Show FLAM lahija 1 1 IM a IN THE A FORE mal 11 HAROLD AROB DT TITUS X p 6 4 MYERS WN U al aca JV SYNOPSIS kerry young a lad of seven Is prepared to flee the turning burning lumber camp of his benefactor jack snow who took the youngster to live with him at the death of jerrys mother tod we west at has instructed kerry to come with a fit allo 0 containing the campt funds should it be endangered flames attack the office and kerry hugging the precious file and tod race to town tod acts Q queerly beerly at the bank the file to la round found empty land and kerry Is blamed with taking the wrong one snow his headquarters and money gone Is ruined and soon thereafter dies leaving kerry to the poor commissioner kerry suspects tod and swears to even the score in a st paul office kerry now in manhood and an expert woodsman learns of the 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 kerry and tells him of the robbery and murder of her father and of tod Is advances she Is operating a lumber tract which her father had purchased from west kerry makes camp at the general store in bests landing he be finds tod engaged in a poker game jim hinkle timber emp employee loee loses heavily kerry exposes cods cheating and disarms him the crowd Is unconvinced of cods duplicity kerry identities identifies himself to west who denies knowing him and advises him to leave town nan tells dr ezra adams of jerrys rescue of her from tod and of bests threat ezra who Is coroner visits kerry and appoints him coroners clerk suspicion of the murder had rested on holt stuart employee of downer and upon jim hinkle who was clea cleared red by tod the doctor has the fatal bullet and the serial numbers of the stolen bills one of which has just been paid to adams it came out of 0 the poker game tod orders jim to run kerry out of town kerry discovers he Is being spied upon by a breed jim comes to kerry with a warning to clear out kerry answers with a laugh nan hires kerry young rescues jims daughter from drowning while in the water frank Blu ejay the breed who had spied on kerry had tried to drown kerry young settles with him CHAPTER VI continued 7 the impact ot it his bis body on the stream made a mighty splash lie ile came up immediately shaking his hi eyes clear and treading water wh what you tink you doln eh eb he gasped what you 1 I think I 1 knocked you loose from yourself as a beginning kerry said hotly and im stand ing here to wait for you to come up again ill knock you in as fast as you come up injun that Is it if you TOU come up on this side if you want to keep out of trouble with me you swim yourself across yonder and stay there I 1 get that I 1 stay there hol so you tink 11 with a defiant curse the man started swimming for the forbid den shore and young bit hitching ching at his belt followed slowly along the trel trestle ie ready for a second ter put but had not gone tar far looking upward at that dark and infuriated face when he hesitated spat angrily and turned striking out for bests landing swimming ln like an otter otten CHAPTER vil VII JOB and home enemies and ant A at least the beginnings of some som friendships young pondered those posses alons as he spent a drizzly afternoon making his camp permanent and after dark as he sat in nan kan downers office and talked to her and holt stuart he wondered just where this quick spoken high strung youth was going to f fit 1 t I 1 in n with ills his scheme of things holt appeared to him as one who w apo will normally come to rapid decisions ci form perhaps snap judgments and yet kerry had the feeling that in his case the forester was holding back reserving ids his estimate and opinion when holts eyes rested on nan a hunger of long standing appeared in them not tile the lust that had been on tod bests face yesterday afternoon up tip aher but a clean t respect and something deeper than that stuart withdrew after a time imp leaving nan and kerry alone the door to the great lounging room of lie headquarters was open logs shouldered ed on the hearth there its damp the girl sold said lets finish our talk near the fire bre 11 so she curled in a in aishe armchair on one side of tile the hearth while young sat eat opposite her rind and continued tile the talk of tile the job tip with a sl sigh h of contentment stretched on oil his side before tin the fire and when a pause came in their discussion of timber etl estimates mates and mapping map plit tile the girls eyes rested on him what a lovely creature 1 I sll ghi murmured and the retriever opening one eye rapped his tall ns as and appreciating the compliment nan and kerry laughed and tip stretched and sighed luxuriously and flopped his tall again it was late when li eleft nan an agreement reached and ready to report in the morning to work at the big drafting board he had not gone tar far when he be feIt felt Tip come a bit closer and then a vague figure detached itself from the shadow of a pine tree the hail bail when it came though cautious and low was not unfriendly young that your you young Y yo ol 01 up the other approached and then kerry halted its jim hinkle young a oh hullo bullo jim I 1 rows hows the girl fine all right 1 looking about cautiously 1 I I 1 I 1 wonder if I 1 could git you