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Show rival until they approached, LaFane In the lead. The crew was now making a valiant effort to keep the backfire from crossing cross-ing the rond and finding a hold in that hazardous area. Watching all this, considering the possibilities of failure, fail-ure, planning how he could get his men back to the creek should they tnke a licking over there. Drake gave no special heed to the two who came P to him. He was aware of their coming, but took for granted that they were of the crew. "One of you" he began, pointing toward a place that needed guarding. He stopped short. He had addressed ad-dressed LaFane. The upraised hand sagged and then he turned to stare at Young Jim. The boy looked straight Into the eyes of the man who, for these weeks, had used his name. It was a hard look, a square look, difficult to determine deter-mine because of its sobriety whether it was one of regard or offense. And then, after a moment, the lad smiled. "You're Steve Drake," he said and put out his hand. Steve did not speak. He was searching search-ing the other's countenance and thinking think-ing swiftly of what hinged on the nature na-ture of LaFane's handiwork. The real Young .Tim was here, now. Pretense was done, a play ended. The Flynns must from this hour take their destinies des-tinies In their own hands and win or lose. He shot an inquiring' glance at La-Fane. La-Fane. The man's lips twitched and his eyes smoldered. "You bet!" he said in response to the unspoken query and his voice carried car-ried more enthusiasm than Drake had ever heard In it before. "Good!" he muttered. "You've hit the job at the right time, Jim ! Until now, I've run things high, wide and handsome, but from now on " "Not yet, Drake ! Lord, man, you've got to stay on the Job through this! I'm Just bringing In another pair of hands and a tolerably good back. What'll you have me do first?" That was good sense. Even though he was no longer even a usurper of authority Steve could- not even take time to confer with the newcomer. His task, this day, could not be shouldered shoul-dered on another. But as he outlined what had happened, hap-pened, what had been done, how he had spread his forces, he was antici- Into that; It wag beyond human endurance. en-durance. And yet as a fresh puff of wind truck him, he knew that he must Human lives depended on the ability of his body and will to withstand with-stand the ordeal of Are. He had only a dozen steps to take before he would be through the worst, and he held his lungs fiat so he would not breathe flame. The skin bulged to blisters on his neck, the hair on one temple singed and he felt the fire licking for his legs as he summoned all of his strength, and with one final effort, ran. He was through, choking, weakened by the heat, but through. He was within the ring of fire, charging across the acres that would be raging at any Instant The men were losing their fight. At three points the backfire had crossed the road and was running, rolling with the wind. They were still In front of It, giving ground grudgingly, fighting as they retreated, ready to come to a full stand at the creek, and It was not until this young stranger, blackened and blistered, burst upon the nearest trio who fought side by side that they turned to see through the flowing haze that other wall of flame licking toward to-ward them from the rear. "Into the pond !" Jim croaked. "You're cut off. . . . The pond!" One man dropped his shovel and fled madly. The others clung to their equipment as they made a break for water. Jim ran on to the next group, floundering floun-dering and still trying to shout from his smoke-hoarsened throat. McNally finally heard him. He turned, saw what was coming and ran. A narrow ribbon of water was just at their left. It was the slender arm of the pond, lying In a swale. Along its edge flame spears danced but it offered a way through. They sank to their thighs In the mire, gained the deeper water of the pond and threw themselves down, only their heads above the surface, faces buried In the green leatherleaf on the low banks which would not burn and which pocketed pock-eted life-giving air. That was early afternoon. It was four hours later before the burn had cooled enough to let them make a break for the creek bank and cross. , On the high land yonder a wearied but still vigilant line of men stood. They had made their stand and had won At n thnnsflnd nninfs Knaps And CODE of the NORTH T T by HAROLD TITUS Copyright by Harold Titua WNU Service SYNOPSIS Stephen Drake, with his four-year-old eon, is rescued from a blizzard by Jim Flynn, big timber operator, and Drake, until his death, Impresses on the boy, Steve, the debt they owe "Old Jim." Twenty years later, Steve meets "Younff Jim" Flynn, his benefactor's on. Sent by Old Jim, Incapacitated through an accident in which Kate, his daughter, Is temporarily blinded, to take charge of the company's the Polaris woods operations, the youth Is indulging In a drunken spree. Hoping to do something for Old Jim, Steve hastens to the company's headquarters, finding Frans plotting acrainst the Flynn interests. "Worsting Franz In a fist fight, the Polaris crew