A FOREST-FIRE. 223 



All at once, as I stand talking to him, a red light 

 shoots up over the tops of the firs, and sinks down 

 again. Then the distant note of a horn comes 

 through the forest ; the light flashes up stronger 

 than before, and sinks again. The sounding of the 

 horn and the light in the sky mean that the forest is 

 on fire. Entering his cottage quickly, the woodman 

 takes from the wall a cow's horn and blows a blast 

 loud enough to waken the Seven Sleepers. Before 

 its echoes have died away it is answered ; and again 

 the answer is repeated farther on. 



"Wait a moment till I put on my gaiters and get 

 my axe, and we'll go together. It would take a mor- 

 tal power to keep you away from a sight like that, I 

 reckon." 



Over the camp-ground we go, and as we pass up 

 the glade again the light from the fire, as it rises and 

 falls, though as yet far off, flashes bright-red on the 

 trunks of the firs. 



"The wind is this way," my companion remarks, 

 "and it is rising. Hark to the hum in the firs. 

 Things will happen, no one knows how, at times," 

 he continues, as we move on quickly. " But if this 

 has been fired for the purpose like, curse the hand 



