Show E ora THE OREST by y HAROLD TITUS itra copyright lit by harold titus illustrations borvice Sor vice go CHAPTER IX continued 10 before he had conducted his affairs with confidence he was sure of both his standing and his abilities secrets had rested in ills his heart to be sure but they had rested easily comfortably and then out of the welter of dead dear bear rapid had come com 0 this stranger who upset no not only his body but his mind who had rp replaced laced confidence with harrying misgivings misgiving st had driven out assurance and supplanted it with doubt and made of those secrets not cherished possessions but rankling t growths like the of an ominous tocsin had come bluejr Blue jays ys sketchy report oi youngs talk with ezra adams why should these two be talking of the downer case when that had been con closed i months ago and there was tile the disappear disappearance anc e of his pistol on the night he believed ills his house burning explainable probably the chances were that its disappear disappearance aDee was in reality a simple casual affair but he did not know that and in his his state of mind shadows were taking shapes this evening ezra and young had had their heads to together ealier for long over the doctors motor but west watching had not been fooled their talk was not of mechanics he be felt sure lie he walked on home not daring 2 to enter the store and be seen by others safe within his own walls he went hastily bassily to that cupboard and res resumed umed the drinking which his visit to nan had interrupted and across the way kerry young lay in his blankets that strange numbness persisting his eyes were open sleep would not come in boyhood he had thought he knew suffer suffering ln but now he realized he had not even skirted the edges of the fields of human misery i CHAPTER X by noon of that thursday kerry had his camp made on an island a quarter mile offshore in townline Town line lake he had been in a stran strange e mood so strange that tip sat for long intervals batchin watching him intently studying his face arid and now and then whining lowly sober his master wa was but his mind evidently insisted on straying from the job at hand he was clumsy too and dropped his belt ax as it struck a stone and a deep nick was knocked from the bit lie he held it in his hand and stared at the implement for long in fee afternoon he and the dog set out for the first hours of crul cruising sing before sundown he paddled across t to 0 the cabin where he might P have stayed I 1 went inside and looked idly about and then returned to camp they were alone they had not seen a soul or heard a man made sound of course frank Blu ejay squatting i in the alders made no sound except a surly impatient grunt that was when he raised himself to one knee and sought to cover the man in the canoe out there with the worn rifle he be carried and found that the glare of sunlight made the sight bead show large as an orange when the canoe was out of the glare the range was waa too long iong for certainty and the next morning when young set out a spanking breeze blew ile he kept to shoal water for a mile where the seas were not dangerous so that he be could square away and lay a course into the wind thereby avoiding the clauce chance of swamping by the time he was out over the indigo depths again he was far from the breed and once more dared not shoot he could have killed his man without halt half trying once but the body would have fallen into shallow water then his father and his fathers father had bad told him that Town townline line lake never gave up its deaf dead lid did they drown in tile the channels wanted no risk of discovery in this doubly motivated un der taking so the indian went back to camp and cursed his squaw and their children for not picking faster and grumbled over the salt pork ile he had hunted tor for two lays days now and had not found a deer then you aint so smart his woman snapped we see lots 0 deer if youre so crazy for fresh meat you better come with us ill get meat he growled and in the morning set bet out after it IL lie he carried buckets saying that he might at as well pick berries after he got his deer it if he happened to find a good patch thursday and friday passed with no fresh meat in the camp when the breeb laft ip tt on saturday morning it was early at the crack of dawn a splendid time to find deer browsing or making their way to the ridges where here they bedded tor for the day but 1 I 1 i I 1 his bis eyes were not alert for deer lie he made s speed peed threading the timber at a lope when camp was safe behind covering the miles swiftly kerry young 0 was up early as well the next day stripping and running naked into the biting cold lake plunging blowing splashing great fronds of water at tip who had followed J hiim him in the dog liked it he barked and yelped and seemed to be trying to say better chum I 1 the way to act your old self I 1 belong to a fellow who laughs not to a man chos as solemn a as S an empty church young played roughly w with ith the do dog and then turning shoreward out swain him to the fringe of reeds A spanking little breeze had come again with the sunrise flattening flat out the smoke of the small fire making coffee slow to boll boil and delaying the frying fryou of bass he had caught