Constable La Marr wondered if the slogan of the Mounted applied
in case one had to deal with an insane native.
NEVER FIRE FIRST
A Canadian Northwest Mounted Story
BY
JAMES FRENCH DORRANCE
CO-AUTHOR OF "GET YOUR MAN,"
"GLORY RIDES THE RANGE"
Frontispiece by
CHARLES DURANT
NEW YORK
THE MACAULAY COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1924,
BY THE MACAULAY COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To
JOHN WOODS DORRANCE
FATHER AND FRIEND
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I Chance of Morpheus
II The Eskimo Way
III Complication Astounding
IV Best of Bad Business
V Silver and Black
VI Regard for the Law
VII Wanted—An Eskimo Fox
VIII The Hero Fugitive
IX The Skein Tangles
X Hard Knuckles
XI The Scarlet Special
XII Living Targets
XIII His Montreal Promise
XIV A Double-Barreled Case
XV Under Suspicion
XVI The "Widdy" in Gray
XVII Richer than Gold
XVIII A Cryptic Messenger
XIX Into the Night
XX Morning's Maze
XXI The Closed Creek
XXII Figure of Speech
XXIII When Morning Came
XXIV Tent-Told Tales
XXV Clutch of the Breed
XXVI Boot and Booty
XXVII Bright with Promise
NEVER FIRE FIRST
CHAPTER I
CHANCE OF MORPHEUS
From the "dig-in" of the snow-bank where hehad spent the blizzard night in comparativecomfort, Constable La Marr of the Royal Mountedlooked out upon a full-grown day. The storm thathad driven him to shelter had passed, or at leastwas taking a rest. For once he had overslept andwhere days, even in winter's youth, a