Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-09-26
A FOREST FIRE.
A simple but Tragic IdyII Of the Men.
dOcinO RedwOOds.


for human being than to be compassed
around by fire, every avenue of escape
barred by the devouring element, and
nothing ahead but the horrible certainty
of being roasted alive, more or less slowly
according TO the nature of the surround
ings. One generally associates the idea
of the most fatal and hopeless confagra.
tons with buildings, but fraught as the
burning of large hotel or theatre may
be with desperate situations, there are
occasional instances in the free air and
under the open canopy of heaven which
may match any fiery ordeal ever bounded
by four walls. Nor have we to look so
far as the broad plains of Texas or its
adjacent territories for instances like
these. California sometimes supplies
situations which, while they may lack
the grandeur or dramatic breadth of the
prairie fire, with its herds of fleeing
buffaloes, its leagues of blazing grasses,
and its desperate horsemen, nevertheless
involve conditions of terror and peril
comparable, within circumscribed limits,
to those evoked by the red demon ofthe
prairie.
The North Fork of the Gualala River,
which divides Sonoma from Menjocino
county, is one of the principal logging
centres of the State. The high bluffs
overhanging the stream on either side
merge, in their turn, into steep slopes
reaching back to interior attitudes COW
cred with redwood forests. and in many
places rendered almost impossible by
thick underground or brush, known in
the vernacular by the generic term
chaparral.
One sultry afternoon, not many sum-
me-s ago, the loggers and mill hands in
Harmon's mill were taking their GUS
tomary noontide hour of rest before re-
sumlng work. The mill and cabins
where the men live are built upon some
more than usually level bench land
shelving from the river bank, while
above and beyond the country slopes
away into canons and mountain ranges
more or less denuded of timber in pro.
portion to their accessibility, and here
and there covered, in tracts sometimes
of many hundred acres in extent, with
dense scrub growth and chaparral
through which the wayfarer has to work
slow and tortuous passage, keeping in
view the general directi he desires to
travel in, and pushing his way between
or around the clumps or masses OF brush
as best he can. Now and again bare
patches Of few rods in extent break
the monotonv of this Wilderness o.
chaparral, but these are the exceptions
and not the rule.
Mighty hot day." remarked Ton
Bridges, as he got up from his reclining
position, in which he, with half dozer
more of the mill hands, was in the habi
of taking his after dinner clay off, OF
the shady side of the dining sbanty
Coin to hev purity tough time snakin
them big logs outeD Little Creek Canon
/ guess. Mout's well hitch up then
bulls au' be done with it, though" h
added, philosophically, knocking th'
ashes out Of his pipe and stretchin,
himself preparatory to taking his dc
parture.
"Seems to me this heat amt uat'ral,
put in Long jim, the tie splitter. There
a sort of st:fle in the air, too, that dom
seem to smell right"
Look up yarw exclaimed Hump,
Dick, pointing up the slope in front
"d'ye see that glimmer in the air? II
bet that's fire."
The words had scarcely left his moutl
when another logger joined the group.
Boys" he said hurriedly, "Littl
Creek Canon's afire. Eff suthin' ain
} done mighty quick we'll lose a terribl
pile O. wood, to say nothin' O. the standir
timber eff she spreads to the back ranges.
The camp was soon in commotio
, throughout its length and breath. Partie
7 were speedily organized and set in difiel
ent directions, to "head Off the fire an
|, arrest its progress at all the strategi
, points in the neighborhood. ToI
' Bridges the bull whacker, Long Jim tn
. tie splitter, and Humpy Dick the logge
: formed the members of one party ths
. started up the right bank of the cauol
: This bank was almost denuded of tree
c but thickly covered with brush, throug
S which flames were now running rio
= but steadily moving onward and upwar'
!. Suddenly, an exclamation from Hump
! Dick caused the party to look in th
Q direction toward which he pointe'
Q There, not five hundred yards ahead
o him, but lower down the slope, could
r seen the thinly clad figure of an India
+ girl, with something in her arms, fral
= tically irving to make her way up til
:. steep side of tie canon to point whic
n would be out of the reach Of the advan
Q ing flames.
= Il swar !" cried Tom Bridges that
+ Indian MEG. An she's got her bah
J. with her Been berryin', sure, an g
o caught afore she cud get out"
keep up the canon. Meg" shoute
Long Jim, making speaking trump
Of his hands. "It's yer on'y chanc
T. Ye,n never pet ont a. the Way eff We ti