last evening wavelets waveless Wave lets hissed through h the rushes the deep blue of the channel was flecked with small whitecaps white caps young you n W looked at the weather and opined opened that the day would keep clear though the wind might t rise to half a gale that is what frank thought too as breathing heavily he made his way to the edge of a cedar thicket on the shore and saw the smoke of that breakfast fire the wind was increasing and that was good the sound of a shot would not travel so far on a day when the elements rioted he did not fidget nor fuss through the interval of waiting but when the canoe put out he rose slowly certain of his good concealment and stiffened young k paddled straight toward the ambushed indian the light craft pitched and rolled rhythmically under the impulse 0 of f his paddle in the bow tip balanced nicely letting his tongue loll 1011 closer and closer to the fringe of distant cedars they progressed Z within two hundred yards a hundred and sev enty five a hundred and fifty then the seas having subsided kerry swung sharply to the left putting his canoe broadside to the weather it was now that pulled back the hammer of the worn old rifle slowly he pressed his cheek tight against the cool stock the sight bead came down wavering found its object the muzzle moved thrice following the rise and fall of the canoe the brown hand on the grip squeezed the I 1 breed stood there for a long ion moment lips loose watching on the shot young had pitched forward and sideways across tile the rall rail for an instant the canoe hung so on its beams end then with a quick roll and a little splash it went bottom up and began to drift with the seas tip thrown into the waters head held high began circling swiftly around and around he went crying out for the master who had disappeared with a sharp nod turned lie ile left the cedars climbed the bank and pushed on through the hardwood A little later a yearling doe leaped up before him he shot quickly and shot again then he walked on toward hearing bearing the hindquarters unlawful this but the wardens winked at me men of the country living from the country no one would trouble him he rather hoped he mig lit be seen the venison would explain his having the rifle along and while townline Town line lake never 4 gave ave up those who die in its depths well a man can never be too safe townline Town line lake never gives up its dead that was the thought which flashed through jerrys mind as he went overboard once down in the channels but he was not going down in any channel lie ile was there under his capsized canoe still holding the shattered paddle in one hand the torn orn it from ills his grasp just as he be was dipping the blade that terrific terr itic impact had struck perhaps the smooth ash had bad deflected the missile perhaps the alin aim of his assailant had not been good but the sound of the rifle ride a hat flat dull crash had reached his ears cars before he could make a move in reaction to amazement and then his first act was for self preservation someone had bad lain in wait to kill him someone had shot with reasonable accuracy and to let them believe that a desired end had been achieved was at once smartness and caution so he went over the far side his torso lolling in tile the water the move throwing tip out with a great scrambling kerry cautiously twisted ills his body so he would come up beneath the craft in there he could hear nothing but the slosh of water the rustle rustic of wind the sharp inquiring bark of the dog young wanted to call out to reassure the retriever that all was well for tip was in a great state ot of excitement and distress but to do that he feared would set the animal diving for him and that to a watcher might betray the secret that he was safe and in concealment the toss of the canoe grew more pronounced as they drifted into heavier seas the chill of the water ate into his flesh into ills his bones his teeth commenced to chatter with great caution he shoved himself downward and came up on oil the leeward side with a shake of his head lie be cleared water from his eyes and opening them burst into laughter the dog had just rounded the bow a again ain ills his look was tense almost a agonized m but when he came thus face to face with his master the ears cars pricked stiffly and then relaxed the orange flare left the eyes and a pink tongue showed okay kerry choked all jake chum I 1 hi I 1 all right then I 1 and he fie turned his cheek to the frantic tongue for a moment Ll listen steD tip he said holding the dog beside him with one hand while the other rested on the canoe 1 I got to get out of this cold ayou ever feel colder water in summer before wed drift to shore id freeze he looked about the waves were high straight down wind was his island reed fringed with warm sunshine beating upon it to one on shore a swimming 7 dog would scarcely be noticed you alpi you get to camp I 1 savvy he reached for a hold on the dogs tall hie on bowl now camp hie on obediently the dog turned down wind kerry kept his hold on the tall let go the canoe he turned to his side and then to his back and as ills his we weight ht came on tip the retriever SIO slowed wed and looked backward camp gasped kerry hie on tip settled down to swim low in the water making slow going