Show flame laft me in gl n t the he for 11 1 I e t CHAPTER VIII continued 8 tod west was ws in a stupor halt half asleep and halt half the befuddlement in deuced by raw whisky lie ile rolled over and nd cursed thickly he ile coughed and strangled and struggled up to one el bow staring about in the darkness he coughed again then the instine tive alarm in human beings for nit faral awal elements out of control shocked him into a state bordering full con dourness dous adous ness his ills feet hit the floor he flung the door wide open and made for the stair way ile could not breathe could not see ile turned about and ran for his h Is room again choking and gasping H he e at the catch of his wind window 0 w i threw up the sash and his great v voice of ce roared into the black night f I 1 tire I 1 I 1 he yelled rurel and again firel help fire he threw a foot to the wet roof and rambled scrambled out slipped rolled over threw his arms wide and brought him celt to a sliding stop almost at the beaves eaves fire I 1 I 1 he yelled again III you I 1 turn out fire firel kerry young shrank close against the chimney his ills plan had worked more promptly than he had dared hope for A voice came out of the night where what s afire 1 A light showed in the next house na A door slammed fire came a shout from down the street the town was turning out while tod west was making his way down the birches that had given kerry easy I 1 access to the roof footsteps sounded below young voices were raised leining leaning over the edge of the roof cupping a band hand over bis mouth to make his location more difficult to determine should any be curious he yelled get let the furniture hois get cods stuff out I 1 he ile whipped his coat from the flue end and put it on running along the ridge toward the break of the dormer get cods tod s goods out he heard someone yell feet reet drummed on the wide porch he heard a heavy object drawn across the floor below in a second he was inside the win dow from which west had made his exit he ile found the chair found the holster bolster with its burden he slipped pistol and holster bolster into his pocket threw the chair through the window to the roof followed it with the small table and scrambled out himself the gathering crowd was in front smokes so damn thick cant locate it someone complained loudly careful of that clock another cried take it into my house I 1 kerry slid down the birches slipped into the timber which grew close to the rear of the house then circling to the street careful not to reveal himself in the lights which came from other houses or the lanterns carried by a half dozen men he watched furniture was already scattered about the dooryard two men were on the roof shouting puzzled ques eions to one another heill someone said there aln aint t no fire boys I 1 it its Is that damn chim neyl smoke was clearing from the in perlor tod west garbed la in his under wear stood confused and crestfallen in the center of the group his hair in disarray he had a ludicrous ap bearance pe arance moments before he had been ed ln in panic had turned out the town and all tor for nothing 1 unde cover coner of the excitement kerry young the pistol in his pocket made tor for the trestle running when he safely could to t put distance between himself and the crowd back yonder he ile want cd ed to be away where he could laugh himself sorel sore I 1 the most powerful man in the community smoked out in his underwear I 1 nan downer so kerry young dis covered the next forenoon was the most businesslike young woman he had ever encountered he sat on a stool before the draft ing board translating into line and col ors field notes that had been given him and while kerry was thus employed nan talked business with two fisher men with maps spread before her and detailed information at command the girl made such a sales talk as kerry had never before heard she pictured the selective logging opera eions which under her plan would continue indefinitely all over the prop artles pointed out how streams al ways would have their watersheds cloaked under such a scheme how deer and grouse and all wild things would forever find food and shelter in a for est so administered she had figures in her head and argument in her wit and behind all this she had conviction the men men of affairs surely listened intent ly and when they had asked their last question cleared up the final detail of tle proposal one said I 1 rather think miss downer that we can deal of course it depends on how bow the rest of our crowd reacts but you ve got us so well steamed up that I 1 wouldn t be surprised if we d be back here with money in a few days and ask you to draw the papers I 1 that was encouraging surely but when they left she wilted suddenly and sat down at her desk as it if weak young watching her said after a moment what s wrong nothing she answered every thing I 1 she faced him her eyes dark by y harold titus illustrations by irwin myers copyright by harold titus service with trouble I 1 think they re sold I 1 think at least two more groups are ready to deal but under the terms of toy my contract with ith the northern wood 1 products company which Is tod west I 1 cant deliver the title we must de liver until another principal payment la Is made ile lies Is he hes s sort of got