This is the Yukon, the territory patrolled by sergeant Preston, where man and nature
combined pitilessly to defeat the weak and the artless.
The Great Bend Trading Post, a lonely depot a hundred miles south of Doston, a supply
center for prospectors and miners during the summer.
The trading post in winter was visited only by an occasional hardy crapper or native Indian.
You fool, why'd you kill him?
I had to, brand.
I told you we should have tied him up.
He came through and started for me with that trade hook.
Just remember you did it.
Now help me load the rest of this food before I luck them out.
They're not thinking to get any more on that thread of ours, are they?
We're taking everything we can get.
Nothing but food.
We need anything else for our getaway from Baker Mountain.
We'll trade them more food for it.
Say now, that's real smart.
That's a good thing one of us got brain.
Twice the food, twice the gold.
Now put the app in and start toting.
Some nightfall we're going to be too far away from you.
Hey, we could get rid of all the evidence by setting fire to this place.
Just one little man.
I warn everybody from here to coffee creek that something's wrong.
Sometimes I wonder what you're good for, Waco.
I'm real stupid, he says.
Unaware of the disaster which it received, Sergeant Preston and his great dog King drove
out from temporary headquarters at coffee creek to make a routine fall and slow down the trading
line.
We go don't hit me again. Take the cold.
And this poor fellow's badly beaten and he's no bland too.
You're not, Brandt. Who are you?
I'm Sergeant Preston of the Mountain Police.
I don't try to talk till I get some warm food inside.
I do know Zai's taken care of.
Sergeant, help.
Baker Camp's starting.
We're heading right back for Coffee Creek thing.
You make that trip to Slokom's later.
You just came with an ace of being played.
Well, I'm still a best shot.
Does you know better than to sneak up on me like that?
What's eating here?
There's nobody within miles of here.
Wolves accepted, of course.
I'm proud of the whole area, like you said.
Now I'm making for some of those beans.
Mountain air gives a felt an appetite.
But what you're being so stingy for, or not loaded with grub,
you forget, my friend, these beans are worth their weight in gold.
It sure was a great idea you had after we found that sourdough on the trail this morning.
Where your exposure is now?
A dead of exposure by this time.
Without shooting too like you wanted to.
You're too blasted gun happy, Waco.
Go on and use your head, like I do.
It takes too long.
When I want something, I want it now.
How'd you know about this town on the mountain here and all the gold they dug out?
By keeping my ears open in the cafe back at Coffee Creek,
someone was telling one of the girls there about it.
He thought no one was around.
It seems about twenty-five chichacos, counting women,
went up this mountain last spring and struck it rich.
Millions to hear him tell it.
Now this fellow brainies, right?
They got all that gold and no food.
Not even a dog came to haul it in there.
Snow dead.
That's where welcome spending post came in so handy.
We have the food.
They have the gold.
We trade.
Even Stephen.
A pound of food for a pound of gold.
Sounds like heaven.
Here we are.
How long have you been without food?
Almost two weeks.
The same as everybody else's thinker camp.
Then we started pouring animal skins and shoe leather.
It was filling, but not very tasty.
I'd like you to verify what you told me just before the doctor got here.
You seemed a little bit bewildered at the time.
Thanks.
You're a waste, aren't you?
Well, you said you made it through the past in the mining camp on Baker Mountain
with $5,000 in gold,
intending to buy food and supplies for the starving people there, right?
So I was,
because I was way late on the trail by those fellows calling themselves
Grand of Waco.
I was to get out of my feet.
Nothing to eat for four days, but a sliver of oil, blue tide.
Then everything went black.
The next thing I knew...
Who are you?
Where am I?
We're just a couple of prospectors.
This is the Baker Mountain trail back to Coffee Creek.
Just to get the slowest trading post.
Folks, Baker Camp stars that need food bad.
I can tell you both well.
Plenty of gold, but no food.
That brandy's got gold.
Shut up, we go.
We'll help you, pal.
We'll get the supplies for you.
You won't leave me?
Of course not.
But you're in bad shape, mister.
You need a doctor.
And I take those folks back at Baker Camp to wait for you to get better.
And we're glad to help.
Aren't we, Waco?
Oh, sure, sure.
I'll never forget this.
This is your lucky day.
And where's the money for the supplies, friend?
In my knapsack is a folk of five thousand.
Waco, help the man.
Well, that's the last time I've been able to come here.
