i68 



RECREATION. 



one they would drop the hide between 

 them and, with ropes run out to their 

 utmost extent, would ride briskly, one 

 on each side of the thread of fire, wip- 

 ing it out with the hide at the rate of 

 20 miles an hour. Usually they 

 could follow the line to its end ; at any 

 rate, they could smother miles of what 

 a change in wind could instantly con- 

 vert into a madly rushing head fire. 



The prairie is never level, but has a 

 gentle and often a considerable roll. 

 A great plain is as inscrutable and 

 puzzling as are woods and mountains, 

 as 2 of us realized that night. 



We were left in camp while our fel- 

 lows were riding in various direc- 

 tions. The dogs had grown sullen 

 and the stock restless. Suddenly, at 

 midnight, there was an uproar and an 

 attempted stampede. A fiery furnace, 

 seemingly heaven high and world 

 wide, was making straight for camp. 

 It might be 10 miles away, it .might 

 shift or die out ; but it was our busi- 

 ness to prevent it from reaching the 

 camp, and we could afford to take no 

 chance. 



Our ponies stood saddled and pick- 

 eted at the cabin door, and our last re- 

 sort fire extinguishers were ready for 

 use. Each of us had a stout rope 

 coiled on saddle, one end looped on 

 the horn, the other trailing and well 

 frayed out. Two one gallon cans of 

 kerosene and abundant matches com- 

 pleted the outfit. 



If the danger was advancing, there 

 was no choice but to start another 

 head fire between it and the fire guard. 

 It was not likely to jump the 2 plow- 

 ings and the ioo-foot burn between 

 them. If it should, that would end 

 the settlement. 



The prairie proved no tableland as 



we rode straight toward the fire. We 

 tore through the hollows, seeing 

 and feeling nothing; but the rises 

 brought us into smoke and glare, and 

 the warm air rapidly grew hot. Sud- 

 denly, on the last rise, hell opened be- 

 low us, and not a mile away. The 

 sight shut out the world and showed 

 an endless sea of fire. Driven by the 

 wind, it was advancing 20 miles an 

 hour. Our best gait was not over 12, 

 with constant risk of broken legs from 

 badger holes, and it was death to fall. 



We turned back toward the fire 

 guard with the roaring flame seeming- 

 ly at our heels, and with us raced 

 many wolves, some antelope and deer 

 and any number of ground game. 

 Within a few hundred yards of the 

 guard we. dipped the ends of our ropes 

 in kerosene, lighted them, and started 

 in opposite directions, each trailing 

 our fiery serpent of hemp, and both 

 feeling it was likely to be our last 

 ride. 



Each man succeeded in reaching op- 

 posite ends of the guard, but with only 

 a few minutes in which to find and 

 throw himself on a small burned-over 

 spot. There, with face on the frozen 

 ground, he was no longer in danger of 

 roasting, though nigh to suffocation. 

 Each pony, crouching, trembling and 

 snorting, stuck instinctively to the few 

 square rods of safe ground. 



On roared the appalling sheet of 

 flame. It had come 70 miles in a few 

 hours. By some freak of wind or 

 land formation, it narrowed to less 

 than 4 miles in width before it reached 

 the guard. Striking that simultane- 

 ously with its entire width, it went 

 out like flashed powder, leaving the 

 plain in darkness and our camp in 

 safety. 



"Hickory, dickory dock, 

 The mouse ran up the clock" 



Of the stocking, and then 



He ran down again 

 When he found it was only a sock. 



