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Show THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH In n -- J -- Dave Hallard Bore a Grudge for Five Years. When His Vengeance Took Chance for Came He It and a Forest Fire Did the Rest. DUCANE. Round etruck upon hla u the end stared about him with confused alertneaa Lulled steady thud of the mare'e hoofs, by the droning monotone of Insect life that drummed In the dry, pulsating air, by the braxen heat in which, although the was young, the whole forest lay scorched and parching, he had fallen as nearly asleep as a man In the saddle may. yaps, It came again a succession of shrill shoui-, sharp hoL The track turned the der of a great rock; beside It, caught in a thornbush a few yards ahead, something white and brown writhed and struggled, helplessly trapped and held In the needle like spikes a dog. not grown out of puppyhood, anything in the way of a cross that had probably a preponderance of spaniel In It. All of which he saw In the act of hastily dismounting and going down on his knee. To break the thorns away was not easy, but It was done at the expense of a scratch or two more or less ugly; he stood up with the panting creature held under his arm. How had It oome there? His eyes, as he asked Hmmlf the question, glanced ahead. To the left ran the forest road that was bis own way; to the right wound a track that was not much more than a path. He nodded towards it. " The eld Craven place,1 he said aloud. That's the nearest, and I did hear the new folks were In a week ago. Strayed from there. I reckon. That so, ye little fool? " The puppy, responding, struggled up and Bcked him In a lavish ecstasy of gratitude. Luoane'e handsome, lean, tanned face, a faoe to which, despite its habitual gravity, there till lurked something boyish, relaxed into a smile; he had a weakness for animals; his spirited creaBare, a beautiful, dean-breture, was hla pride and ldoL To abandon the helpless canine Infant to its own devioea was a thing not to be dona With It stin squirming under hU arm he swung himself Into the saddle. " Bit too used up to run," he soliloquized aloud again. Wont hinder but an hour or so, and Its pretty early yet, thanks to me starting when I did. Reckon Ill be along 'soon as I need be. Whew, but it's hot! The mare turned Into the track to the right; once more the thud of her hoofs and the Insect drone mingled drowsily. LJtUe by little the way widened, the trees thinned, more and more unbearably the furnace-lik- e heat beat down. Came presently a broad clearing, the cracked earth patched with clumps of coarse, sun scorched scrub and grass. Beyond the road flanking it. backed by a rocky Umber crowned knoll, surrounded by a great yard, showed the old Craven place, a substantial white house with a deep veranda running around It. A large shirtsleeved figure appeared from a doorway, as Ini cane, riding In through the open gate, dismounted in the welcome shade of a laden apple tree, and let the puppy slip down. Tour dog, I think. he said queation-InglReckoned so, this being the nearest place. Found him caught good and tight in a thorn bush way back In the woods, " and He stopped. His one step back was the mere involuntary recoil of the muscles with which the conscious will has nothing to do, was as little under his control as hla swift intake of breath. As swiftly the band that bad dropped to his hip pocket was flung cut, empty. He looked at the revolver thiyt, a bare yard away, cohered his heart. I carry my gun mosUy," he said levelly. "It happens not today. Touve got me, Lave. The other advanced half's pace. "When you an me parted," he said with I told you you d best be grins slowness, pry over pulling on me if you came In my way again, for I'd plug you on sight, sure as my name was Dae Ha Hard. If it was ten years. It you kept out of it that long, well and good. Ten years' I miss my guess, Jim Dueane, If It's more than five." " It's live years all but a month I remember well as yon do. Tou called me a good tew things that day, but skunk wasn't one. I'm not squealing any more than you would If it had been me thatd caught you out. That's snough! Shoot quick and shoot clean and get It over." said Dueane doggedly. " What's waited for five years," he said with the same deliberation, "can wait another five minutes. I've no call to give you a chance, but plugging a man that I know cant eboot back is what I've never done yet. and risking