394 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



sleep. Nobody had seen the missing 

 men. My fears seemed realized. Lit- 

 tle was said, and a funereal atmosphere 

 prevailed. 



Could I believe my bloodshot eyes! 

 Yes, there were the guard and the 

 ranchman, black-faced like minstrels, 

 crippled like old stage horses, strug- 

 gling into camp. The case-hardened 

 old reprobates of my cursing, tired, 

 faithful crew from the "lower pre- 

 cincts" broke into a spontaneous cheer. 

 A lump obstructed my throat, and I 

 merely grasped the two by their hands 

 and led them to the camp stove for 

 their coffee. 



The guard finally recounted their ex- 

 periences. First the eddying smoke 

 and the increasing wind had aroused 

 their apprehension. Then the roar of 

 the oncoming crown fire had spurred 

 them forward. As the walls of the 

 canyon did not permit of escape to 

 either side, their only chance lay in 

 gaining timber line ahead, a distance 

 only vaguely known by either. Up 

 they clambered. A sense of anxiety 

 soon took the place of the first spirit 

 of adventure, as violent exertion 

 brought them distress, and the smoke 

 was increasingly irritating. Soon a 

 louder roar and crackling convinced 

 them that the fire was overtaking them. 

 The way was steep and boulder strewn, 

 the smoke choking. Fright urged 

 them on. The red glared dully down 

 the gulch through black smoke; the 

 heat was already appreciable. Gasping, 

 terrified, and exhausted they wildly, 

 but more feebly, stumbled forward. 

 The smoke was blinding them now. 

 Flying embers and pieces of burning 

 bark shot past them, and burned holes 

 in their clothing. Then, when hope 

 was all but gone, a bunch of scrub wil- 

 low was in their path, and then another. 

 Rank grass appeared. The ranchman 

 shouted encouragement, for to his ex- 

 perienced eye these were evidences that 

 timber line was gained. Now they 

 were in dense, scrub willows that 

 scarcely reached waist height. On and 

 up they slowly faltered, but safe. Re- 

 laxation overcame them, and a nervous 

 reaction caused them to jest about their 



recent plight. But soon sprains and 

 bruises, previously unnoticed, began to 

 appeal. Thirst was parching their 

 throats. 



By brief advances they gained the 

 crest. A lurid spectacle appeared be- 

 low a world afire. Embers still 

 whirled past them. Could the flaming 

 missiles possibly touch off the heavy 

 spruce on the Bear Creek side? Duty 

 demanded an immediate inquiry. Down 

 the other side they painfully made their 

 way. A tiny column of thin blue 

 smoke greeted them here, and another 

 there. Again they were running, their 

 infirmities forgotten, but toward the 

 fires. They beat out the flames here, 

 only to find themselves more urgently 

 needed elsewhere. With bleeding 

 hands they scraped earth to throw on 

 resin-filled, burning snags. Flames 

 were curling up from the needle-lit- 

 tered forest floor, spreading like the 

 ripples from a stone thrown into a 

 placid lake. Sometimes it seemed that 

 only two were no match for the in- 

 sidious blazes. Once the ranchman 

 fainted. He was dragged from danger 

 and revived. Again the two men 

 wrestled with odds against them. For 

 hours they fought. It seemed to them 

 their whole life time had been spent in 

 fighting the flames. Burning thirst, 

 physical and mental exhaustion were 

 always present, but not one moment of 

 respite. 



Indomitable will and perseverance, 

 however, were beginning to tell. No 

 longer did the battle seem hopeless, 

 for they were surely succeeding, and 

 the prospects of victory inspired them 

 to renewed exertions. The day 

 passed, and night ushered in a calm. 

 Finally one could hold the line of de- 

 fense, yet with some danger, while the 

 other went in search of water down the 

 forest-clad slope, returned and relieved 

 his companion. Hunger, faintness, and 

 fatigue held vigil with the two as they 

 made their incessant rounds, for no foe 

 is so crafty as a forest fire. 



Long after midnight, when all 

 seemed secure, they painfully climbed 

 the crest. Far down the canyon that 

 they had traveled long, long ago there 



