Show F L A M IN THE fa FOREST R S T by HAROLD TITUS illustrations by irwin myers ir copyright by harold titus service SYNOPSIS kerry young a lad of seven Is pre pared to flee the burning lumber camp of his benefactor jack snow who took the youngster to live with him at the death of kerry s mother tod west has instructed kerry to come with a file containing the camp camps s funds should it be endangered flames attack the of flee and kerry hugging the precious file and tod race to to tod acts queerly at the bank the file Is found empty and kerry Is blamed with tak ng the wrong one snow his headquarters arters and nd money gone Is ruined and soon thereafter dies leaving kerry to the poor commissioner kerry suspects tod and nd swears to even the score in a st paul office kerry now in manhood and an expert woodsman learns of tl e whereabouts of west kerry rescues a lovely girl from a scoundrel who proves to be west tod threatens to pauperize the girl nan downer she thanks ker ry and tells him of the robbery and murder of her father and of tod a ad vances she Is operating a lumber tract which her father had purchased from west kerry makes camp at the gen eral store in bests landing he bonds tod engaged in a poker game jim hinkle timber employee loses heavily kerry exposes cods tod s cheating and dis arms him the crowd is need of tod s duplicity kerry identifies him self elf to west who denies knowing him and advisee advises him to leave town nan tells dr ezra adams of kerry s rescue of her from tod and of bests wes t threat ezra who Is coroner visits kerry and appoints kerry coroners clerk clon of the murder had rested on holt stuart employee of downer and upon jim hinkle who was cleared by tod the doctor has the fatal bullet and the serial numbers number of the stolen bills one of which has just been paid to adams it came out of the poker game tod orders jim to run kerry out of town kerry discovers he is being spied upon by a breed J in comes to kerry with a warning to clear out nan hires kerry young rescues jims jim s daughter from drowning while in the w water ater frank the breed w who ho had spied on kerry had tried to drown kerry young settles with him kerry sees that holt loves nan jim meets kerry and after thanking him tor for res cuing his child confesses he knew tod was crooked CHAPTER VII continued 7 another pause then besl yes in a whisper something unusual here and you figure I 1 i am in danger r now and you figured the same way this morning then the change Is all in aou OTI jim in your your atti attl tude I 1 might say I 1 guess that s gettin dost to it young ed his head bead and took a deep breath it its s a little deep for me he laughed I 1 must confess I 1 don t un der stand what could have happened to make you feel low about giving me a warning you thought necessary for my own good and ain t it what a man thinks that counts more than what he does in t II Inkles voice was a sort of passion ate plea for understanding yes I 1 guess you re right you see young grasping the front of kerry s slicker and looking quietly about I 1 dian didn I 1 want to come to you today I 1 I 1 knew you caught tod dealin crooked even if I 1 d t dare let on to him nd ad the rest but I 1 had to mal male e you think I 1 d t owe you anything that s what makes me feel ike 1 ke a skunk oh I 1 see yes I 1 see how it Is so it was necessary for you to make bake that play this morning that it jim almost reluctantly the man said yes that s it I 1 id d say that was a queer fix tor for a man to get himself into I 1 told you I 1 wasn gasn t any good but you were wrong you awesome are some good a lot of good I 1 id d say if you were nt you be NN waiting alting for me here tonight gh t to try to fix up what you youve ve broke I 1 well it aln aint t bothin it its s all I 1 can do young shook his head no you can do quite a little more you can tell me for instance why you thou thought it necessary to believe what west said instead of what yo ir eyes told you d he ile amounts to a lot around here tod to d west does and you don t dare cross him not much god young if you only knew I 1 I 1 in here I 1 in ready to listen but I 1 cant can t tell you I 1 it its s bothin that concerns you it its s bothin you know about he ile had started to back away kerry mind clicking smartly realized that here was perhaps an outside chance to learn more of tod west than he coul I 1 learn from any other source he ile pressed his advantage it its a something that concerns you though tim it its s something that makes you well that keeps you under west s thumb that it or his heel I 1 I 1 the man s voice shook you youve ve had a lot to think about today you ve made an about face and have come clean with me on one de tall now wouldn t it be the smart thing to carry right on to put your self in a position where you could look any man in the eye and say what you thinh think and feel jim laughed harshly As it if I 1 could I 1 and what if I 1 tried desperately what if I 1 tried you think I 1 want to find myself locked up and his ills intentness had overridden his best judgment go on jim locked up for what the man was adamant refused to talk so gently firmly kerry began arguing urging for confidence play ing on the fundamental decency in jim hinkles heart I 1 can t 11 I 1 I 1 can t 11 I 1 he burst out you don t