A light was burning in the Evans cottage as the bus drew up a short distance away. Flash walked rapidly, realizing that his mother must be waiting up for him.
Hearing his step on the front porch, she opened the door.
“You shouldn’t have waited up, Mother,” he protested.
“Jimmy!” she exclaimed in horror. “Your forehead! You’ve been in an accident!”
Despite his protests, she hastened to the medicine cabinet for iodine and adhesive tape. As she bathed and bandaged the wound, she drew from Flash an account of what had occurred.
He ended by saying: “This was extra work I was doing tonight, so I’ll not be fired. But I figure it’s bound to come before many weeks. Someone is out to get my job!”
“I almost wish you would lose it,” Mrs. Evans shuddered. “Since you started work at the _Ledger_, I’ve not had an easy moment. I’m so afraid something dreadful will happen to you. If only you hadn’t become mixed up in this arson affair!”
“I had a close call tonight,” Flash admitted. “But the same thing isn’t likely to happen twice. What makes me sore is that by losing the picture, I’ve fixed it so the real head of the arson gang never will be captured.”
“Maybe not, but the result is the same. I muffed a wonderful opportunity to round up those men, get a scoop for the _Ledger_, and at the same time make a name for myself.”
“Things have been running against you,” his mother murmured sympathetically, “but it can’t continue that way indefinitely.”
“It can, unless I do some tall thinking,” he replied grimly. “Someone in the office has been after my job from the day I started work there!”
“You’re alluding to that man, Fred Orris?” his mother asked in a quiet voice.
“I’ve heard he has someone in mind for my job. But I don’t know whom I suspect. The thing has me completely baffled.”
“From what you’ve told me of Mr. Orris, it scarcely seems to me he would be the type of man to resort to a brutal attack. If I were you, I should be very careful about accusing anyone.”
“Oh, I know better than to do that,” Flash promised gravely. “But from now on, I’m trusting no one! And I may think of some scheme to trap that fellow, whoever he is!”
Flash awoke the next morning to find himself clawing the bed clothing and fighting for breath. He had been dreaming that he was locked in a death struggle with a masked man who had attacked him in a dark alley.