The Mena weekly star., 1918-02-07


 go around to Cougar bay if l was you. Mrs Jesk He'a Aable to come in thefa any time You could stay at the housa tonight Eve y.hng around there. shaeks and all. wps burned days ago. so the fire can't touch the house Tna crew there has gaIb and q cook kinda expect Jack'n he there unless he fell in with chem constables"
 She trudged silently back to the Wa. terbug. Barlow started the engine, and the boot took up her slow way As they skirted the shore Stella began to see here and there the fierce havoc of the fire. Blaek trunks of r. reared nakedly to the smoky sky. lay risscross on bank all beach. Nowhere was there a green blade. a living hush--nothing but charred black, melancholy waste of smoking litter, with here and there a pitch soaked stub still waving it's banner of flame or glowing redly. Back of those scared skeietons a shifting cloud of smoke obscured everything.
 Presently they drew ia to Cougar bay. Men moved about on the beach, two bulky seows stood nose-on to the shore. Upon them rested half a dozen donkey engines, thick beltied, upright machines, blown down, dead on their skids About these in great coils lay piled the gear of logging, miles of steel cable, blocks, the varied tools of the logger's trade. The Panther lay between the scows, with lines from each passed over her towing bitts.
 Stella could see the outline of the white bungalow on its grassy knoll. They had saved only that, of all the camp, by a fight that sent three men to the hospital on a day when the wind shifted into the northwest and sent d sheet of flame rolling through the tim Der and down on Cougar bay like a tidal wave, so Barlow told her. He cupped his hands now and called 10 his fellows on the beach.
 No, Fyfe had not come back yet
 "Go up to the mouth of Tumbllng creek, Stella ordered
 Barlow swung the Waterbug about, cleared the point and stood up along the shore. Stella sat on n cushioned neai af the back of the pilothouse hard eyed, struggling against that dead weight that seemed to grow and grow in her breast That elemental fury raging iii t woods made her shrink Her own hand had helped to loose it, 1ai tier hands were ij0weTisss t0 stay it; she could only sit and watch and wait eaten up with misery of her own ul-t ftat a fear she would not name to her self
 Behind that density of atmosphere the sun had gone~to rest. The first shadows of dusk were closing in, be tokened by a thickenng of the smoke fog into which the Waterbug slowly plowed. To port dlmming shore line; to starboard. aft and dead ahead, water and air merged in two boat lengths. Barlow leaned through the pilothouse window, one hand on the wheel, strain ing his eyes on their course Suddenly he threw out the clutch, shut down his throttle control with one hand and yanked with the other at the cord which loosed the waterbug's shrill whistle.
 Dead ahead, almost upon them, came an answering toot.
 T thought l heard a gas boat" Bar tow exclaimed. sSufferin' Jerusaleml Hi, therer'
 He threw his weight on the wheel, sending it hard over. The cruiser still had way on. The momentum of her ten ton weight scarcely had slackened, and she answered the helm. Out of the deceptive thickness ahead loomed the sharp, flaring bow of another forty footer, sheering quickly as her pilot sighted them. She was upon them and abreast and gone, with a watery purI of her bow wave, subdued mutter of exhaust passing so near that an active man could have leaped the space be- tween.
 "Sufferin' Jerusalemr' Barlow repeat cd. turning to Stella. Did you see that, Mrs. Jack7 They got him"
 Stella nodded. She, too, had seen Monohan seated on the afterdeck, his head sunk on his breast. irons on his wrists A glimpse. no more.
 That'll help some." Barlow grunted. Quick work. But they come blame near eattin' us down, beltin' along at ten knots when you can't see forty feet ahead"
 An empty beach greeted them at Tumbling creek. Reluctantly Stella bade Barlow turn back It would soon be dark, and Barlow said he would be taking chances of piling on the shore before he could see 1t or getting lost in the profound black that would shut down on the water with daylights end.
 But by luck Barlow made his way, blundering fairly into the landing at the foot of the path that led to the bungalow as if the cruiser knew the way to her old berth And as he reach ed the float the front windows on the hillock broke out yellow. pale blurs in the smoky night
 Well, say" Barlow pointed-'I bet nickel Jacks home. See? Nobody but him would be in the house.
 "I'n go up" Stella said.
 An right. guess you know the path better'n do,r Barlow said. "T'n take the Bug around into the bay"
 Stella ran up the path. She halted halfway up the steps and leaned against fhQ rail fo catch her breath.