The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1911-05-04

He Fired Too Soon.
so long, almost led him to attempt 10
break into the hut then and there. and
settle matters; but his saner common
sense told him that the settlement
would almost inevitably be against
him should he attempt It.
He was still entertaining this no
ton, however, when luminous idea
occurred to him. Around on the far
side Of the hut, the west side, which
looked toward the headlands, was a
good-sized heap OF fire-wood. which
Philip had not been able to find
room for inside the hut. Roscoe had
with him a flint and steel and a
quantity of tow. He never Travelled
without them.
With infinite precaution against
noise he began laying a fire against
the windward wall of the hut. SQUAT
ting, with his rife across his knees
ready to use in case of an emergency,
he methodically whitfield a quantity Of
dry splinters off few of the sticks.
ignited them and carefully nursed the
blaze, until. under the rising wind. 1t
grew to the beginning Of fair-sized
conflagration. Then, catching up his
rife, he slipped around the other side
of the hut, crouching down not more
than 20 PAGES away. and waited.
Already the FIRE was burning finely
ana the silhouetted outline of the hut
was plain against the glow of 1t.
His plan was a good one. The peo-
pie inside the hut would have no
choice and. probably, no thought, but
of escape. When they rushed out, as
they almost certainly would, bewild-
cred and confused. and plainly visible
to him against the glow of the fire be-
hind them. 1t would be easy. from the
safe shelter of the darkness. to shoot
the man.
1t was only. indeed, by the merest
hairs breadth that Roscoe's plain
| failed to work The instinct of es-
cape by the nearest way from a burn
ing building is almost irresistible, and
1t led Philip and Jeanne to the very
edge of the destruction, which Roscoe
nad Planned 1Or them.
Cayley had his hand upon the bolt
Of the great door, whittier he had
sprung when Jeanne's cry had awak-
ened him. before the saving second
thought stayed him and held him
frozen where he was. For perhaps
five seconds he stood there, while the
memory Of the unexplained bullet hole
he had found In the body of the great
bear, and the belated observation that
the fire. which was destroying the hut,
must have been started outside OF 1t,
articulated themselves into a perfect
ly clear perception of Roscoe's plan.
The other way! The other wayi"
he cried. motioning Jeanne back
through the storeroom. Into the
cave. He Is waiting for US outside.
That's why he fred the hut Quick
We must save all we can"
And 30 it happened that Roscoe
waited In vain. He saw the blaze he
had kindled reach its fiery climax,
and then In spite Of the Icy gale which
was tanning 1t, die down into an
angry, sullen, smouldering glow. But
no man appeared to furnish a mark
for his waiting rife. and no woman
was delivered defenseiess. shelteriess.
into his british banda
The failure of his plan brought
back a moment or two of the old sup
erstitious horror, but his mind was
braced against 1t now and did not
readily give way. Somehow, the fail
ure must be ountable-humanly &C
countable.
AT last he eolved this mystery, too.
partly solved 1t. at least, for he re-
membered the ice cave back Of the
hut. His first impulse, when he
thought of 1t, was to attack them
there and now, to charge In over the
red hot Goals of the hut and settle
matters once and for all.
He was sane enough to see that the
advantage would be all against him.
In close quarters he could not do
much with rife; and he remember
ed the deadly revolver shooting he
had seen upon the body of the bear.
Also. he would have to go into the
dark, with the freight behind him.
No. It wouldn't do. He must wait.
Well, he could afford TO waft--much
better than they could.
Reluctantly he rose, turned his
broad back TO the gale, and began ma
king his laborious way back to the
cave.
It was high time. His face was
frozen already. The intensity of the
cold had already rendered his rife
useless, for the whole mechanism Of
the breech was frozen fast. His STRAIT
agem had failed in its ultimate inten-
ton, for nature had laid her great Icy