my neck In the rope is what I don't fancy doing either, for you or anybody. . . . Maybe you suspicion I'm " bluffing ain't loaded? If that's so Ths shot, striking ths fence, sent a ripped splinter flying. He turned back to the open door, under the veranda. Dueane followed hie toweftng, massive figure Into" a big bare room that, after the burning glare of the yard, waa pleasantly oooL A bureau stood In one corner. lie crossed it, took something from a drawer and threw It down upon the table a pack of cards. Once more, serosa them, the blue and gray eyes met with the cold light flash of steeL Hallard gave a nod You an "Draw poker," he said slowly. me was pretty good and pretty even at it five years ago, and with them same car da Ain't used 'em since because I ain't played R since. Well play new best two hands eut o three. The one that loses takes my gun and uses It on himself by sundown. There t your chance, Jim Dueane, an' It's as good for you as for me. Do you take It or don't you?" . "You know there Isn't anything for me to tay but yee if you say so, said Dueane I say so. By sundown. If It's you or tf It's me Al out op to seven, and cut for deal." said Hallard. He eat down, throwing off his broad bat. showing the crisp grizzled hair that curled about his sunburnt square of forebead. Obeying hla gesture towards a second chair, Docane also sat so. five years ago, the two, day by day, had faced each other The Carde werw cut and dealt. Hallard. weightily cogitating, as five years ago be had welghtUy Long-legge- long-coate- By C. C. Andrews i O f (he other beth might have regarded a With as much expression. Dueane cogitated, slowly discarded and drew threw. Dueane, quick to decide as be had always been. tb"vw eut and took two. Hallard laid his hand down upon the table. . "A pair of queens" he stated briefly. WhAl e yours? " DucSne to turn exposed bis hand. "I beat you kings Your deal," bo said without expression. Hallard nodded and dealt. This time with hla former quickness, threw Cut only one card. Hallard, after another long frowning wait, again discarded three. With no change to the stolid fixity of hla face he looked from the three that replaoed them across the table as tbs others hand was shown three tens, a queen and a seven. " Triplet," said Ducana My turn. What I guess you wers after when you threw out a full house," countered Hallard. His cards laid down were three knaves and a pair of nlnea In the lean tan of Ducanei cheek the instantaneous twitch of a pulse beat aa not speaking, be swept the carde together and prepared to deal again. Hallard thrust back hla chair and stood up, Whatever I may ha' said or thought o' you. he began slow-ly- . It never waa that you wan't straight Straight! Believe it or not and it don't signify a cent thats so. I'd ha' bet my life on It. any time, five yean ago. And not thought twice about It either. " Straight, repeated Hallard with a nod. And a man don't change, I reckon. Ths way he's made hs stays sll through. Which being so, your words your word. Likely as not I'm going to lose that next hand. If thats so Wall walked eut. Haitord'e great figure towered impassively under the Veranda as he rede through the gafa Through the torrid heat of the parching forest, the hotter for the springing up of a wind whose gusts were like the breath of an oven, Dueane, as the fun biased fiercely toward its setting, came riding slowly. At e certain point of the road where a great break to the timber belt showed, miles away a faint smudge of smoke against tbe brasen cobalt of the sky, be checked; to his saddle eat looking towards It- - There toy the town ship of Ban Manuel. And there he swept off his hat with a gesture of salutation. I'm mighty glad," he said fervently aloud ''mighty glad that I never said any thing not to count to that Uttle girl!" His stop, his sudden drag upon the reins, as entirely as he turned bis head, beyond control as bis movement of recoil Du-can- therell be one 6, 1937, best pace that plight to- That It eonld not all her bleed and be her beet he knew--fcreacourage she waa. a delicate," light-buiture, up to no more than hie own weight. But she oould make the flat, get through the flat. I- f- The road took a deep inward curve; a break to the .timber showed tbe puffs of vapor swollen to clouds rolling tree-tohigh, showed the darting spires of red flame; tbe fire tanned to widening tsnners-owaa spreading with frightful velocity. If It should