The clothes were gone. The flesh was
seared and shriveled. The process of incineration was almost complete.
After a few fascinated moments his eyes searched further along the
remains of the old post wall. Another figure lay sprawling on the
ground. Near by it a heavy pistol had fallen wide. A rifle, too, lay
across the second body.
Every detail was swiftly absorbed by the man's keenly active brain. He
stood back from the gutted precincts and gazed speculatively upon the
picture. His imagination reconstructed something of what he believed
must have occurred in the deep heart of these wrecked woodlands.
What of the fire? How had it been started? Was it the work of an
incendiary? Had the heat of the summer sun wrought the mischief? Had
the hut itself supplied the trouble? None of these questions offered
real enlightenment through the answers he could supply. No. He saw
the superheated furnace of the woods blazing, and he saw men struggling
with all their might to save themselves, and some of their more
precious belongings.
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