A Tale from the Skidway 53 



and began burning swiftly up. There was 

 sixty good feet to climb, before my branches 

 were reached, but I knew if once my top was 

 kindled nothing could save me. Deeply the 

 flames burned into my side, making a scar 

 that I still carry, while the thunders rolled 

 and the skies piled up angry clouds. 



" The mighty sheets of flame that leaped 

 from treetop to treetop, were only a furlong 

 away when the flood gates of heaven were 

 opened and I was saved from a terrible 

 doom. 



" Then how the rain fell, drenching the 

 parched earth with great sheets of water that 

 the dust drank up almost before it touched 

 the earth. In five minutes the flames that had 

 scorched my side for fifteen or twenty feet 

 were out, and torrents of water were running 

 in all the little gullies and every blade of grass 

 was rejoicing in a language all its own. 



" Baffled and subdued the flames hissed and 

 sputtered, roared and cracked, but their fury 

 was checked and they finally died out, leaving 

 a long black waste behind them. 



