several members of the ill-fated expedition.

Standing in the back of the room were Randolph Raider, his partner, a young man by the name of Jerry Thomas, Jonas Cord, and the two InterTell agents who had come to Ophir with the expedition. They were discussing the future of Bonanza Valley with Jenny Malone, who had stopped to talk with them while passing around a tray of refreshments.

The front door opened suddenly and one of the Canadian soldiers burst into the room. All eyes were riveted on him as he requested everyone's attention.

"A messenger has just come down from the helicopters in the valley with this news," he announced. "A U.S. Airforce jet flying the Alaska-Yukon border radioed us the message that the U.S. Airforce has captured the Ophirian contingent camped out near the Alaska Pipeline at Atigun Pass. All the men in the sabotage troop have been arrested."

A cheer went up throughout the room.

Rick Raider raised a clenched fist in the air. "Way to go, Air Force!"

"Yes!" Charlie agreed. "The oil companies will be glad to know the pipeline is safe."

"One more item," the soldier went on. "Abdul Landa, the ringleader of this operation, has been arrested at the Calgary International Airport. His private jet was just about to taxi down the runway to take off for Irapistan when intelligence agents stopped it and stormed aboard."

Sally cheered loudly at that announcement. "All right! I was kidnapped on that jet. I hope it never flies again!"

"Everything has worked out perfectly," Jenny said, tears of happiness welling in her eyes.

Rick nodded. "I'll say it has. Mission accomplished!"

Charlie grinned. "At long last, everything is O and likewise K!"

Jenny motioned to the three friends and they followed her into the kitchen. She placed her tray on the counter and withdrew a leather pouch from the pocket of her jeans.

"I have something for you," she said. "It's not much, but I want to repay you somehow for all you've done for me. I'm going to have a wonderful new life in Calgary and I owe it all to you."

From the pouch she took three gold nuggets, each the size of a small egg. She handed one each to Rick, Charlie and Sally.

"What do you mean 'not much'?" blurted Charlie. "These have to be worth a small fortune."

Rick agreed. "That's right, Jenny. You keep them."

The girl shook her head. "When I ran away from Ophir I could have taken all the gold I wanted. Uncle Jake always had nuggets stashed away here in the cabin. But I could never live on the fortune gotten from Ophirian gold."

"Jenny's right," Sally said. "An honest person has to make his or her living in an honest way."

Jenny smiled at her. "Right. I know you guys would never use these for money. I just want you each to have a memento of your adventure. Souvenirs. " She chuckled. "I found them earlier in a drawer in Uncle Jake's desk. I'd really be happy if you keep them."

Rick looked at the nugget in his hand and his mouth twisted wryly. "We sure will, Jenny. Nothing like having a hunk of Ophirian gold around to remind you to keep on the straight and narrow."

Just then, there was a scratching at the kitchen door. Jenny hurried across the room and opened it. Buck came charging in, barking excitedly and sniffing at everyone.

"Well, there's my new husky," said Stampede, coming into the room with Debbie. "He's a beauty. Big fella, too. I hope he likes it back in Dawson."

"We'll take him back out this way in the summer," Debbie said. "How about it? You guys want to come back north with me this summer? We can stake claims along the motherlode out in the valley and dig for gold with Uncle Stampede?"

Rick looked noncommital. "I don't know. The three of us are still a bunch of cheechakos."

Jenny shook her head. "No way! In my book you're official sourdoughs."

"Say, where does that word come from?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Ever hear of sourdough bread?" Stampede asked him.

"Sure I have. I like it, too."

"Well, the oldtimers in the old days always used to make sourdough biscuits. So people started using the term 'sourdough' to describe a seasoned northerner."

Charlie grinned. "Then the term's okay by me. You can call me anything that has to do with food!"

Sally smirked. "Except 'full'. That's one thing you'll never be, Charlie Connors."

The others all laughed, but Charlie just shook his head.

"I'll tell you what I will be," he said. "And that's bored. B-O-R-E-D! After all this excitement we've had, life back in Lake City is going to be mass quantities of dull."

Rick couldn't have agreed more. "A real snore-fest," he said. " Mondo dullsville!"

"Ugh," Sally nodded in disgust. "We have to go back home. And back to school! We might as well just fall asleep right now and ZZZZZ our way through it!"

Stampede exchanged amused glances with Debbie and Jenny , and then he hooted. "I never knew such crazy coots as these three! You nutty critters will never be bored. Who knows, now that you've proved you can outdo InterTell, maybe another exciting case'll come your way."

Little did Stampede know how true his words were. It wouldn't be long before Rick and his friends would become involved in a fantastic adventure when THE SEARCH FOR THE ETERNAL FLAME would take them to a land beyond the realm of their wildest dreams...............

THE END