have reached the pear, if they had to turn back Dueane, with an icy pringle along hla spine that chilled his racing blood, glanced down at the glrL She eat shrinking against him. her head down, one band twisted and clenched to the mares mane as fast as the other gripped his shoulder. She had not eeen, it seemed. The road curved outward, stretched In tong sweep, turned sharply again, and the pear waa dose ahead. Dueane reined In; ,the cry of both came together. The Are had reached It; almost half of the belt masa-o- f was alight; the tinder-drscorched - or mile-wid- e And fore-fee- sleeve-strokin- g 1 would" remon-stratlngl- thing worrying me. You'll recollect I had a sis-- ' ter, maybe? She died rather better than a year. There wasnt more than enough to clear up the debts her husband was poor goods mightly poor goods! ber head, as be let it close behind him bis eyes and Ducane'e met with no more expression than they bad shown some ten hours " before. an Mr. Ducane's appointment 1 got "If reckon hes going to keep It," ha drawled stolidly. " Said yon wanted to go look at tbe mere new she's bedded down, didn't yon, honey? Best go now, before it gets darker." " Yee, I sure do. He had crossed to the bureau against tbe wall; she looked from one to the other with ber forehead puckered perplexedly. " But, Uncle Davq, tall him he Just can't go. And and say. you havent . said aa much as a 'thank you' to him for " getting me through that awful fire yet! Reckon If you've done tt he don't want to hear me do tt none, returned Hallard as before. "O, I dont believe I have!" cried Lfly. Her thoughts were diverted; she turned quickly her glance, her Uttle soft, shy, gesture, were like a caress. But I don't need to Just say things, do L Mr. Dueane? Wont you come, too, and look at the mare? Maybe she wants to see you, and you can get across the yard, easy enough. YouTl let roe really ride her, some day, wont you? Come along. And tell him bother that old appointment. Uncle Dave! She ran out. Dueane got unstead"Yes look, look. At thq smoke Its ily upon his feet. I'd like to see the mare's an right. It blowing back! Back' And ths fire ths Are! wont take but a few minutes, and its past Hallard Blowing away from sundown, anyway," be began. ua The w n d the looked round. wind's changed' Were " be "Speaking o that appointment t h r 0 u g h were drawled again. Ducana, straightening, " ehe cried through! turned upon him. hysterically "I'm keeping It." he retorted brusquely. as He caught her If you think because because of anything, she swqyed toward Im squealing, backing down any more than In his him. With, her you arms. Insensible, Hallard waved a huge hand. reeled back agalnet tbe rock. . . . The Me having raised you," he said rock! Hallard' The' "I opinion that thfre don't aprevolver In his hip pear much call for that remark. The boy that was the spunkiest little cuss in Texas pocket! For the first time since his first before he was twelve aint going to pan out glimpse of the fire , any different when hes six an twenty. full memory swept In Speaking o that, and the little game o' cards, I was going to offer the Idea that we might upon him. The smoke canopy, rolling back agree to take the last band as a sort of a before the changed kind of a draw, sp to speak. Leaving us and strengthening , equal an' no favor, either way. Such meetwind, showed beyond ing my views if it should meet yours. made a quick step forward and stopped, It a glowing stretch of western sky in reddening to his hair and psJing again. He cleared hla throat. which a vast coppery ball dipped out of Reckon we might, he said slowly, " If sight. Sundown! yoU say eo, Dave." He began to tough Absent mlndedly, tt nodded. Hallard weakly. seemed, he held out his left hand. Dueane placed the revolver In It. Hallard laid It on Hallard, turning a the table. With the same air of detached corner of the old Craabstraction he held out his right hand both ven house, checked winced under the force of a grip equally to stare astoundedly crushing. Lily spoks from outside the door. at the figures that "You coming, Mr. Dueane?" she called. passed through the Dueane, turning toward it, turned back. open gate Into the I want to say," he said a trifle huskily, yard- - Dueane, stum" that if five years ago there was a quarrel bling from the saddle because a young fool that reckoned he was with the girls body In hie arms, lurched almighty smart riled up a man he thought