84 The Tree and How it Dies 



a few minutes of his time, but hunting and fish- 

 ing are best early in the day, and so he goes off 

 hastily. Soon after sunrise the wind comes up. 

 The campfire is still burning as the hunter left 

 it. The wind strikes the fire and picks up some 

 of the burning coals; they scatter to right and 

 left, until there are a dozen fires in place of one. 

 Some time during the day another hunter, or 

 probably a fire warden, sees the smoke and gives 

 the alarm. Men come into the woods with pails 

 and shovels. They fill the pails with water from 

 a nearby brook, and throw it on the spreading 

 fires as quickly as they can. When there is no 

 water the fire fighters use their shovels, scatter- 

 ing loose earth over the blaze. They may have to 

 fight the fire all through that day and night, 

 perhaps for many days; and before that fire is 

 finally out it may be necessary to start another 

 -a "back-fire." Then, where the two meet, 

 both go out. When the fire is finally extinguished, 

 only a bare, dreary stretch of land, with not a 

 single living thing in sight, is left. 



Instead of the cool, green woods, there are now 

 only dead trees and blackened stumps. Deer, 

 rabbits, and foxes all run together from a fire like 



