Fires of fate

Fires of fate by W. C. Tuttle is a Northwest Mounted Police adventure novella written in the early 20th century. Set along the Canadian–U.S. border, it centers on bootlegging, frontier lawlessness, and a cowboy-turned-Mountie caught in a frame-up amid a town ruled by outlaws. Bud Conley, a Montana cowpuncher serving with the Mounted, is disgraced when Monk Magee and the half-breed Joe Burgoyne dope his drink, plant him beside a similarly drugged Marie Beaudet, and make it appear he’s broken the law—and her honor. After two policemen, McKay and Cree George, are gunned down in Kingsburg, Bud rides out on his own, is captured, escapes a locked cabin by setting it ablaze, and stumbles onto Magee’s hidden underground saloon beneath the hotel. He blackouts the room, fights Burgoyne through spreading flames, and flees with the unconscious Joe in a runaway wagon—unwittingly rescuing Norah Clarey, Joe’s intended kidnap victim, who is hidden under canvas. Back at Eagle’s Nest, Joe lands in jail and his boasting exposes the whole scheme: he led the gang, spied on the post, framed Bud with Marie and a stolen red coat, and robbed Beaudet using Bud’s gun. With Kingsburg’s den wrecked, Bud is cleared, welcomed back, and—having never signed his resignation—stays to make good.