as much of, with reason, as tt hed been hi forward a few paces own father, he could have kicked him set dazedly To him the other loomed gigantic five minutes after, and would have felt the In a miBt of smoke and flame. same If things hadn't gone the way they did " Dont move It's best not. I guess you ve And that hes only been sorry once, go been asleep I was getting 'most frightened. and that a all the time. If I'd carried my Your head's been bathed It seemed so long gun this morning and been quicker pulling and strapped It wont be so very bad. Does It than you, Id likely have put another It hurt much?" she ssked anxiously. bullet through myself before now, and been at stared her, He no No head" My to do 1L" You didn't get v glad realizing, remembering Hallard stared at the window. Were you Did hurt you? supSupposing," he said reflectively Me? Not a mite" Ehe laughed softly; posing there had been such as you mention, her little face under Its shining toss of hair because throSgh getting etruck foolish over was pmk and sweet and charming as a widder that shook him after, thanks be, flower. " It was real silly of me to faint off I a and I have beard makes her second venture like that I never did before But I was hustle around mighty lively! supposing, on awful scared never thought we d get account o' that, a sixteen stone man o through. I don't want to think of lb if you fifty two didnt know any better than to get hadn't come! I don't see how ever you made rigging himself up in a Jay blue suit an a out to lift me and get me here the way pink shirt an yaller shoes, and a boy that you were! No, I wasn't hurt any. And the as ail the son he'd ever had or wanted mare won't be a m!te the worse, either. laughed fit to kill and reckoned he took Uncle Dave Beys. He Juet went out to look himself for a cross between a Broadway " at her again dude an' a fancy poll parrot, seem to me Dueane struggled up "Tou Uncle hie rarin up an' cuesin an spitting like a dont say joure his niece Dave Hallard's tarnation wild cat made him the biggest fool ? you o the two. By eeveral miles! Supposing It he said nodded. "He was so " He rumbled a chuckle, "Sure, I am,. She knows you. Didn't he ever say he had one? turning: I'm how that's hie was sister My mother I got that set o' duds now, Jlml " Lily Trevor, not Hallard. I'm going to live ' That so? " asked Ducana, mat the what's with him. That's Why, Sura. Haven't wore em stnoe. though." ter? I don't see why you want to tough, " With hands on the others shoulders he Mr. Dueane! swayed him gently to and fro. "An you Ehe eured, half Indignant, bewildered. an' me cuttia' up. cuttla loose over em! Us. Dueane, euddenly on his feet, swaying thAt waa as good as father an' eon, let alone sank back again. bein' partners. Lordy, Lord! That reminds " That's right." he said steadCy. I dont me I reckon tt takes two to ran this place see why I want to laugh, either, I beg your the way it ought to be." know didn't Mlsa Mlse I Lily. pardon, Ramsey's getting my notloe soon as I can here You were then, that's all coming band it in," returned Ducana. when maj'be, "That's talking!" approved Hallard. He Yes." Instantly softening, sbe repeated glanced at the door; his voice dropped to a " He wanted me to stay tone mysteriously confidential "Before the the little nod. little lady gets Impatient out there this where I wae boarding till he got things withfixed. As If a man ever did that right morning. If I dont deceive myself, you mentioned some remarks respecting a girl Don't out being helped! Why, you're real babies, to around .know whether you're what you would call mostly. If there Isn't somebody Dave I la .see after you. Anyway, Uncle badly stuck, or wbat ehe could consider committed. but If not, you an' me bein' wbat guess IT! have this room looking some ! difsee I ?" ferent by tomorrow night you'll you might call friendly an partners from cars He lifted an eyebrow. " If not, esme to me quite easy found I oould get to the If I was you, and bad eyee to my Arosa Creek, so I planned to come and taka He lifted, the othqr eyebrow. Dueane, at him by surpris- e- I didnt know a bit when the door, glanced over hla shoulder. A smile you told me where to go' th!t lt waa thto slid to the grave corners of his mouth. place I'd never been here," " She's the girl" he said simply. Didn't you? . . . Im mighty glad 'I He went out. With eyebrow more elehappened along to time and that you didnt vated as