86 The Wilderness Hunter. 



feed of the stock without spending every ounce of his 

 strength in the effort to put a stop to its ravages even 

 when, as in our case, the force of men and horses at 

 hand is so small as to offer only the very slenderest hope 

 of success. 



We set about the task in the way customary in the 

 cattle country. It is impossible for any but a very large 

 force to make head against a prairie fire while there is any 

 wind ; but the wind usually fails after nightfall, and 

 accordingly the main fight is generally waged during the 

 hours of darkness. 



Before dark we drove to camp and shot a stray steer, 

 and then split its carcass in two lengthwise with an axe. 

 After sundown the wind lulled ; and we started towards 

 the line of fire, which was working across a row of broken 

 grassy hills, three quarters of a mile distant. Two of us 

 were on horseback, dragging a half carcass, bloody side 

 down, by means of ropes leading from our saddle-horns 

 to the fore and hind legs ; the other two followed on foot 

 with slickers and wet saddle blankets. There was a red- 

 dish glow in the night air, and the waving, bending lines 

 of flame showed in great bright curves against the hill- 

 sides ahead of us. 



When we reached them, we found the fire burning in 

 a long, continuous line. It was not making rapid head- 

 way, for the air was still, and the flames stood upright, 

 two or three feet high. Lengthening the ropes, one of 

 us spurred his horse across the fire line and then, wheel- 

 ing, we dragged the carcass along it ; one horseman being 

 on the burnt ground, and one on the unburnt grass, while 



