Robson’s Service Station
TED ROBSON

Local Agents for

International Trucks Imperial Oil Products
Dominion Tires Gray Rock Brake Lining

Duncan, B.C.

NEIL McIVER

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Phone 223 Duncan, B.C.

DUNCAN GARAGE
LIMITED

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PHONE 52 DUNCAN, B C.

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CAPITOL THEATRE

Duncan
G. G. Baiss, Manager
ALL THE BIG PICTURES

The Best Sound and Acoustics on Vancouver
Island. Comfortable Seats.
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Evenings, 7 and 9 p.m.

P.O. Box 174 Telephone 11

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T. Gordon, Proprietor
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Cowichan Lake

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$9.45 per week Lake Cowichan

Page Twenty-four

to crack the case. You men appear to fill
the bill for you are not yet known even to
all the officers on Vancouver Island service.
Certainly you are not known in the district
where the robberies have occurred.

“Tt is to be expected that the robber or
robbers will attempt to loot the big general
store in which the postoffice is located. As
yet it has not been molested.

“The postmaster is the only person in
Union Bay who knows of my plans. Mc-
Kenzie knows nothing of them. Go to the
postmaster and he will furnish you with a
key to the store and you two will stand
guard in the place from midnight to dawn
every day.

“Allow no person to see you enter the
store and by all means never be seen in com-
pany with McKenzie or disclose your iden-
tity to him until after everything is cleaned
up. If you are seen with him it might be
suspected that you are police officers.

“Tt might be best for you to pose as men
seeking work, but you may use your own
judgment as to how you conduct yourselves

The General Store and Post Office of
Union Bay, B.C.

Just a small town store, but in it was created

police history. It became a shambles as an outlaw

and officer battled in a life and death struggle
while a second officer lay dying on the floor.

in this matter, but I warn you that I do not
want you to come back and report failure.

“That’s all. Draw expense money from
the paymaster, pack your kits and take the
next train.

“Good luck, and I hope that the next time
I see you that you have won your spurs and
I can congratulate you on a piece of good
police work.”

Quietly he shook hands with each man
and turned again to his desk to become en-
grossed in reports.

The assignment was accepted with glee by
the two young men and as soon as they were
out of sight of their superior they shook
hands solemnly, then each performed a few
jig steps.

Freedom from tiresome routine duty with
a prospect of high adventure was something
to be really appreciated.

Kits were soon packed and the “rookies”
were on their way, eagerly talking over their
prospects for success.

Two days following receipt of their assign-
ment they were registered at Union Bay’s
best hotel and let inquiring loafers know
that while they were temporarily in funds
they would not pass up any opportunity for
employment. They were told that work, for
the moment was hard to get, there was a
possibility of new hands being taken on at
docks and mines in the near future, as the
mines’ output was soon to be increased.

The news was just the kind the officers
hoped to hear.

“We'll stick around then,” they declared.

In SEARCH OF EMPLOYMENT

McKenzie, ever on the alert, did not fail
to notice the arrival of the newscomers and
he questioned them only to dismiss them
from his mind as bona fide young men in
search of work.

The young sleuths had obtained the key
to the store and postoffice and each night
after disturbing their bedding so that to the
casual observer it would look as if their bed
had been slept in, they stole into the build
ing and kept vigil. One would sleep on the
counter for a few hours while the other stood
guard. The guard was maintained without
arms other than police “billies.”

Westaway had produced a broken-down,
small revolver and shown it to his comrade
when the vigils were started, but Ross, after
examining it, said:

“For Pete’s sake put it away. It is more
dangerous to the man who shoots it than it
is to the man who is shot at.”

His companion laughed and tossed the
scorned weapon into his kit-bag.

The assignment was proving to be quite
a holiday for the “rookies.” Nothing came
of their vigils. True, other places were
broken into and looted, but those cases were
not their troubles—they were the baffled
McKenzie’s grief.

Even this ominous night, which so affected
others, failed to bring any forebodings to
the two young officers as they stole into the
store to continue their watching.

Westaway felt that there was something
wrong just after they had entered the build-
ing, but he suddenly discovered what it was.
A blind of the postoffice section, which
should have been pulled down according to
arrangements made with the postmaster, was
slightly raised and allowed a shaft of light
from the nearby hotel to enter.

CONSTABLE MURDERED

Silently indicating to Ross the apparent
oversight of the postmaster, he moved to
pull down the blind while Ross continued
on his way to the door leading into the store.

CORFIELD MOTORS LTD,

Ford Dealers

Ladysmith Vancouver Island

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