The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1926-09-15
The Flaming Forest
By JAMES OLIVER CCRWOOD

He felt no pain. His dizziness
was gone. His mind had grown
suddenly clear and alert. The
warmth Of the water told him
. almost instantly that it had been
taken from the river some time
ago He observed the change in
sun and shadows. With the in.
stfnct OF Il man trained to note
details, he pulled out his watch.
1t was almost s o'clock. More
than three hours had passed since
the sandpiper had got in front OF
his gun,
He did not attempt to rise to
his feet. but scanned with slower
and more careful scrutiny the
edge OF the forest and the river
He had been mystified while
cringing for his life behind the
rock, but he was infinitely more
so now Greater desire he had
never had than this which thrilled
him in these present minutes of
his Observation-Disclosures to look
upon the woman again.
Eyes Of Fire
And then. all at once, there
came back to him a mental flash
of the other. He remembered, as
lie something was coming back to
him out Of dream, how the
whimsical tWistings OF mis- sick
brain had made him see two faces
instead of one. Yet he knew that
the first picture OF his mysterious.
assailant. the picture painted in
his brain when he had tried to
raise his pistol. was the right one.
He had seen her dark eyes
agIow; he had seen the sunlit
sheen of her black hair rippling
in the wind: he had seen the
white pallor In her face, thu
slimness of her as she stood over
him in horror-he remembered
even the clutch OF her white hand
at her throat.
A moment before she had tried
to kill him. And then he had
looked up and had seen her like
that It must have been some
unaccountable trick in his brain
that, had flooded her hair with
golden fire at times.
His eyes followed a furrow In
the white sand which led from
where he sat bolstered against
Z the tree down to his pack and
the rock. It was the trail made
by his body when she had dragged
him up to the shelter and cool.
ness Of the tinber
One OF his laws OF physical
care was to keep himself trained
down to q hundred and sixty.
but he wondered how she had
dragged up even so much as that
of dead weight. Tt had taken
great deal Of effort. He could
see distinctly three different
places in the sand where she
had stopped to rest.
An Expert Analyst
Carrigan had earned sreputar
ton as the expert analyst Of ''N''
Division. In delicate matters II
was seldom that McVane did not
take him into consultation. He
possessed an almost uncanny. grip
on the working processes OF 4
criminal mind, and the first rule
he had set down for himself
was to regard the acts OF Omis.
sion rather than the one out.
standing act OF commission. Bur
when he proved to himself that
the chief actor in g drama pos
sessed a normal rather than a
criminal mind. he found himself
in the position of checkmate. It
was q thrilling game.
And he was frankly puzzled
now, untfl-one after another
he added up the sum total Of
what had been omitted in this
instance Of his own personal adj
venture. Hidden in her ambush,
the woman who had shot : i'm
had been in both purpose and
act an assassin. Her determine
ton had been to kill him. She
had disregarded the white flag
with which he had pleaded for
mercy. Her craftsmanship was
of fiendish cleverness. Up to
her last shot she had been to
all intent and purpose. a MUIR
deFess.
The change had come when she
looked down upon him, bleeding
and helpless, in the sand. Un.
doubleday she had thought ne