The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1937-07-22

| quickly 10 De SIlOLneTeu LII dark
ness.
Kenning rolled clear and was
staggering to his feet. He Stun
bled forward, looking dazedly down
at the motionless form of Jack
Hammond. Then, with hand fum-
bling weakly at his swollen mouth,
| he glanced slowly about him.
'See if there's still fire in that
stove"
Lew shade crossed the room.
sYeh. There's some Goals left"
Lets dump them out on the
floor"
"What for?"
IF the place burns down, no
| body'll know who was in it-whose
skeleton it u.s." came thickly.
| Lew shade looked up.
They'll know it isn't me-if I'm
around"
Then you'll have to hide out"
He gestured impatiently. We'll, hur-
ry! Scrape those Goals out on the
floor And put some kindling and
wood on them.
He stood Keeling while Lew shade
obeyed; clarity of brain was gone:
Bruce Kenning was foggy, mentally
inert. At last they turned for the
door. Kenning looked back at the
smoking bed of Goals from which
small flames were beginning to char
the clean wood which had been piled
atop them. Then he glanced to-
ward the still form of Jack Ham
mond.
His chests movingl" Lew shade
said. He amt dead"
Kenning Strengthened groggily.
Again he rubbed his hands over
swollen eyes.
He will be-" came thickly, as he
pushed Lew shade through the door.
Finally, blush lick of fire be-
gan to make its way along the floor,
infiammable from the spattered
grease of cooking. A quarter Of an
hour passed. A window had cracked
from the heat OF crawling flame,
following upward along the edges
| of protruding logs. The air had
become suffocating.
Perhaps it was this which at last
caused Jack Hammond to stir. That
was all, for moment, merely a
loose, disjointed movement of the
legs, clutching OF the hands, which
soon died away. Then the move
ment came again, the arms rose,
moving toward his head, only to
aimlessly fall. The man groaned.
The fire licked closer; it now was
beginning to writhe along the cross
/ beams.
Jack Hammond opened his eyes,
staring upward. Something leaped
and darted, like the tongue of
monster. Yearly he lowered his
| lids against the sight. But slowly,
deeper and deeper into his grudg-
ingly awakening consciousness the
knowledge that the air contained
peculiar, .horror-laden bite, queer,
unpleasant, soaring quality which
invaded his every nasal passage
and which at last forced itself to
his dulled brain. This acrid odor
was like the odor of death; sud-
denly woodsmen instincts were
awakened, sharply and with terror.
/, The smell of firel
Realization full upon him, he
strove to rise, only to drop to his
knees and weave uncertainty there.
At last he began to crawl From
behind him, outside the cabin, had
come a peculiar, shifting crackle,
ending in putting roar, as fame,
now eating through the cracked
window into the tangled bush, swept
up the dry bark of a dead spruce,
leaped to the resinous top of
full-needled tree and there explod-
ed.
It gave Hammond the strength
of terror, calling into play all the
highly developed forces Of recupera-.
tive ability bred in him by years of
tremendous activity. Jack Ham,
mond came from phase of exist
ence where life depended upon huge
reservoirs of strength.
He gained his feet and reeled to
the door. 1t yielded to the plung-
ing weight of his body; he half
stumbled, haf-fell outside, into
world of red.
But, as yet, there was more noise
and smoke and color than danger.
He shook his. head, as If to clear
it from painful cobwebs. Dazedly
he looked about him, arms loose,
shoulders sagging. His bloody Jaws
contorted. Then he weaved into the
trail.
Soon he had gained the strength
TO increase his speed to a dogtrot.
The wind was spreading the fire
swiftly behind him, now no longer
were there long intervals between
the creeping advance Of the flame
and the putting outburst as it
reached tree top. The sound was
almost continuous; the forest was
lighted as If by flares. Hammond
moved more swiftly. Both his brain
and his fatigue we're clearing. But
at last he slowed his pace, his head
cooked inquiringly.
ITO BE CONTINUED