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Show uffl h) ROBERT W CHAMBE OlO4 GEORGE KDO&AfJ COMEAUT ( ontinned From Our ln-t Essue) I 1PISODE El i : I N Till J'l, ! OF PINES CHAPTER I Tho last Sound that Mike Clinch heard on earth was the detonation of hla own rifle. Probably it was an aprrecuble sound to him. He lay there villi a pleasant expression on his massive mas-sive feature-. Hid watch had fallen out of his pocket. Qumuma nhlned him with an electric elec-tric torch, picked up the watch. Then, holding the torch in one hand, he went through the dead man's pock ts very thoroughly. I When julnlu.ua had finished, both j trays of the flat morocco case were full of Jewels. And Qulntana was full j of wonder and fausplclon. Unquletly he looked upon tho dead ; upon the glitu-rinj, contents of the 'jewel box but. always hla cuo reverted revert-ed to the dead. Th- faintest shadow of a smile edged Clinch's lip, ymn-tana'a ymn-tana'a lips grew graver. He said slow-'ly. slow-'ly. like one who doa his thinking aloud: 'W hat Is it you have done to me. l'aml Clinch? . . . Ale there truly then two sets of precious stones? two Flaming Jewels0 two gems of Brosite like there never has z?rt In all this woiT excep" only two morn? Or is one set false? . . Have I hre one set of paste facslmllles? My fnen' clinch, why do you lie there an' smile at mo so r' funny like you are amuse? ... I un wondering what you have done to me, I my frlen' Clinch . ." For a while he remained kneeling beside the dead. Then. 'Ah. hah." ho said, pocketing the morocco case and getting to hid foet. He moved a little way toward the i open trail, stopped, cam - hick, stood with his rifle against a tree. For a while he was ousy with his sharp Spanish clasp knife, whittling and flttlnc together two peeled twigs. A cross was tho ultimate result Then he placed Clinch's hands pnlin to palm upon his chest, laid the cross on his breast, and shlncd the result with complacency. Then Qulntana took off hla hat. "L'aml Mike." he said, "you were a man! . . . Adlos!" . The night hail turned frosty. Quin-tana. Quin-tana. wet to the knees and very tired, moved slowly, not daring to leave flits trail because of sink holes What he had to have was a fire; ho realized that. Somewhere off the trail, in big timber. If possible, he must build a fire, and master this deadly chill that was steadily paralyzing paralyz-ing ail power of movement. At last he. came to a place of pines, first growth giants towering up Into night, and. looking up. saw stars. Infinitely In-finitely Jlytant . where perhaps those things called souls, drifted llko wisps Of vapor. When the. fire took, Qulntana's thin dark hands had become nearly u:;cless from cold. He could not have crooked crook-ed a finger to trigger For a long time lie sat close to the blaze, slowly massaging his torpid limbs, but did not dare strip off his footgear. Later he ate and drank languidly, looking up at the stars, speculating as to the possible presence of Mike Cllncluup then Wnlft a chose Clinch had led him after the Flaming Jewel. And DOW Clinch lay dead In the forest lalntly Smiling. At what '.' In a very' low, passionless voice. Qulntana cursed monotonously as he gazed into tho fire. In Spanish, Preach and Portuguese) Italian, ho cursed Clinch Aft. r a little while he remember d Clinch's daughter, and he cursed hor elaborately, thoroughly, wishing her black mischance awake and asleep, living or dead. Presently Qulntana slept, after his own fii.xhlnn If hn t la tn mv lnnklni' closely at him, one could discover a glimmer undM- his lowered eyelids. And he lstened aways in that kind of sleep. As though a shadowy part of him won- detached from his body, and mounted guard over It. The Inaudible movement of a wood- I mouse vr-nturlng into the flre-Ut clr-iclo clr-iclo awoke Qulntanu. Again a dropping drop-ping leaf amid distant birch-m awoke him. Such things. And so he slept jwlth Wt t feet to the fire and his rifle across his knees and dreamed of Eve and of murder, and that the Flaming Jewel was but a mass of gloss. At that moment tho girl of wlno iwhlte throat Qulntana was dreaming, and whining faintly In his dreams, stood alone outside Clinch's Dunn-, rlflo in hand, listening fighting the creeping dr.id that touched her elen- j dor body at limes seemed to toucli her very heart with frost. Clinch's men had gone on to Ghost UKa with their wounded and dead. whre there wtls fitter ahel tar for both 'All had gone on; nobody remained to await Clinch's homecoming except Eve , Strayer. It was not yet dawn, but tho girl could endure tne strain no longer. With electric torch, and rifle, she Started for the forest, almost running at first; then, among the first trees, moving with caution, and in silence, along the trail over which Clinch should long since have