me in a corner I 1 I 1 that Is tough I 1 young said and glanced at his coat hanging from its hook book in the pocket was tod west wes t s pistol inguld vt the findings of ballistic experts relating to that pistol and the ball which took her fathers life be a help to this girl ile shrugged that evening young borrowed a car from holt stuart I 1 d I 1 ke to run in to shoestring for a bit he said all right take my car the other responded but without much gracious ness and as kerry walked away stuart watched him frowning a little then with a sigh he turned toward nan nans Is office how howd d young get along he asked hes iles like lightning holt see all that he did today T the other followed to the board and nodded fast past all right good job too but you don t like him do you he did not reply pt t once then h bult burat out explosively 0 ive got nothing against kerry young it its s its it s just the idea nan I 1 an of having him in here with you all day after the way you looked at him the other night I 1 and me I 1 lye ve been so crazy about you ever since her hand band stole over his mouth cut ting off the words you should be as ashamed hamedl I 1 she cried holt stuart you act like a child I 1 jealous of a qt stranger ranger when oh holt don t you see don t you see that I 1 ve no time to think of any thing else but the job nan said in a deprecatory manner still youre you re ive lie got a lot of things to talk over now but I 1 in going to cool off first I 1 he stamped out and nah laughed reprovingly at his boyishness the road from west Is landing to shoestring was only a sand trail through and standing tim ber her where it traversed swamps cord aroy had been laid young youngs s eyes e es were fixed ahead on the alert tor for spring breakie breaking chuck holes and stumps so he did not watch behind did not ob serve the ancient flivver with a tat top which kept pace with him ezra adams was in his shabby office behind the small waltin waiting groom room when yo toung walked in kerry I 1 the old man whispered what brings you here and so soon he ile shoved his spectacles up and into the younger mans man Is face yeah soon sure enough but we vie can cant t begin soon enough in this case can we r he ile reached into an in inner ner pocket and produced pistol and holster what the dickens dielens ve yau u got here young cooled 1001 ed at the door behind them he ile turned and closed it before he made reply that coroner adams Is perhaps the gun that killed cash downer no I 1 lou ion don dont t say I 1 he ile sat down and motioned the phy to another chair you see a lot happened yesterday he ile went ent on then relating the pertinent events which had transpired since ezra had left him he ile told the story of how he obtained possession of the gun and arranged matters so that it would be natural for west to believe it had been lost or mislaid or ap abed by some of his townsmen now even if we can hook hool up bullet and gun it will prove nothing west could swear he found the gat or bought it from a deer hunter after the shoot ing could get away with almost any story of how he came to hae hane it hinkle s story 1001 s bad for NN est but it if the state police pollee report that the gun which west has been packing fired the bullet which killed cash then we 11 II know that any effort we mal inal e to hang the thing on him NN on t be v m asted does that make sense ezra nodded emphatically I 1 d say it did t sound sense now turning to his safe heres the bullet I 1 took out of poor old cash s bra n get these things right off to the police meantime weve vv eve got to lay low and wait valt and watch what other plan have you young frowned and scratched his temple none finding the murderer Is one fling finding the cash Is another if its only just commenced to come into circulation we may expect more of it if west has it he hes s too smart to keep it around his place id I 1 d say offhand he hes s the sort that would cache it in the bush somewhere the important thing as I 1 see it Is to try to get a line on his hiding place for the money before he suspects us of being busy on the downer matter at all and the situations getting awfully tight nans got a chance it seems to commence selling big tracts of stuff with ith logging rights under the pre scribed plan reserved she cant give title until ashes negotiated another payment on the contract with west it looks to me as though he had waited fop for her to do the work and now going to step in and skim the cream young we weve ve got no time to lose who d han have e thought azra exclaimed rising and as its he stood up letting his voice rise as well niell have thought that we d ever get enough in tl ti e way of suspicion to start dagg diggin 1 n into the downer case again young I 1 sure am glad you came down the mad woman day before yester yesterday dayl 1 and on that frank who had been standing in the waiting room one ear against the panel of that closed door made his way on moc casines feet to the entry and disappeared in the darkness later that night tod west had his report from the breed I 1 couldn coulden t hear no t ing onell the las he said the doc he said then they was diggin up the downer case again Is that all west put the ques tion sharply all I 1 could hear they made a lot of talk before but they said it so 80 