he Involuntarily whistled. Hallard get hurt. I'll be going now," said Dueane listened. It's funny, but somehow I most quietly. thought. In the forest, you didn't know ms. " Going? Ehe came quickly In his way I did you, to a minute. We didn't ever say aa he stood up. " W'by, you can't! You've much, but you sure saw me often enough, to so said over I the to night stay got over In San Manuel to Say, you feel all Uncle Lave. And the mare Isn't used up and sick yet, don't you? Well Just Good night. I don't need the njare. go and look at the mar and com right She shook " And you're not fit. either! In youve got to stay the night over. Worhie extended ber hdad Impatiently, refusing rying about that old appointment when you stand! hand. " Why, them you can t hardly cant hardly make ont to stand yeu need 1 know don't And to try to go walking looking after bad aa Uncle Dav does, seems If wait it can't where you were riding, but to me' Now hold my arm," came Lily' till tomorrow, anyway little Solicitous voice, sweetly Imperative. " No. It can't I've tot got an appointWith a contented nod he took up the ment It was for sundown, but that don't and clicked It open. I reason didn't keep it " Reckon,') be remarked pensively, and signify, seeing the Dueane I be going." repeated doggedly. chuckled again " reckon If that spunky, "An appointment? Why. where? If It God a'mighty proud, Sara up young euae had never sure near get lan't quite you'll found I'd shook tb cartridges outen the gun he's Dueane Mr. here' saying Uncle Dave, before I handed It over, so it couldn't be got some old appointment and must go off hurt e six months' babby 'thout he'd tried to foolish now real I call that to keep It right waller It, he'd have allowed I'd got back od but do fit to Just he isn't when an) thing him tolerable neat for that time he guyed eo?" Don't you my rest me. Yea, I reckon he would, sure! Ehe had turned towards the opening door (CoprclsM; 1927: Sr C. 0. Aadrvwal and Hallard massive entering figure. Over by smoke, with clothing scorched In a dozen places by flaming fragments that tell about them, but ahead still of tbe following lira they were close upon the rock when be tripped, stumbled, tried to recover, tailed, .fell, and struggled, gasping, up upon elbow and knea Go on! Go on! You've got to. That's , the rock "I can't I cant!" Ehe had screamed and slipped from tbe saddle the mare stood but with hanging head and spread I cant I wont' true to her training, still. How'd I bear to live If I left you, when Id be dead cow. suffocated first and burnt up after, tf you hadn't come? Youll be all right If you wait a little Just a little to get your breath. Try to stand. Let me help you. Try try! " On her knees, desperately striving to raise bis inert weight, ehe caught instinctively at tbe right plea to rpuse and stir him. And I daren't I'm scared. Id go wrong bekllled after alL . , . Ah. you can! You see you can! There there1 ehe gasped. " Look? He was on hie feet, holding to the mare's shoulder and ber arm. She pulled away and threw tip her hands. Du-can- e theres a girl, my niece. Thats why I came here, bought this place I reckoned I'd settle down, have her live with me she waa coming soon as I'd "Coon! Coon! got things a bit mors fixed. I made my will last week, leaving her all I own theres the papers and so on to that bureau. If it's me takes the gun presently, here shell be. A kid. Pretty. All alone. Not knowing how to take hold of things any more than a pup. Liable to. be fooled an' cheated by the first scurvy skunk that happens along. . . . You getting me? With the relaxing of his clenched hand upon the table he drew a step back. Which is ail supposing it's me. Supposing it's " Dueane withdrew a step in hie you turn ' Whatever I may ha aid or thought o' you." he said with elaborately exact repetition, " It never was that you didn t know the points of a horse or how to treat one. There s tty mare out there. She's game, she s blood, she'll go till she drops and she s gentle as a lamb. You won't find her beat In this state or the next If It's me gets the gun there isn't anything I'd so soon know as that she's owned by a man thatll handle her right If you taka her I would know It Hallard repeated his stolid nod. Horses belrg horses and us both knowing it." he said deliberately, "I'm not saying that she shan't miss you. Barring which, you dont need te worry. She shall be looked after, good and. square, long ae she