of it but nevertheless towing bowld his master steadily and a watcher from a distance had he seen the dog would never have guessed what dragged behind kerry wormed his way through the reeds once they were reached and stretched flat on his bis belly on the clean sand letten letting the sun drive the chill from his bones ile he lay there a ion long time before he moved then he arl wriggled g I 1 ed into the brush got behind his tent extricated his binoculars from the pack and for a long interval studied the point from which the bullet must have been f fired red ills his canoe had followed him ashore but for a ion long time he made no move to secure it ft at length reassured he r re e embarked his rifle at hand tip again in the bow he set out for the mainland following a course that would take him away from the point of ambush there he cached the canoe in bushes and be began bean an circling the shore ile he spent conal considerable demable time trying to determine the course of the bullet and searched the shore for sign but there was no sign in a thick clump of cedars he found faint traces of movement a trampled seedling a bruised herb but an animal might have done these no footprints showed he went on to the cabin he opened the door peered in then stooped frowning A fine dusting of dry sand was on the floor sand no his fingers told him it was powdered clay it went from the doorway across toward a far corner just a light dusting t of it a ragged stringer ue ile wondered what that ml might ht mean following he found that it ended at two short sections of flooring at some time there was no way of determining when these had been tampered with perhaps broken boards had been replaced still why that dirt on the floor it had bad not been here the other day tip lie said as he stuffed tobacco into his pipe im getting good and hot under the collar shot at from ambush now who the devil P ue ile lighted his pipe and stood frowning debating lets go to town he said to the dog and see chos surprised to see us I 1 that was about noon he had fourteen miles to go lie ile could cut off five he remembered if he took an old road long disused which nan hal had pointed out to him when they had traveled this way together beaver had flooded it years back she had said this spring the abandoned lam dam had gone out with a little work the cutoff cut off oft might be made passable so he went that way walking in with the space eating stride of the woodsman rifle in the crook of its his arm seeing but little of what he passed lie he did stop once to watch bees working in fireweed CHAPTER XI now nat brid baldger 0 ger the sheriff though a nian man large in stature was small in heart and soul there were those in the country who called him a bootlicker ile de was alone in his office when west entered the corridor hodg tod lanced glanced around at the barred door to the bull pen straight ahead with a man standing in t against it holding one bandaged hand in the other gingerly hullo dick west said to the prisoner heard you drank too much of your own hooch what alls ails the hand lood poison the man growled most drives me crazy doe doc adams says its better but it dont seem so to me the voices had attracted the sheriff who came to the doorway oh hullo hul lo tod he cried and went on to remark how well this sight of an old friend pleased him and shook hands and went through a performance for mance of greeting which to an understanding der standing person would have explained clearly just why he was con soldered a bootlicker boot licker lord what happened to you he demanded as west followed him in to where the light was better why tod youre all swoll up ile he was in truth badly swollen his face was lopsided lop sided and even the left eye slightly puffed dam hornets got me yesterday he said was bishin up big deaver beaver and kicked ern em out of a stump they sure are good at their job ill say so but what brings 0 you here he asked anything I 1 can do for you tod west sat down and crossed his legs and put his hat on one knee well not for me bebby he said but I 1 heard so methin the other night that I 1 kind of figure you ought to know likely bothin to it but you never can tell yeah yes you know Blu ejay dont you thought so kind of scum frank is iles hes worked for me off and on nd ind I 1 dont trust him much but theres than things s about him for instance hes always sno always sees things hes been camped out north of us alehin berries and comes in most every night well night before last he came to me to get get a little he be had comin and I 1 got visiting and he told me something kind of suspicious ile he says held hed been lookin for berries north of townline Town line lake thursday and long about su sundown n down swu swung dg past that downer cabin on his way back to camp lie he says he heard something that sounded like pounding po inside now you or me wed ve walked right up to the door but we aint breeds theres no lem em and bebby its a good thin thing for frank and for you and for the county itsell lie he if there s anything to his story ne ile was leaning forward now and nodded seriously A little draft through I 1 the open transom above fluttered his graying hair and the lone prisoner in the bull b ull pen leaned closer against the bars straining to listen he peeked |