The Flaming Forest

wn eyes were level and clear, waiting. They were not warm or nervous, but so coolly and calmly beautiful that they disturbed Carrigan. She raised her hands, her slim fingers crumpling

hought made him uneasy. And she sat waiting, a vivid, softly-breathi

your face-horror, amazement, as though you had done something you did not know you were doing. You see, I want to be charitable. I want to u

d, nor did it betray an unusual emotion. It was simply decisive, and the unflinching steadiness of

t I must make

no

out of St

e wishes to t

und and made me comfortable. In a hazy sort of way I knew what was going on. And a curious thing h

, or he would have seen her fin

It is not strange that you should

o hear two voic

but continued to l

see your face and then hers, again and again-and-since then-I have thought I wa

s, looking at them. "The

d, "and I doubt if they coul

ve him warning that he was approaching the dead-line again. "Bateese says I was a fool for doing it. And if you saw two of m

I am not through. But why ask you q

an not. You

our hu

or St.

said, "I raved about a number of

oddess. You were so near dying that of course it wasn't amusing. Otherwise it would have been. You see MY hair is

say 'almost'

in the sun there are red fires in it. And the sun was

like to know that it was you who dragged me up into the shade af

raid of you-so much so that at times I almost wondered if Bateese wasn't right. It made me understand what would happen to

kill me if I try to escape?" he asked. "Becau

. Pierre," she acknowledged. "If you had no mercy for her, you cou

ain. "But her brother was a criminal of the worst sort. And I was convinced then, and am convinced now, t

the face of St. Pierre's wife. Her cheeks were flaming, and there were burning fires screened behind the long lashes of her e

You judged her-as you hinted in your fever-because she fo

ve she w

nges of velvet closing over the fire

he conceded. "Bu

hat ever lived, M'sieu David. It is not hard to fight for a g

him of unfairness to the one creature on earth his strength and his manhood were bound to protect-a woman. She had convict

ong. I remember now that when I got Fanchet I manacled him, and she sat beside him all through that first night. I didn't intend to sleep, but I w

ng up at him. "Yes, she could have killed

have hesitated. I caught her twice trying to steal my gun. And a third time, late at night, when we were within a day or two of Athabasca Landing, s

brother. You didn't look at it from a woman's viewpoint. A woman will fight, and kill, to save one she loves. She tried, perhaps, and failed. The result was that he

sorry-very sorry-that I talked about her when I was sick. I don't want you to think I am a bad sort-that way. I'm going to think about it. I'm going over the whole thing again, fr

t. He could not help seeing that-a flashing instant in which the indefinable confession of it was

It was the voice he had heard twice in his sickness, the voice that had roused him from his sleep last night, crying out in his room for Black Roger Audemard. It came to him dis

t," said David. "It was in this cab

he also turned so that he was look

h, and splendidly proportioned. And in that same breath with which shock and pity came to him, David knew that it was accident and not birth that had malformed the great body that stood like a crouching animal in the open door. At first he saw only the grotesqueness of it-the long arms that almost touched the floor, the broken back, the twisted shoulders-and then, with a deeper thrill, he saw nothing of these things but only the face and the head of the man. There

of the man, saw the slumbering fire of a dog-like worship in them. They shifted slowly, taking in the cabin, questing, seeking, searching for something which they could not find. The lips moved, and again

ng softly into his upturned face, her eyes shining and a strange glow in her cheeks. Carrigan, looking at them, felt his heart stand still. WAS THIS MAN ST. PIERRE? The thought

seen Black Roger Audemard. If he comes, I will

breath, as that great, broken hulk of a man moved out slowly from under the caress of her arm and went on his way. For a space she looked after him. Then in a swift movement she closed the door and faced Carrigan. She did not speak, but waited.