low well that means nothing then but his voice shook and in the dusk he could see the other look at him intently you keep after this young frank I 1 want to know everything he does everything under understand made no response for a mo ment then he muttered I 1 don like that man tod ile hes 8 one damn fool he Is strong as hell he ile ain aln t scared seared of not no t ing and he Is got you scared seared naw he ain got me seart boast f fully ully maybe so I 1 ell e 11 get himself into trouble with me yet eh ell I 1 yes maybe growled west but you watch him you re on the payroll pay roll to watch him remember the breed walked away and west turned within alone there he wiped the clammy sweat from his face and stood motionless a long time I 1 he did 4 there s no one at all in the country beyond not like the word that frank had brought back from town nor had he liked the way the breed looked at him when his voice shook he ile turned to the cupboard and took down a fresh bottle of wl isky then after a moment of indecision put it back resolutely not too much of that he growled and began to pace the floor calling on all his resources for clear thought and direful poise tl is young was evidently bent on remaining in the country but why was he running to ezra and what did he inov about the downer case A persistent arrogant devil I 1 lie ile was the one man IN est could recall who had clashed with frank and not shown at least some hesitation he was the only man I 1 e knew who had put fear into the breed breeds s heart at that he paused squeezing his lower lip thoughtfully afraid of loung knocked off the trestle by young bl BI ie jay saia 9 e and vindictive who could he be certain of escaping detection would sooner kill than not anest cst stood still for a long while he muttered to himself perhaps and later sure surel by god I 1 id d bet on it I 1 I 1 he le turned to tl e doorway staring out into the star burg night insects sang and the river murmured mur mired red some heie a radio blared up upstream stream he could see the lugt ts of do deiners N ner s head quarters after he had held h s ees eyes there for a time be he turned with a sort of moan and walked with de determine det ermma tion to where his whisky waited CHAPTER IX for a week eek kerry young made maps sitting in the office with Is nan an downer tor for hours each day sometimes long intervals would pass vilt without hout a word being exchanged again she would go to him abruptly with some question and her manner would betray her profound respect for his j dament lie ile had said that he could do many things in and about the woods she learned the truth of his statement intelligent as sl e N was as well as she had been trained by her far sighted father flaws had developed in her procedure errors in judgment had gone undetected young did not force his opinions did not offer advice but when she brought matters to his attention in which he d sc flaws he pointed these out dally daily he assumed stature and im to her undertaking you re right again I 1 she cried once youre you re always right its you who should be running this job me take root he laughed I 1 me settled down in one place why not she challenged and curl curi bously he asked that of himself tip rose then from his place beneath the dt aw ing board and nuzzled nans knee which made it unnecessary to pursue that question further I 1 must run down to the mill for a halt half hour she said the dog watched her prepare to de part want to go tip young asked the dog wagged an affirmative all right then go along nan stood in the doorway watching the retriever apparently could not be lieve this order to follow another go on I 1 kerry said go ii ith nan I 1 and doggishly dumfounded with rith nan he went close to other heels for the first time since hood it became a little game between the three INh whenever enever nan went out tip gave evidence of wanting to go but always he awaited I 1 lounas oung Is order before following and once when the girl had crossed to the land ng ng to send a telegram and was urgently wanted anted by telephone kerry scrawled a note gave it to the dog and told him to find nan he did after much running here and there ind and snuffling at the ground and it N would have been difficult to de termine which was the more pleased girl or dog you 11 finish tomorrow nan said looking over sverry s shoulder can 1 I get you to make next a new cruise of the stuff nort northwest hvest of townline Town line lake you can get me he said with odd soberness to try to do about any thing you want ant done the words gave him a strange giddy feeling aall ft ell go tomorrow morning then she replied overlooking looking his inference with a canoe on a trailer behind her car ear they drove to the end of the road which gave access to townline Town line lake then they set off on that bod body y of wa a ter to spend the day making a swift reconnaissance of the country in which young was to work A family farally of ducks swam before them ruffling the placid surface the moth ers head was aas raised high she uttered low quad s of warning and the brood clustered close about her As the canoe drew closer the old one took wing and the youngsters doing their best skit along the water half flying halt half swimming making a great to do A little breeze arose |