Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-10

the nemlOck lNiSs. hioVV -
bed. Its true. / did not sleep much, lot
the loneliness ofthe place was oppressive
The ram gently dropping on the leaves
was mournful in its sound. had a
little Of my lunch left over, so ! mace
a frugal meal. Then, too, panther
had been seen in the forest lew
days before. and wondered What
show / would have if that panther iolnu
me out. A big owl also kept me awake
nv his mournful cries. 1t was rather a
strange time of the year and strange
I place for an owl to hOOt, but / suppose IL
/ was one. So / kept still and wondered now
/ | should find my way oIt the next morn
ing. Well. in the morning | got up and
started out again. The sun snone ana
soon dried the trees, but somehow win
/ the sun for a guide ala not seem 10 20
right. and after long tramp was AS badly
/ of as ever. / should judge 1t was ABOUT
> o'clock in the afternoon when an idea
came to me. 1t was about time, for was
| hungry. | had had nothing TO eat since
| the night before"
''Why didn't you cook some OF your
fish p was asked.
II had lost them, or rather LETT them, Tor
when l left my hemlOck covering IN the
morning ! left the FISH and fish basket.
"But, as | said, an idea came to me
which l Immediately put into effect. !
knew the timber where l was lost was
very valuable. and that the woodmen IN
the section would do their utmost to save
it. Ii was more precious TO them man
their lives. for it was their future money
So pulled out my match box and was
/ gratitied to find three matches lett. Ihey
/ we're precious to me, and / remembered
/ how travellers in similar and worse pre-
/ dicaments had watched the matches
/ flicker and go out till the last one. by
/ faint spark, ignites the pile of fuel.
gathered together pile of dried stun IN
/ likely place and prepared to strike my
matches. The first blazed up finely and
without trouble, which was en-
couraging. / started good fire. Then L
piled on larger stuff, and soon had flames
shooting up the hemlocks. Did you ever
see a fire run up a hemlOck? It's beau
tiful sight; and when you have several
ablaze at once IT is grand. In short
time had forest fire and big cloud OF
brown smoke pouring up into the air
above. knew it would soon attract at
tention, and it did. Singularly enough,
in my excitement in starting my fire had
failed to notice the roar of stream, which
had approached unknowingly in looking
for suitable place for the FIRE. AS the
latter became rather warm l retreated
and approached nearer the stream.
When l discovered it l knew L was
all right, for l could follow it down
until 1 found a house. In fact, it
was the very stream on the banks Of
which was the house at which l was
stopping. The mischief, however, had
been done, and my fire was roaring in the
woods, Soon after l heard voices coming
up the stream. / had lighted my pipe,
and from the bank of the stream was
watching the effect of my match. They
were the maddest men l have ever seen,
and when they saw me calmly smoking
as looked at the fire ii incensed them the
more. They supposed I had set the woods
on fire with my pipe, and had not tried to
put IL out.
"'What will we do with the cussp
asked one.
"'Duck him. cried another; kill MIN,
but be quick about it, for we've got to fight
this fire.
s'In an instant was floundering in the
deep water, for one Of the big fellows had
picked me up as though l were stick of
| wood and tossed me in.
"Gentlemen, l am a clergyman l
cried, and
"sOh, gosh interrupted one Of the men
hes that minister stopping down to
Mixes Ford. Well, whatever you are,
he added, as l crawled out on the bank,
! turn 10 and help us put out this fire you
1 have started
"We had a good fight OF it before the
! flames were extinguished, but l worked
readily enough, for was out OF my scrape.
/ / was pretty weak and half famished, but
one of the men had a flask of whisky, or
| gin think he said it was, and did not
! hesitate to take a little under the circum-
stances. We had to fight the fire on
| three sides, for of course the river stop
ped it in that direction. The men
had brought spades and axes
and there we're nearly dozen of them,
we soon had dug trench out on the lee
ward side. and with the axes cut away
the small trees. Toward night il clouded
up again, and the men said we had the
fire sufficiently under check from spread
ing to leave it for the rain to put out
They were right, for it rained heavily
during the night and extinguished the
fire. If it had not been for the rain, or 8
wind had arisen, the woodmen said ]
might have had to fight that fire for a
week"
"Did you tell them why you set the
woods afre?"
'No, did not. When saw how they
felt In regard 10 the matter l concluded
to say nothing about my being lost, and
in the excitement Of checking the flames
no one thought of asking me what | was
doing. / confess that l intimated that q
pipe might be the innocent cause of much
trouble and that a simple accident Otter
caused great CONGREGATIONS. On the way
back to the house the man who haC
dropped me into the river came up ant
said: II axes your pardin, Mister. fol
duckin' ye, but IL made me so tarnal mao
TO see yer smokin' so innocent like thai
and all that timber gOin' TO destruction.
! granted it heartily and we were goOC
friends; In fact, went fishing together thu
next day, for l would not trust mysel
alone again. But see," exclaimed thu
dominic, "it's Frightening up" and h,
grabbed a fly rod and started on a run fo
the mouth of the river, unmlndtul OF tn,