flowed southward through a straight, mountain- 

 walled valley that was about half a mile wide. 

 Along the river, occupying about half the width 

 of the valley, was a picturesque grassy avenue 

 that stretched for miles between ragged forest- 

 edges. 



There was but little wind and, hoping to see 

 the big game that the flames might drive into 

 the open, I innocently took my stand in the 

 centre of the grassy stretch directly before the 

 fire. This great smoky fire-billow, as I viewed 

 it from the heights while I was descending, 

 was advancing with a formidable crooked front 

 about three miles across. The left wing was 

 more than a mile in advance of the active though 

 lagging right one. As I afterward learned, the 

 difference in speed of the two wings was caused 

 chiefly by topography; the forest conditions 

 were similar, but the left wing had for some time 

 been burning up a slope while the right had 

 traveled down one. Fire burns swiftly up a 

 slope, but slowly down it. Set fire simultane- 

 ously to the top and the bottom of a forest on a 

 steep slope and the blaze at the bottom will 



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