They must have fled me, taken my goggles and packed and dumped me out in the woods to die.
They broke the unwritten law of Yukon, a refusing aid to a man of need.
What are you going to do, Sergeant?
Take aid to Baker Camp first.
It's two sleds and tandem, load them with supplies and set up with a release frame, just as soon as the bucket's back and takes charge of you.
Alone?
No.
I don't have a team here with me.
It's a dangerous trip.
Too dangerous to ask anyone in Coffee Creek to share it with me.
I'll wait for aid from headquarters, but maybe too late.
But it's just as dangerous for you.
Every man in this world has a job to do, Mr. Brady.
This happens to be the one I chose.
An hour after the doctor arrived, Preston was driving up the trail toward Baker Mountain with a borrowed sled in addition to his own.
Both loaded with provisions picked up in Coffee Creek.
Holy! Everybody down!
If the Slocum might know something about Bram and Waco King, you could have stopped here for prevention.
Slocum! Slocum! Slocum!
Dead.
Bram, Waco, Baker.
Under a mound of stones, Preston laid Hal's Slocum to rest on the hard frozen ground of a nearby hill,
and one man struggled for existence in the savage land he loved was over.
He was an honest man, and his own friend.
I give him into thy hands, may he and I mercy the rest in peace.
Amen.
In spite of the potential dangers of their journey, Bram and Waco managed to reach Baker Camp.
Bram and Waco lost no time persuading Powers to call a meeting of all men in his cabin.
Everybody here, Powers?
It looks like it.
No matter. I'll check them off your list here when the time comes.
Five, please. All of you.
I ask you men to come here, because as your elected spokesman, I've reached an agreement with Mr. Brand on the partying out of supplies.
We all owe these men a boat of thanks, risking their own lives to bring help to us.
Mr. Brand is not interested in payment for this food he's willing to trade.
Tell him about your guns.
Mr. Brand will trade one day's ration for each gun laid on this table.
What's brand? What with guns?
What about us at Houghnuts?
Answering your question, Avery, Mr. Brand's purpose is illegal.
He tells me he and his partner are gunsmiths, and they want to set up a business in Coffee Creek.
What about us without guns? Do we starve?
Mr. Brand will discuss that with us, after we've finished the gun deal.
I'm sure we'll reach a fair agreement, huh, Brand?
Trust me.
Well, you all heard what he said.
Now, anyone dissatisfied?
Then let's have quite a little trade as fast as possible.
Okay. As I call out your names, you'll step forward with your guns and receive your supplies.
Peter.
Garber.
Are you powers? It appears to be all of the guns.
Hey, what about us?
Well, Mr. Brand, that he's kind about the other.
I caught her outside. She tried to steal some stuff off of the sled.
I didn't mean any harm.
That much, you didn't. Another minute, and you'd have had a thousand dollars worth of grub.
A thousand dollars worth?
Why, the whole sled pull isn't worth that much.
Shut up, Wiggles. Let her go and get back to your job.
Now, little lady, what's your problem?
I have no gun to give you, Mr. Brand. No money.
What's she trying to sell me?
This is Lacey's a widow with a sick child. Surely you wouldn't refuse.
Of course not.
A poor, starving widow. And an orphan, huh?
That's an old wheeze, lady. Now, how about some cash?
My husband was killed by a landslide. Before he could stay, could he?
She's telling the truth, Brand.
The rest of us have been trying to help her ever since.
She has nothing but a cabin and a clothes on her back.
Then keep on trying.
Now, you might as well get one thing straight.
No handouts. Give in to one, and we'll end up giving it all away.
Just a minute, Mrs. Lacey. Here. Take my share.
Oh, thank you.
Very touching, Howard. It's not very practical.
What about the others here? They have gold, don't they?
Yes.
Now, here are the terms. One pound of food for a pound of gold.
That's good. I don't think there's a thing you can do about it.
Do you?
What about the police?
There's any justice in this world other than someday you'll pay for this, Brand.
I don't like the looks of this weather, old fellow.
We're in for a storm that's going to make that mountain fail even suffer.
This could blow over by morning.
Perhaps you'd better stay here for the night. Looks like a good, clever spot.
It's been used before.
Quite recently, in fact.
This came from Smokens, King. Still fairly new.
It'll mean only one thing.
The criminals have murdered him. We're here this morning and took the baker trail.
The criminals have stormed those over who have to make it to that camp.