Journeyed homeward. liut nowhere could she discover an Impression resembling her step-father's tnat great, firm stride, and sol-Id sol-Id Imprint which so often she had tracked tnrougn moss and swale and which she Knew so well. Once wnen sne got up from her knees, after close examination of the. trial, she became aware of the slightest slight-est taint In the nlgnt air stood with delicate nostrils Quivering advanced, still conscious of the taint, listening, wary, every stealthy Instinct alert. She had not been mistaken; somewhere some-where In the forest there was smoke Somewhere a fire was burning. It might not be very far away, it might be distant Whose fire? Her fath- rst Would a hunter of men build ;t fire? The girl stood shivering in the darkness. There was not a sound. Now. keeping her cautious feet In the troll by sense of touch alone, she moved on. Gradually, as she advanced, the odor of smoke became more distinct. dis-tinct. She heard nothing saw nothing; but there was a near reek of smoke in her nostrils and she stopped short. I In the faint, pale lu9ter she saw a tiny rivulet flowing westward from a spring, and, beside it. In the mud. Imprints Im-prints of a man's feet. The tracks were small, narrow, slimmer slim-mer than Imprints made by any man she could think of. Under the glimmer of her torch they seemed quite fresh; contours were still sharp, somo read; to crumble, and water stood in the I heels. As she stole along, dimly shining the tracks, lifting her head Incessantly to listen and peer Into the durkness. her quick eye caught something ahead something very slightly different from the wall of black obscurity a vague hint of color the very vaguest tint scarcely perceptible at all. ; But she knew it was firelight touching touch-ing the trunk of an unseen tree. Now, soundless over damp pine i needles she crept. Tho scent of smoko grew strong In nostril and throat; tha pale tint became, palely reddish. All ubout her the blackness seemed palpable pal-pable seemed to touch her body with its weight; but, ahead, a ruddy glow stained two huge pines. And presently she saw the fire, burning low but redly red-ly alive. And, after a long, long while, she sow a man. He had left tho fire circle. His pack and belted macklnaw still lay there at the foot of a great tree. But when, finally, she discovered him. he was scarcely visible whero he crouched In the shadow of a tree-trunk, with his : rifle half lowered at a ready. i She stramod hor eyes; but distance and obscurity made recognition Impossible. Impos-sible. And yet, somehow, every qulv- i ering instinct within her was telling her that the crouched and shadowy weather beyond tho fire was Qulntana. Quln-tana. And every concentrated Instinct was telllnir her that he'd kill her If he caught sight of her; her heart clamored it; her pulses thumped It in I her cats. Hod tho girl been capable of It she could havo killed him where he crouched. She thought of it, but knew It was not In her to do It. And yet Qulntana had boasted that ho meant to kill her father. That was what terribly ter-ribly concerned her. And there must be a way to stop that danger some way to stop it short of murder a way to render this man harmless to her and hers. No. sho could not kill him this way Except In extremes she could not brln herself lo fire upon any human cca-ture. cca-ture. And yet this man must be rendered ren-dered harmless somehow somehow ah' As tho problem presented Itself .-Molution .-Molution flashed Into her mind. Men of tho wilderness knew how to take dangerous creatures olive. To take a dangerous and reasoning human was oven leas dlffleult, because reason makes more mistakes than does instinct. in-stinct. Stealthily, without a sound. th girl crept bock through the shadows over the damp pine needles, until, peering Tearfully over her shoulder, she saw tho last gho?t-tlnt of Qulntana's fire lie out in tho terrible dark behind Slowly, still, she moved until her sensitive feet felt th trodden path from Prowned Valley. Now, with torch flaring, she ran, carrying hor rifle at a trail. B'v her, her and there. little night, creatures fled a h-impsd-un racoon. 'dazzled by the glare, a narred owl still Struggling with Us wood-rat skill. Sh ran easily an agile, tireless young thine, part of ih swlftnf-ss :irvl silence of the woods part of tho darkness, dark-ness, the sinuous celerity, the ominou. hush of wide, still places part of Its very blood and puls and hot. sweet breath Even when she caino out among the birches by Clinch's Dump she was breathing evenly and without distress. She ran to the kitchen door but did not enter n pegs under the porch a score or more of rusty traps hung ;-h" unhooked the largest, wound the chain around It. tucked it under hor left arm and started back. (1 ontinned iu Our Next ItvHUe ) 1 |