know tod anest W est I 1 why to get what he wants he d as soon charge an innocent man with murder as not there I 1 I 1 ive N e said it I 1 murder der yes murder I 1 it if I 1 d try to get out of doln what he wants me to do they d have me in jail ike 1 ke tha snapping his thumb and charged alth noth killin miss bliss nan s father but you were suspected t you IN lie e heard the story yes I 1 was and if it hadn haan t been for tod west nat bridger the sher iff de die took me sure as hell I 1 but when tod told them he played cards with you thit that settled it and if you had been playing cards with him all that evening then why has he got anything on you A long moment of silence followed because all I 1 know about what hap bened that night Is what tod told in me e said hinkle at last young gave a long drawn oh h h 10 1 after a moment he added so that s it yes it desperately it and hes he a bearin down on me nd holdin it over me like a club I 1 that sounds goofy jim he all bled you out of suspicion ile hes s on record with his story isn t he but a man with his can admit that he told a certain kind of lie ile nd get away with it can t he he could go to era em nd say that he t think at the time I 1 had any thing to do with th kallin s so 0 he ile went to the front froat for me but that its wor ried him since and that things than S ve h happened alpene d to make him believe that bebby I 1 might not be as straight as he thought I 1 was last november he could do that he yes he could of course he could but how would that put you in wrong with the sheriff all he d have to tell em ein jim said was what he swears to me s the truth nd they d put it on me just as sure as hell I 1 you I 1 on mean that you t at bests house that night that yol play cards with him that evening I 1 stayed there sure enough least wise I 1 woke up there but when I 1 come in I 1 dunno what id done be fore that I 1 dunno nd if I 1 played cards I 1 dunno that either good lord jim that sound so good does it what was vas it that really happened the man arev drev v a tremulous sigh damned if I 1 know that Is what wha t hap bened between bout sundown that night and the next mornin I 1 don t know any more about that n you do young lou ion see id had a run in with cash the day before he ile gasn wasn t an easy man to work for wed had a run in and he fired me nd got pretty rough about it wh ch was his way A A job was a job and I 1 figured I 1 d had a raw deal nd didn dian t know what I 1 was coln in to do last winter and I 1 lost my head I 1 told him I 1 d get back at him some way and a lot of others heard me I 1 was broke it was v as the time when deer hunters was comin in to make their camps just before the season op that s what makes me feel I 1 like a skunks ened A lot of em allus stop at the landin to buy their grub I 1 hired out to four of em to pick out a good campin spot and to work up firewood for em I 1 took my rifle along cause I 1 thought bebby I 1 might knock a buck over he paused and looked about and listened and then went on rapidly well I 1 got em set all right up on big beaver they was good lada lads and paid me well they had a lot of booze and give me a bottle and I 1 started back on foot bout sundown for the landin and that s the last I 1 kno inov v until mornin when I 1 woke up in tod cods S he wo wole e me up see he ile told me then that cash d been killed he just said that cash was murdered last night and then he asked where was you jim ile was pleas ant enough but he had a look loot in his eyes he d never had before and I 1 want to tell you his grin went N ent through me like a knife I 1 I 1 didn dian t know where I 1 d been young I 1 knew I 1 d been wan derin round somewhere with a rifle I 1 knew I 1 id d been awful dam irid trad at cash cah I 1 I 1 just didn t know anything more than that hinkle strained to swallow his breath quick and audible I 1 lost what little head I 1 had I 1 guess I 1 went down on my knees to him I 1 begged him to tell me where I 1 d been how I 1 come there I 1 was nas scared I 1 tell you I 1 he old me to brace dp up he ile didn dian t know where I 1 d been he said he d found me wan derin along the siding late in th evenin nobody knows knors just when hen cash was wag killed but as al west est tells it that was probably pro bibly some little t me after vard he ile set there and figured it all out the ground was froze hard as iron there wasn gasn t any snow except in the timber whoever d d the job left no sign and if it wasn gasn t told around that id been out alone drunk and with nith a loaded rifle not ody d suspect me so he said he be was alwaes ready to go to the front for a friend and framed up a story bout my cribbage with him in his room upstairs where he had a stove 1 erra s mouth was a bit dry the significance the poss ble implications of this confession put him in a fever I 1 ain aln t no killer young I 1 I 1 never wanted to hurt a man ive I 1 ve figured and figured over this thing its it s most drove me crazy sometimes sometime sl I 1 I 1 was pret sore at cash but god young I 1 wouldn t ve killed him so ber her I 1 wouldn t ve done it I 1 he ran an unsteady hand over his face I 1 and no one knows that you d d young with a host of ideas and theories and suspicions crowding his mind wanted to be alone no N its it s fine of you to act this