assumes that Drake Is Flynn's son, and he takes charge, as "Young Jim." A photograph pho-tograph of Kate intrigues him immensely. im-mensely. Steve gains the friendship of LaFane, woods scout. Franz discovers Drake's Impersonation. Threatened with disclosure, Steve accuses- Franx of attempting to murder him, exhibiting exhibit-ing evidence, and the man dare not act. Steve sends LaFane to find Young Jim and sober him up. Steve wins the friendship of MacDonald, who owns timber land vital to the Flynn interests inter-ests and the Scotsman gives him an option for Polaris to buy his timber. Fran plans to put Steve out of the way, but the latter outwits him. Knowing Know-ing Drake has wired Kate at Chicago, Franz steals her reply from the telegraph tele-graph office and learns that $25,000 is to be forwarded, and the time of its arrival. ar-rival. He plans to steal the $25,000. Kate, bringing the money, omes to headquarters. Her eyes are bandaged, and before Steve has to betray him-1 him-1 self by speech a forest fire alarm is Bounded. Drake hastens to take charge of the fire lighters, a stumps were burning but the backfire back-fire had finally held, the red menace was thwarted. The group of men who followed Toung Jim across the creek were naturally nat-urally undemonstrative and they stopped on the higher ground and looked self-conscious and foolish as others clustered around. Silently, one of them took and shook Jim's hand and more would have done the same had the boy not laughed them off. But McNally had something to say and said it grimly. "If It hadn't been for you," he declared, de-clared, "six of us 'd 've fried to a vrisp. Tou done it. Whoever you are, young man, you're all there !" Steve, standing at a little distance, saw in the faces of the company the thing that he had stirred himself on his first evening at headquarters : respect, re-spect, admiration, an admission of that superiority which makes men willing will-ing to follow another. But between ihe two Incidents was a difference. He, Steve Drake, had only whipped a rascal ras-cal ; this Young Jim, now showing confusion con-fusion himself, had saved lives. From that moment on, those men of the Polaris crew were his to command. CHAPTER IX Evening, now, but it had been fresh morning when Steve Drake left headquarters. head-quarters. Alone on the threshold of the store Kate Flynn had stood as the boats buzzed away, fingers working against her palms. Old Tim Todd, the only one left with her, limped back toward the store. "Who are you?" Kate asked sharply sharp-ly as he approached. "It's me. Tim Todd, Katie. Don't you recollect " "Oh, Tim!" She put out a hand, groping for his and clutched his gnarled old fingers tightly. "Tim, does it look bad?" "Well, Katie, It looks pretty bad; but, then, It might look a lot worse, too. I reckon they'll get her down In about two-three Jerks. With' Young Jim on th' Job I guess even fire's goin' to have a time of It, doln' much damage." "Yes, Jim . . ." the girl said, as if to herself. "Tim, tell me," quickly. "Tell me about this . . . about Young Jim." "About him? Shoo! How could I tell you anything about your brother? He's turned things inside out, here. I'll be dusted if he ain't done things that nobody ever dremp' could be done ! He's better 'n a chip off th' old block, INsay!" "Yes, he's done wonderfully well," the girl murmured and placed finger tips against lips that still burned frorc that strange kiss. "But tell me," she began, resolved to learn something of this man who had held her In his arms, who was referred to as her brother but who, she well knew, was not her brother. "Lordy, looklt her roll now!" the old man moaned and Kate commenced to tremble, torn as she was between conflicting, and dramatic, Interests. "Is it going fast? How does it look, now?" (TO BE CONTINUED.) pating: What would the men think, when they knew? This boy, come to take charge, must have them with him from the beginning to avoid trouble. Knowing what he had been they might be reluctant to accept him for what LaFane evidently now believed him to be. It was not going to be clear sailing sail-ing for Young Jim. "LaFane, if you'll drop over to the left, there, and spell some of the boys who're all in. It'll help a lot. Flynn, I'll find a chore for you in a second." He started walking down the slope with the older man, leaving Young Jim alone. The boy stood there and drew a hand that shook with excitement across his lips. His Job ! On the ground, after such a start, and to encounter en-counter such a complication for a beginning be-ginning ! LaFane's quiet recital of Drake's achievement was in his mind, now, and he was humble before his past and the prospect of his future fu-ture . . . and humble, as well, before be-fore the man who had used his name with such effect. . As he stood there, the whirlwind came. It swept across the unburned slash between its point of origin and the line of backfire, swinging in a majestic ma-jestic terrible arc. At the top it was a whirling cloud of smoke; at the tip of its dangling funnel, it was a shower of sparks, and these, as Young Jim watched, were sowed behind the fire fighters in the bend. Grass burst into flame; the wicked tongues