to stop here a minute I 1 got I 1 got to say to you young he was wholly sincere and not at all at ease that blell arence which had been on display early in the morning was wholly gone well when a mans got to talk why hes bes just got to talk he bet I 1 1 I I 1 dont want certain parties ever to know I 1 hunted you up friendly like ilke id be a skunk it I 1 say it after what you done for us I 1 aint even thanked you yet ret for elsie back to us ills his voice shook all I 1 can say about that that I 1 thank monk you I 1 I 1 all right jim you yon even have said that much oh yest yes I 1 I 1 had to say that cut but the smallest part of it I 1 I 1 got other things to say young oung 1 ini im I no good you know im a bell of a citizen I 1 drink and I 1 gamble and I 1 dont pay attention to my debts like I 1 ought I 1 dont amount to cut but its only when so methin happens like happened today that I 1 git th Inkin about it much and I 1 got this to say be cause of tile the things ive been think in this afternoon I 1 was lowern loween a snakes belly to come to you like I 1 did nd ind try to drive you out of this country rause pause I 1 you see its different now I 1 i that ls is I 1 come to you just after sunup like it like I 1 believed what the rest of en em b believe that you framed up some thin on tod and you knew all along that it was ivas rca that he did client cheat another pause then yes in a whisper er something unusual here and you haure I 1 an am in danger now and you figured the same way this morning then the change Is all in you yon jim in your your attitude I 1 might say 1 I guess gettin dost to it young scratched scratched his head and took h a deep breath its a little deep for me he laughed aint it what a man thinks that counts more than what he be does in hinkles lUn kles voice was a sort of pas plea for or understanding yes I 1 guess youre right you see young 1 l grasping tile the front of 0 jerrys slicker rind and 1001 looking in quickly about ill 1 I want to come cocoe to yu you today I 1 I 1 knew you caught tod denlin crooked even if I 1 dare let on to him nil ind the rest hut but I 1 had to make you think I 1 oe you any anything thin A lint brit mak egme feet feel like ii a skunk oh I 1 see ye res I 1 see how it is so it was necessary for au ou to make that play this morning that it jim I 1 almost reluctantly reluctant ly the ma man n said laid yes it ILI id spy say that was a queer fix tor for k a iha to att et himself into 1 I told you I 1 vas nt any good but you were arod wrong you are some good a lot of good Z id say it you erent vv you yon be waiting tor for me here to try to fix flap up what youve brikei broke I 1 well it aln aint i I 1 its all I 1 can do young shook ills his hend head no you can do quite a little more you can tell me tor fon instance ln stance wiy why you thought it necessary to believe what west said sah instead of what your ejel told lold you lie ile amounts to a lot around here tod west dors doos and you dont dare croas liffor him not enuch god young if you only new ill im m here im IBI rendy ready to listen 11 put I 1 cant tell 5 ou its clial concerns Cone erni you its nothing you know about lie ile lad 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 be could learn froni from any other source ne ile pressed his advantage its something that concerns you yon though thou h jim its something that makes you well that keeps beeps you under bests thumb that it or his lie heel ell i the mans voice 15 shook hool youve had a lot to think about today youve youre made nn an about face and have come clean with me on one detail now kow it be the smart thing to carry right on to put yourself in a position where you yon could look any man in the eye and say what you think and feel jim laughed harshly As if I 1 could I 1 and what if I 1 tried tri ell desperately pera tely what if I 1 tried you think I 1 want to find myself locked up and ills intentness had overridden his best judgment go on jim locked up for what the man was adamant refused to talk so go gently firmly kerry began arguing urging for confidence playing on the fundamental decency in jim hinkles nin kles heart beart 1 I cant I 1 cant 1 be burst out you dont know tod west I 1 why to get what he wants hed as soon charge an innocent man with murder as not therel there I 1 ive said it murder yes murder if id try to get out of doln what he wants me to do have me in jolt jail like that 1 l snapping his thumb and charged with killin miss nans father rut but you were suspected you ive heard the story yes I 1 was and it if it been for tod west nat bridger the sheriff dve took me sure as hell bell but when tod told them he played cards with you that settled it and if you had bad been playing cards with him all that evening ill L f 5 T then why has he got anything on you then why has be got anything on you A long iong moment of silence followed because Ue cause all I 1 know about what happened that night Is what tod told me said hinkle at last young gave a long drawn I 1 oli oh h h after a moment he added so I 1 it t yes it desperately it rind and hes bearin down on me nd ind li oldin it over me like a club that sounds sound goofy jim lie ile all bled you out of suspicion lies iles