A storm forced charging question to bed down for the night in the shelter.
A storm forced charging question to bed down for the night in the sheltered hollow by the side of the train.
With the coming of day, the blizzard ceased, but the temperature took a savage drop.
On an uphill run with two sleds in camp, Preston and his team found the trail increasingly difficult.
After a steady run of several hours, Preston had stopped to rest his tired team.
Now, in the bitter cold, the motionless runners of the sled had frozen fast to the trail.
Preston called on King's great leadership to break them out.
All right. Hold your huskies! Hold! I love you!
Hold! I love you!
Hold your huskies! Hold your huskies! Hold!
All right. Down, everybody.
King, old fellow, we're stuck. Frozen fast. You're my only hope.
I'm going to have to hook up your harness again. Come on, fellow.
All right. Ready, King? Let's take a fight. All right.
Hold your huskies! Hold your huskies!birds' mouths
Well, it's not your fault, old boy.
Nothing to be ashamed of.
We'll give it another try, and then if it doesn't work, we'll separate the two sleds
and take them up to the top of the hill one at a time.
I've got faith in you, King.
I know we can do this together.
You good boy.
All right, everybody up here.
Here we are, two and a half pounds of food for two and a half pounds of nuggets.
I thought he was going to give me a chance to blast you.
May I follow you?
Welcome to the United States Treasury.
You have all of our gold, what do you want now?
More where that came from, isn't there, Mr. E.
It takes too long.
The ground's like iron this time of the year.
Anyway, I've had my fill of this mangy spot.
So we're loading up a sled and taking a back trail to Alaska.
You'll leave us the rest of the provisions then in case we...
We're not leaving you nothing.
Get outside and harness up the team, Wickels.
Listen to me close, fellas.
We're headed out of here, and anyone that crosses our path will shoot them down.
So tell all your people to stay out of sight and in their cabins.
Look us up.
Do you ever get to the states?
Just ask for the richest guy living in the biggest house in Frisco.
Excuse me a little bit.
It won't be long now, fella.
Baker's only a few more miles away.
On, King! On you, Huskies!
Hello, King!
Sergeant Preston and King, thank goodness.
I thought Brandon Wickel would return.
Where is everyone?
Well, Brandon Wickel's been here, huh?
We all thought it was Brandon Wickel returning.
Everyone was warned to stay inside of it and be shot.
Yes, they've been here.
Left with all the camps, guns, and gold.
A regular reign of terror.
It's Sergeant Preston with two sleds.
Sergeant Preston!
Please don't touch anything on the sleds.
I'll see that everyone gets their fair share just as soon as possible.
Do you have any idea where Brandon Wickel were going?
They lit down the back trail for the border of Sartime ago.
I wish I had a fresh team and if he fled.
Well, I've no team, but we'll all pitch in and unload Georgia.
That'll help.
I'm a bit tired, but I think they'll respond to King.
I'm sure they will.
That's unload the sleds.
Might as well give up, Sergeant.
Your dog team's too exhausted.
You'll never catch him.
Not by the regular trails, anyway.
Don't be unhitch the sled.
Bahar!
I'm going to flog him straight down that hill and cut them off.
I'm going to flog him.
This is the Yukon, the territory patrolled by Sergeant Preston,
where man and nature combined pitilessly to defeat the weak and the arches.
The Great Bend Trading Post, a lonely depot a hundred miles south of Doston.
A supply center for prospectors and miners during the summer.
The trading post in winter was visited only by an occasional hardy crapper or native Indian.
You fool, we told you to kill him.
I had to, Brandt.
I told you we should have tied him up.
He came through and started from me with that trade hook.
Just remember you did it.
Now help me load the rest of this food before our luck runs out.
They're not taking to get any more on that sled of ours, are they?
We're taking everything we can get.
Nothing but food.
If we need anything else for our getaway from Baker Mountain, we'll trade them more food for it.
Say now, that's real smart.
That's a good thing one of us got, Brandt.
Twice the food, twice the gold.
Now, quick the appen and start toting.
Come nightfall, we're going to be too far away from you.
Hey, we could get rid of all the evidence by setting fire to this place just one little man.
We warn everybody from here to coffee-crate that something's wrong.
Sometimes I wonder what you're good for, Waco.
I'm real stupid, he says.
Unaware of the disaster which it received, Sergeant Preston and his great dog, King,
drove out from temporary headquarters at...
