lance he turned his head and
looked out of the window. At first he thought it might be the afterglow
of the sunset until a word from Shad aroused him to the real
significance of the light.

"Fire!" gasped the lumberman.

"Fire!" echoed Peter, aghast.

"They've set the woods afire, Mister," muttered Shad helplessly.

At the same moment the telephone from the house began jangling
furiously. It was McGuire, who had made the same discovery.

"Yes," replied Peter to the hysterical questions. "It's the lumber camp.
They've broken loose and set the woods afire. You've got to get all the
men you can together and rush them down there. Where's Brierly? On the
way? Oh, all right. Good. He'll take me down and I'll send him back....
Yes. I've got a clew to Hawk ... I don't know, but I'm going to try it.
I'm taking Shad Wells with me ... The old tool house by the cedar swamp.
Brierly will know. Send the men on in relays when they come--with
shovels and sacks.... What did you say?... What?... Oh, 'D----n the
woods.'... All right. I'll get the paper if I can ... Yes. It's my
affair as much as yours now.... Yes.... Good-by."

Peter hung up the receiver and turned to Shad, who had risen, his arm in
the sling, just as Brierly came running up the path to the door.

CHAPTER XXI

THE INFERNO

The way through the woods was long, but Beth stumbled on, urged by the
rough tone and strong hand of her captor. She knew the woods well,
better than Hawk, but she had never ventured so far into the forest as
he led her. She felt very certain that he knew even less than she of the
way he was taking, and that his object in avoiding the roads and paths
which led to the southward was to keep her hidden from the eyes of any
persons that might be met on the paths between Black Rock and the lumber
camp. But after a while she began to think that he knew with more or
less definiteness the general direction in which they were moving, for
he stopped from time to time to look at the sun and get his bearings.
And then with a gruff word he would move on again, always to the south
and east, and she knew that he had already decided upon their
destination. With her hands still bound behind her, progress through the
underbrush was difficult, for the branches stung her like whip-lashes,
and thorn-bushes caught at her arms and tore her flimsy frock to shreds.
The gag in her mouth made breathing painful, but Hawk seemed to be
unaware of her sufferings or