The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1896-09-11
RACING WITH FIRE.
BY w. l.. ALDEN.

ne Uruin WIS d FdSO pIdlA1Ct
The single line of rails ran as straight
as if it had been drawn with ruler,
from one horizon to the other. On each
side the coarse grass, green with the
tint of spring, waved breast-high. There
was no sound except the monotonous
beat of the wheels, as they passed from
one rail to the next, and the steady
swish of the grass, as it bent before
the rushing wind of the train.
was sitting on the platform of the
observation car, with half dozen other
passengers. The conversation fell upon
prairie fires, and each man appeared
to have read his Cooper, or his Mayne
Reid, there was a general agreement
of opinion that in case one were to be
caught out on the prairie in the path
of an advancing fire, the only method
of securing safety would be to start
fresh fire, and let it burn up the grass
that would otherwise serve as fuel for
the larger fire.
That's all very WELL" said grizzled,
hard-featured man, who had previously
taken no part in the conversation, "but
the man who invented that plan didn't
know much about prairie fires. If he
had, he would have known that when
prairie fire gets near to you, the wind
draws in towards it from all directions,
and if you light a fire the chances are
that you make things good deal worse
than they would be If you didn't med
die"
"Have you ever seen prairie'o on fire?"
I asked.
'I've seen this identical prairie blaz-
ing for all it was worth, and had
mighty narrow squeak for my life, for
the fire went clean over me. If I'd tried
the plan of lighting an independent fire,
shouldn't be here to-day.
"It was along in 1874, when this road
was a-building, and was one of the en-
gineer's assistants. We began at the
western end, down by Bucephalus, and
we had laid about 40 miles of track in
straight line across the prairie, and
had got to within, say, ten miles OF
where we are at this identical min
ute. 1t was an easy job, for we had just
laid the sleepers down on the ground
and spiked the rails to them, calculating
to ballast the track when we got good
and ready. Ihad big gang of Irishmen
under me, and we used to average a
mile a day of track laying. One July
day we had a strike among the labor.
ers, and all hands quit work. I was
down at Bucephalus at the time, and
the chief engineer asked me to take
locomotive over the line and see if the
strikers had done any damage before
they left us.
81 started out in the morning, with no.
body except the engineer in charge OF
the locomotive, I agreeing to take turns
with him in shoveling coal and watch
ing the engine. We came along slow and
easy, for the track was too rough for
any fast running. and about noon we
got to where it ended. There were nc
signs that the strikers had meddled
with the track, and, as it was pretty
hot day, Sam and I, after we had had
our lunch, lay down alongside of the
engine in the shade of the cab and took
nap.
81 woke up a little before two o'clock,
and as was filling pipe and making
up my mind TO wake Sam and to start
"
high grass and ran across the track not
two yards from us. His tail was be-
tween his legs and the foam was drip
ping from his mouth, and he was max.
ing about as good time as any wolf ever
made before or since. He never so much
as looked at me, and when he had van
ished I called Sam and told him that
had seen a mad wolf. While I was
speaking about dozen prairie dogs
rushed past us, and then there came an.
other wolf and a couple of hares. All
of them were doing their level best, and
they paid no more attention to us than
if we had been a couple of corpses.
"'What on earth is the meaning OF
this circus?' says Are those animals
just racing for the championship, or is
there somebody after them?'
"Sam didn't answer, but I saw that he
looked scared. He sprang up, and
climbing on his engine, looked over the
prairie to the eastward. Then he sang
out to me to get into the cab quicker
than lightning and started to open the
draught and set the fires blazing.
"'What is it?' 1 began to ask. as
L
to finish my question. I could see fo1
myself what was the matter. The whole
prairie east of us, as far as l could see,
was in blaze; and, as there had been
strong east wind all day, and the fire
wasn't more than three or four miles
away, calculated that it would be
down on us in very few minutes.
"'Hadn't we better start q fire and
burn some of this grass off before the
fire gets here?' asked Sam. You see,
had read about that way of stopping a
prairie fire, and knowing that Sam had
been born and bred on the prairie, cal.
culated that he would know all about it
"Better start h-l!' says Sam. Can't
you see that the wind has all gone
down here, though it's blowing a gale
where that fire is? That means that the
air has begun to draw in towards the
fire, and that in the course of few min.
utes We'll have what you'll take for a
breeze from the westward. Hold on
now, for I'm going to open her out, and
we're going to do some tall running
with that he pulled open the throttle
and the engine started with big jump,
as if she had seen the fire and was bad,
ly scared. We went down the track for
about a mile at pretty good gait, and
then we had to stop while Sam tight
ened a nut in the connecting rod.
fire?' 1 asked