Uvea or Dueane swung long as I do. That all? round from the window. There's a girt," he said abruptly. " Over In San Manuel. But It dont matter. Likely as not the d never have looked at me, and I've never said much to her. luckily." He " I couldn't have asked her half laughed. to wait another five jeare. anyway. And. at the back of things. I ve always somehow had tbe feel that you'd get me. sure, long before that As I reckon you will directly." Mai be yes and maybe no. Your deal," said Hallard. He turned back to hla chair. The cards were shuffiedvand cut Dueane, standing, dealt them Hallard. after only a glance at hla hand, threw out and drew one. Dueane, with hardly more delay, did the same with two. Hallard told the five face upward on the table he Best yet a flush. You beat It? demanded. For an Instant, no more, the pulse throb showed again In Dueane cheek. He laid down his hand. No two pairs. You've got me. Dave," he said levelly. " Seems so." agreed Hallard. Dueane picked up his hat " I took a bunch of cattle over to the railhead yesterday," he said with the same lave) quietude " Had to give them over to tbe man that bought them and take the money. Ramsey I away for a day or two that s why be borrowed my gun, he don't carry any mostly but It dont signify. I can leave the bills for him. Theres a few things I ought to do to leave him straight, but they wont need to take very lor,g Know that, big rock back In the woods Just after tbe track this way crosses the Long Branch road? Ill bring the mare there by sundown. If youll be along about then I aren't need to wait, can leave her tied, a little ways off. That's all. except that maybe I'd beet writ a line saying Ive made her over to you, so that there wont be any trouble or questions asked afterwards." " That e so. Thera's pens and paper over there," returned Hallard laconically. Dueane turned to the . Indicated table against tbe wait Hallard waa standing whea he turned about again, and tbe revolver lay beside the neatly stacked cards. He nodded towards It. He slipped the weapon Into his hip pocket. For the first time sine the toying down of the last cards the eyes of each met tbe eyea go-Ag- o YotYvo had been when, a bare yard away, Hallard e revolver had covered hie heart. In the gust of hot wind that smote across his cheek there waa something more than mere heat something acrid, piercing, pungent the scent and savor of burning. And far away, to the right, visible through another wide break in the trees, lazily rising puffs of white vapor were shot through with darting spires of red " Fire! " cried Dueane. In his childhood he had been carried In frantic flight from a forest fire; It remained vivid In his memory, terrific and terrifying, uncheckable. devouring, a red nightmare of roar and flfrae. ' He had ridden towards as to a thing accepted death steady-nerveand inevitable, not to be shirked or bleached from. But In this form! All the desperate force of life assailed rose In him, fighting and furious- - the panic of the child gripped the man. Back! Back the way he had oome! Back while there as time! Thf acrid emoke scent, stronger and more stinging, waa In his nostrils again aa benade to turn the mare s head and In the movement stopped. From a ade track Just ahead came a sudden thud of rapid hoofs, and a riderless , daabed out of pony, scared and the chaparral, swerved from hla clutch at the flying bridle and tore headlong by. Riderless. And ths saddle waa a side saddle. " My God! A woman! " cried Dueane Almost as swift In movement as In thought, Dueane, his panic forgotten, plunged into the track. It wound tortuously, dwindled, widened. He paused to shout and listen, to peer about him. 4 It wound again; be came out upon a broader track running left and right, and swung out of ths saddle before the figure that, cowering against a great boulder, sprang up with a cry, and rushed to and clutched him. " Saw your pony. said Dueane rapidly. " Came out Just ahead of me on the Long Branch road. Reckoned yon must have fallen or that he'd thrown you He did. I mean, he plunged and I sort of lost the stirrup and slipped I dont Just know how K was. I tried to catch him and couldn't," gasped the girl breathlessly. " I was riding from Arosa Creek to the railhead. to take the cars "The rail head? He had thrown an arm abeut her, waa looking down lntq her great dilated hazel eyes, the terrified, childish round of her little blanched face under a