The Ragged Month 75 



the weeds, and the woody stems sparkled and 

 sputtered like cannon crackers after the flame 

 had swept on. 



Once it seemed the fire must break out, in 

 spite of burning and land turning. Just as 

 the foremost tongue of flame came to the 

 burned over strip, a savage flaw of wind caught 

 it, bore it almost flat against the earth, and 

 stretched, stretched it, until it lapped the outer- 

 most furrow. Five seconds more of the flaw, 

 and the mischief would have been irrevocable. 

 The wind lightened barely in time. The flame 

 wavered, hovered in air, curled backward, died 

 to a smoulder of smoke, above sheeted smoking 

 embers. As it died. Major Baker let his hand 

 slip from Joe's shoulder, and said with a deep 

 breath, " Son, that was touch and go — a 

 mighty near thing. Don't forget it. Don't 

 forget either that fore-handed trouble is safe 

 trouble. Suppose we had not fired against the 

 wind first ? " 



" O ! I reckon we would have been fightin' 

 fire until it rained," Joe said. "That would 

 have been — let 's see ! — one, two, three days. 

 The moon 's got a ring round her with just 

 three stars inside it." 



Though the clouded moon filled the world 

 with gray shining, it seemed to the fire- 

 watchers black darkness came with the dying 

 of the flames. The field had burned over in 