way jim he said I 1 in not going to forget it and don dont t you worry w orry I 1 in going to be here for for quite a while perhaps who knows what 11 develop about the best thing that you could have done for your own good was to tell someone just what you ve told me tonight you wont won t whisper it not to a soul I 1 hinkle drew a breath of relief well III be gone then I 1 III see you again and about elsie god young you 11 never know knowl CHAPTER VIII now as kerry young walked on alone through the fine rain that men tal snarl which jim hinkle hinkles s confes slon had occasioned straightened out into this simple fact if jim had not a lawyer proof alibi to absolve him from suspicion in the downer matter then the whereabouts of tod west on that fateful night were also albo open to speculation hinkle was no killer despite the man mans s misgivings of self kerry was convinced that drunk or sober he would will no serious harm to even his worst vorst enemy and last night ezra had said the first piece of money from the dovner loot had made its appearance had made its appearance in a poker game in which tod west sit sat cheating he stool still digesting these sim pie but perhaps astounding fin hons dons it if west had not placed cribbage with hini hint ie he in have been any where that november evening if west were ivere in possession of the money for wh ch cash downer had been mur dered that would be a fact to arouse the official interest of a coroner s clerk for certain and added to these was N as this item that tod west had been going armed for no one kaev how long he ile walked on after that motion less interval recalling th that ezra had said last night the old physician had the bullet which had slain nan nans s father A thirty eight he had said a thirty eight and last night he had held NN est a automatic in hi hh own hand had ejected the loads from it he had given no heed to the size but thinking back the cart ridges seemed to I 1 ie e no larger at least than thirty eights slow yes V alverts est s suspicions cusp dons of ezra ezras s activity must not be aroused and another than thing it was as imbor tant to locate that money were it still in the country as it was to p n the guilt of murder on the individual who vilio had taken cash downers life if he could determine the cal her of that p atol for instance if be he could get possess on of it and send it and the bullet to a crime detection labora tory where ball hall experts expert co id de termine whether bether or not it was the weapon which had done murder that he knew would not be she sive evidence but it would perhaps tell him whether or not his hatred for west had been an unwarranted influx ence in rousing all these suspicions an idea occurred to him leaving tip to guard camp he set off retracing the way he had just con e but even before he was crossing the trestle I 1 is rage began to ebb more was at stake than his personal feel ings he told himself this man west was no hild peri perl aps he was a mur derer and a thief if so to recover what he had stolen to bring him to answer for the greatest of crimes would necessitate slow and careful movements coats boats and canoes were beached on a shelf of gravel below the landing kerry made his way there and stood li listening the bu edings of the lit tie tle tn to n fprd re lirk now A the small depot across the way from it was west m house west might be there now but no lights showed in the windows he would wait it was not lon long before his ears detected the sound of a cautiously wield ed paddle and he stooped behind some bushes for complete concealment A prow grated a foot splashed in water a man grunted as he lifted a canoe young could see but remain unseen he saw that large bulk of a man deposit the canoe carefully bottom up then turn abruptly and make his way up the bink bank kerry did not follow at once and wl en he did slip noiselessly to the depot and around the corner he was re warded by a glow of lights in win dows across the tho way he ile crossed the street melting into the shadows about the house taking up a position at one corner where he could peer through a window tod west was stand ng there put ting light wood into the fireplace that done he crossed the room to a cupboard took from it a whisky hot bot tie ile and drank deeply he ile stood for a moment close to the fire and then be began bean an undressing his ills shirt came off erst first As he turned kerry co ild see the pistol holster bolster strapped to his side off came the all er k 7 I 1 1 ei 00 10 ami N IV cad za I 1 v now he could see west plainly bacs and then the breeches and the man stood in his underclothes drink ing again from the bottle he drank deeply too deeply kerry remarked to himself for a man with a past to keep hidden the firelight was not so brilliant now the birch wood evidently was dozy A great bank of dense white smoke sucked into the throat of the chimney but the master of the house was either satisfied with the fire or else considered that he had more imbor tant things to do he ile took the bottle from the mantel and shaking m his head as though muttering to himself made his way slowly up the stairs kerry slipped along the end of the house and reached the rear just as a shaft of light shot out into tl e 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