disordered toss of short chestnut hair. Ths rail bead? This la the wrong 'road. If you turned left, coming through the " I must have. The track twists so, and I never rode through It alone before. Maybe wild-eyed- pear" I oughtnt, but" " By yourself? I guess not! " " But the man that was going to drive me bad a fall and got hurt. 1 didn't want to wait the night over, so they offered me the pony I reckoned I'd find my army all right It waa Just when I'd begun to think Id" maybe come prrong that I smelt the fire. And then saw it And the pony reared up and plunged I hurt his mouth, perhaps What'll I do? They were saying tost night that if the forest got slight it would burn for miles Miles! If I cant get Ypu1! get back. . . . Don't be scared be won't be hurt said Dueane soothingly. He looked at her; In tbe clasp of his arm her small slender body seemed hardly more than a child's ,, 111 get you through." he said cheerfully. " Dont be afraid of that Tbe fire's way off yet and it's not so far." Ehe nodded, slipptrg a band to bie shoulder and bolding It He turned the mire's bead, with voice and knee urged her to the back" cacti, overhung by s billowing canopy of smoke, crackled and blazed fiercely, a very Inferno. Tbe girl cried out again. " We can't get through! " She clutched "Can we? him, her face panic stricken. ' Can we? " ' No. we sure can't. reached 'most It's the track now. Wind has veeredI reckon. We must go back, aald Dueane. Back? The way we came? But where the road curves to the fire waa coming close " when We passed He felt the I didnt know yoii saw. trembling of her against him aa her terrified hold tightened. Yee, pretty does But Its the only way. If we can make out to get through far as the Long Branch road we've got to do It! Hold on to mo and don't get scared," said Duoane. And again ths mare was flying. Ths turn was passed. Ths long stretch was passed. The outwaxj purve was behind them, the Inward curve before. And ths fire had reached the edge of ths track, Waa licking over the dried grass; the underbrush blazed, driving before It spark spangled volumes of A gfaat darting tongue of smoke. flame caught at , her blown skirt and set It flaming she screamed and hs crushed It out with his hand. . . . Ths mare was weakening. was falling in her Itrlde with stretched neck, heaving flanks, nostrils. But tha curve was behind Dueane Bung himself out of tbe them saddle. Not She cant do it," he said hoarsely. with both of us. Bbe'U go till she drops, breaks her heart, but she's dope thirty miles alraady'elnc morning. If I shorten the stirrup this elds you can manage to hold on tf He was hurI lead her and run by you? riedly doing as he said: she had noddef dumbly. "It means going slower, but I'm pretty spry on my feet. We'd best strike the track your pony took that's the nearest eut to the Long Branch road. Ready? Gentle for a while and let her get her wind. I reckon we're through the worst of It. anyway." Ehe nodded again, easily. It seemed, accepting the ha The Ua tor he guessed that the track frhen reached might prove As it did halfway through Its windings smoke and flams drove them back. A great branch, dead and rotten, caught by the lira crashed doom biasing as they turned, and, barely missing the girt, sent Dueane half stunned to his knees, with clothes smoldering and blood trickling from a cut on hie bead. Backm the wide track he found hlmsetf reeling etckly and stopped, meeting the dilated eyee that shone black In the pallor of the small face that was like a child's under the short, loose toes of hair. " That hasnt made me feel any too good," he said thickly. " If I drop presently, you If you don't. If go on. O! Understand? you wait. It means that you go, to you an' ths mare. And don't help me any Keep right ahead, fast as yon can, till you corns to a b'g rock. Then follow ths track round It to tha right. Thatll bring you out on a clearing most opposite tbe nearest bouse. Go there they know the mare. And it's sgfe because of tbe clearing. Round by the rock and to the right. Got that? Bure? Ill keep up If I can. We we U get through don't you be scared. They went on. Ducana running with violently pumping heart, bursting lungs and dually swimming bead, kept on his feet only by sheer force of will, knew dasedly that more than once, as he lurched end staggered. only her swift dutah at hts shoulder saved him from going down. Half choked ... , deep-cheste- d dis-sll- bead? -- fit" 11 1 |