found hold in the conflagration in front of them, were hedged In by an orange barrier from the rear. Young Jim cried out but his voice did not carry. He saw the ring of flame rise and broaden, touching with explosive tentacles all material close by. A half moon of unburned slash was all that the men yonder had for safety. All along the roadway before them fire was running; behind, that ragged semicircle of new flames was closing gaps to wall them in. At the center of this zone Jim made out a small pond, a hundred feet across, perhaps; It offered a haven of a sort. He raced down the slope, tripping once and falling, fall-ing, slashing his cheek on a sharp stub. He was up, cursing as he wallowed wal-lowed In a deceptive pile of brush, hidden by young growth, and threw himself into the creek, fighting his way through the alders on the far side. He came out Into the chopping and swung to the right, shouting once more in an attempt to make those men aware of their danger. The gap in the line of fire for which he was headed closed to solid flame as a vagrant blast of air sent the blazes crackling through dry grass. He raced back to the left, seeking a way through, but before he reached the next opening that also closed. He coughed from smoke, now, and his eyes were tortured. The fire snapped and pluffed at him as if In conscious mockery. He brushed tears from his eyes and strove to locate the little pond trying to determine whether, could he attract attention, those men would be able to gain that one sanctuary sanc-tuary in what, within minutes, would be an Inferno. But smoke obscured a view of the water. He found a place between two windrows of litter that was not yet ablaze. He edged toward the narrow opening and recoiled re-coiled as the shirt curled on his shoulders shoul-ders from the heat that beat upon h:m from either side. He could not go CHAPTER VIII Continued 15 A second serious blaze was developing, develop-ing, set by sparks from his backfire, and wallowing through the dowtr-stuff a half dozen men followed him to an-I an-I other interval of heart-breaking, lung- gearing work. "Coming great, lads !" he cried when that particular engagement was won. "That's the stuff that makes little poker hands win and licks fires!" They grinned at him. "All right, Mac. She's cooler, now. Cross over and touch off some more. .Give us a few minutes every tea rods ear or so and don't get caught yourself. Keep to the west of your backfire all tog the time." lie He made his way eastward, mount- ier lng a sharp little knoll so he could have a fair view of the terrain. He could hear his backfire snapping and muttering as It worke away "be- from him ; could see McNally setting j to more. On beyond, great pl'imes of left smoke gushed upward eruptively as the front of the main fire opened and jj3 1 closed again, its points Joining forces ,jay here and there to create gri It quantities quanti-ties of gas. It was coming rapidly. Two, perhaps per-haps three miles an hour that front Ijgyj was traveling. His backfire was small . J, and relatively cool, and siili he had held the first section of it by the skin . of his teeth ! What would happen if the main fire reached the creek before . he had burned a gap all across its way, p or If the wind rose higher to make it roll even more rapidly? For a full half mile to the westward west-ward that backfire must be laid in before be-fore the front of the burning area M would be wholly blocked. McNally, n observing the quickening advance of s. V the main front, worked rapidly, fins'10 fin-s'10 lshed his task and then, red-eyed and coughing, his shirt scorched on the irl' breast, came floundering across the stream and joined those who fell upon the spots of fire started by raining poll"' parks borne across the creek. It did Die." not seem to Steve that his crew could je fani possibly hold the pac for the length en mr' -if time that would be required, be He needed men, now; all along this battle line he needed them ; more 3Sa men and fresh men, because an hour TJrJ there was more exacting than a "--J dozen at ordinary labor. egKa And the men were coming. At y least, two men. They had been com-InK com-InK down the Good-Bye since early day . antl 88 they saw the smoke they came ' Is n!SieT' Paddling In quick cadence. (OH hey were stalwart men. LaFane, in WJvi ' 9 stern, sat as straight as a proud 7m i 'an' Tlle other was not qulte 80 tyltt !ar?e of frame, not so deep in color, Jjm but young Jim Flynn's eyes were clear, Wf ' Jj's mouth set in a line of assuring yj J "fmness and he bore his share of T with relish. A different boy, hs, from the one who had been kld- Er7 aned from his camp In a drunken "ipor days before ; another lad than '. i,nne who had defled his captor and : I, ''Red and sworn that he would not J , as bidden. Resolution, ability Wme1 l be his characteristlcs this , ,0 windy morning as the canoe final K pUt the waters of Good-Bye lake. Ult-1 reoH m the kno11 on which he was di-tVA di-tVA 'l Stp the redistrbution of his forces, j6 Drake could have observed the &Mri ma ? of that canoe- but hls eyes Til H ren l tlon wer eentered 0D the J tlon S0Ught t0 save from destrl,c-' destrl,c-' 50 he was not aware of their ar- |