on record with his bis story he be but a man with ills stand ln can admit that be told a certain kind of lie nd ind get away with it cant be lie ile could go to em cm nd ind say that lie he think at the time I 1 had bad anything to do with th killin so lie he went to the front for mii me but that its worried him since and that things ve happened to male make him bele bellegie that bebby I 1 might not be as straight as lie he thought I 1 was last november lie he could do that lie he yes he could of course he could but how bow would that put aou ou in wrong with the sheriff alt all hell hed have to tell em cm jim said was lis what he swears to me Is s tile the truth nd ind put it on me just as sure us a hell 0 you mean that tha you vv erent pt at bests house that hat night dight that you yon play cards with him that evening 1 I stayed there surg sure enough leastwise I 1 woke up tip there jut when I 1 come in I 1 dunno what id done before that I 1 dunno nd ind it if I 1 played cards I 1 dunno that either I 1 goob good lord jim that sound so good doe it what w was as it that really happened the man drew w a tremulous sli sigh gh Dar damned tined it if I 1 know that Is w what hat happened between bout sundown rundown that night and tile the next iet mornin inor nin I 1 dont know any more about that hint in D you yon do young you see sec id hat a run in with cash the lie day before ile he an easy man to work tor for wed hall had a run in lind and lie he fire arod tile me nd got pretty rough about it which was its ills way A job was a job ant and I 1 figured id had a raw den deal nd ind know what hat I 1 was coln to to do lat last winter inter and I 1 lot lost my n v heart head I 1 told him 1 id it get back at him some way and a lot of bf others heard beard me 1 I 1 was broke it was the time when deer hunters was comini in to make their camps just before tile the season opened A lot of em cm allus stop at the landin to buy their grub I 1 hired out to tour four of 0 era cm to pick out a good campin spot and to work up idrew firewood for era em I 1 took my rifle alons along cause I 1 thought bebby I 1 might knock a buck overt over ho he paused and looked about and listened and then went on rapidly well I 1 got lem em all right up on big beaver they was good lads ads and paid me well they had a lot of booze and give we me a bottle and I 1 started back babli on foot bout sundown for the landin landan and the last I 1 know until moraln when I 1 woke up in cods he note me cpr up see ile he told me then that casad been killer killed ile he just said that cash was murdered last night eight and then he asked where was you jilt jim ile he was pleasant enough but he had a look in its ills eyes hed never had bad before and awant to tell you his grin went through me like a knife t 1 I know where id been young 11 evv id been wander ln round S with a rifle I 1 knew id fd been awful dam mad fit at cash I 1 I 1 just know anything more than that hinkle strained to swallow his breath quick rind and audible 1 I lost what little head I 1 had I 1 guess I 1 went down on my knees to him I 1 I 1 begged him to tell me where id been how I 1 come there I 1 was seared scared I 1 tell youl you I 1 lie he told me to brace up HP he know where id been he be said hed found me wan wander derin ln along tile the siding late in th evenin nobody knows just villen cash was killed but as west tells it that was probably some little time afterward he set there and 11 figured it alf out the ground wip froze hard bard as iron there any snow except in the timber whoever did the job left no sign and if it told around that id been out alone drunk and with a loaded rifle suspect me so he said he was always 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 jerrys mouth was a bit dry ohp significance the possible implications of this confession put him lit in a fever 1 I aint no killer young I 1 never wanted to hurt a man serious ive figured and figured over this thins thing most drove me crazy so sometimes melts I 1 was pret sore at cast cash but iut I 1 I 1 god young I 1 ve killed him sober I 1 ire re done lie he ran an unsteady hand over his face and no one knows that you did young with a host of ideas and theories and suspicions crowding its hla mind wanted to be alone now its fine of you to act tills this way jim lie he said im not going to forget it and dont you worry im going to be here for for quite a while perhaps who knows 11 haell develop about the best thing that you could liae hae done for your own good was to tell someone just what youve told me 0 night you wont whisper it not to a soul hinkle drew a breath of relief well ill be gone then I 1 I 1 ill see you yo again and about fl el ale god young never know I 1 CHAPTER vill I 1 OW as kerry youn young walked rn rin nalone NOW alone through the fine rain that mental snarl which jim II fl inkles confession had occasioned straightened out into this simple tact fact if jim had not a lawyer grouf alibi to absolve him from suspicion in the downer matter then tin tile whereabouts of tod west on that fateful night were also open to speculation ul ula tion hinkle was was no tiller killer despite the mans s of self nerry kerry was nas convinced that |