The Flaming Forest

im, could not get beyond the reach of his voice-and he waited. After all, there might be profit in a reasonable degree of caution. He crept back toward his rifle, sensing the fact that movement n

rer. There was a suspicious secretiveness in its approach. Perhaps the lady with the beautiful

ng grated lightly upon sand and pebbles, and then he heard the guarded plash of feet in shallow water and saw some one pulling

M'sieu

oice, but Carrigan held his tongue

Bateese! I a

Her words trembled with distress. "Bateese-if

an, raising himself a little. "H

into the glow of her eyes, and in that pale light which precedes the coming of stars and moon the fancy struck him that she was lovelier than in the full radiance of the sun. He heard a throb

hurt-badly?

t. I think a part of my head is gone. At least you've

because of the shortness of his body and the length of his arms. In the half light he might have been a huge animal, a hulking creature of some sort walking upright. Carrigan's fingers closed more tightly on the butt of his automatic. The woman began

on was coming up, a little pale as yet, but triumphant in the fact that clouds had blotted out the sun an hour before his time. Between this bar of light and himself he saw the head of Bateese. It was a wild, savage-looking head, bound pirate-fashion round the forehead with a huge Hudson's Bay kerchief. Bate

tagger along on his own feet or creep on his hands and knees, and he grunted as much to Bateese on the way to the canoe. He felt, at the same time, that the situation owed him something more of discussion and explanation. Even now, after half killing him, the woman was taking a rather high-handed advantage of him. She might at least have assured him that she had made a mistake and was sorry. But she did not speak to h

her face was toward David, and fo

who you are, and where

n," she said. "My brigade is d

Boulain scows had traded freight with the upper-river craft. Until this year he was positive they had not come as far south as Athabasca Landing. Boulain-Boulain-The name repeated itself over and over in his mind. Bateese shoved off the canoe, and the woman's paddle dipped in and out of the water beginning to shimmer in moonlight. But he could not, for a time, get himself beyond the pounding of that name in his brain. It was not merely that he h

d. There was a space of only five or six feet bet

you have

to kill him. It was his right to demand an explanation. And it was his duty to get her back to the Landing, where the law would ask an accounting of her. She must know that. There was only one way in which she could have learned his name, and that was by prying into his identification pa

pain between his eyes. It almost drew a cry from him

nd almost succeeded. Have

nd I am sorry. But you must not talk. You must r

top-heavy and filled him with a desire to crumple up somewhere. He was clear-mindedly conscious of this and of his fight against the weakness. But in those moments when he felt better and his head was clear of pain, he had not seriously thought of a fractured skul

ith a voice that was like music. She had spoken perfect English, but in her words were the inflection and velvety

duty, and here was duty right at hand, a thousand miles south of Black Roger Audemard, the wholesale murderer he was after. He would have sworn on

arrigan shut his eyes tighter and wondered if he was thinking straight. He believed he was badly hurt, but he was as strongly convinced that his min

s almost like the tinkling of tiny bells, and more and more bell-like became that sound as he listened to it. It struck a certain note for him. And to that note another added itself, until in the purling rhythm of the river he caught the murmuring monotone of a name

nne Marie-Anne Boulain. For the forest people it was not an hour in which to talk. The moon had risen swiftly, and the stars were out. Where there had been gloom, the w

saw it now. She was bareheaded, as he had seen tier first, and her hair hung down her back like a shimmering mass of velvety sable in the star-and-moon glow. Something told Carrigan she was going to turn her face in his direction, and he dropped his hand over hi

have her down at Barracks this minute. He would never forget that three-quarters of an hour behind the rock, not if he lived to be a hundred. And if he did live, she was going to pay, even if she was lovelier than Venus and all the Graces combined. He felt irritated with himself that he should have observed in such a silly way the sable glow of her hair in the moonlight. And her eyes. Wha

A shame!" But the rascally Fanchet wa

her about Carmin. But there was a big gulf between the names Fanchet and Boulain. The Fanchets had come from the dance hal

either Bateese nor the girl had thought of disarming him. It was carel

im in that last moment when he had made an effort to use his pistol. It was she who had tried to murder him and who had turned faint-hearted when it came to finishing the job. But his knowledge of these things he

your pardon," h

sh had touched her bare neck. He was smiling when she turned. In h

! I think-I know-that I accused you of shooting me. It's impossible. I couldn't think of it-In my clear mind. I am quite sure that I know the rascally half-

of his own smile. It seemed to him that he saw the corne

are feeling b

me for-for saying such

e forgiven for lying, yes," she said. "I forgive you that, because it is sometime

ut

is not good for you: Bateese, w

rd a movemen

e paddle in my han'!" came the voice of Bateese close to

," grunted Carrigan

the witching slimness of the lovely Jeanne Marie-Anne Boulai