52 Trails to Woods and Waters 



tongues. Its roar was like the roar of the 

 cyclone, and there were undertones and over- 

 tones, hissing and snapping, sputtering and 

 cracking. 



" The earth was so parched that the flames 

 ran in the grass almost as fast as the deer and 

 the foxes, while the main fire leaped from 

 treetop to treetop over gaps of fifty feet. 



" Whenever it came to a tall pine that was 

 dry as tinder it leaped up as though it had 

 caught in a powder mill and the flames shot 

 heavenward two or three hundred feet. One 

 by one I saw my tall neighbors wrapped in 

 flames and I knew that my fate was sealed. 



" Despair clutched me and I shivered like 

 a human thing at the thought of what a gigan- 

 tic funeral torch I would make. Then a 

 rumble of distant thunder and a strong puff 

 of west wind sent a thrill of hope through me. 

 The rumble was followed by another and yet 

 another, and then a peal of thunder woke the 

 hillside. On came the flames vying with the 

 thunder that now rolled incessantly. The 

 flames in the underbrush reached my trunk 



