Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-03-24

to join them in August, when L got my
vacation.
The railroad by which one reached
this out-of-the-way place followed the
shore of the mighty Lake Superior for
about one hundred miles from Duluth,
and then struck into the forest for o
short distance to avoid a great mass
of basalt rock, too hard to tunnel
through, the tracks coming close to
the waters edge again about five or
six miles from where they left it. Just
where the road was farthest from the
lake, at the most northeasterly point
of the detour, the train slowed up
moment to let off any passenger for
the place with the long name. The
hamlet boasted no station, only plat
form of rough, unhewn logs. From
this point there wound up through the
thick forest q narrow, tortuous road,
rough and stony, and dark even in the
daytime, from the overarching trees
up to the houses on the hillside. Only
one train day stopped there, at half
past five, and they always drove down
from the boarding house to meet it in
an antiquated, nondescript vehicle
that might have come out of the ark.
This was Il two-wheeled rig, the
wheels thick, rough slices cut from
hickory log. The horse usually at
tached to it-he was the only being
attached in any way to the unlovely
thing-was dignihed, conservative
animal, full, of years, and which no
amount of persuasion, either oral or
tagellative, had ever been known to
induce to accelerate his progress to
anything faster than stately walk.
1t had been an unusually hot sum-
mer. AS the train swept along the
lake shore L noticed the vegetation
appeared very dry and parched, and
that the little pools, which always
flashed like gems from the rocky soil
along the edge OF the lake, had dis
appeared. The yellow-red swamp
lilies that fringed the marshy ground
to the north margin of the track
seemed to literally burn in the
scorching rays of the afternoon sun,
and the sparks from the engine stack
fell unpleasantly near some dry hem
lock brush that edged the lake. I'm
comfortable thoughts of forest fires
came up in my mind. Away off to
the west could see wreath of thin,
black smoke curling itself lazily up
ward. L watched it a moment and it
seemed to get thicker and blacker.
''A trapper cooking supper" I
thought, but the notion of forest
conhagration still fingered unpleas-
antly in my mind.
AS the train slowed up ] grabbed
my valise and sprang off onto the
platform. The conductor in the ca
boose behind-it was long train of
two passenger coaches and twenty or
SO freight cars-wayed his arms and
the heavy train once more increased
its speed. Soon it had vanished
around the curve. L walked up and
dowa the rough platform, waiting for
my stage, and my thoughts again re-
turned to the possibility of fire on
the mountain. What terrible thing
it would bel
But just then I spied the antedelu-
Wan rig winding in and out among
the trees, about half mile up, and 1
quickly dismissed from my mind all
thoughts of fire. Tess was driving
the conveyance and she was alone. L
was delighted with the prospect Of
two-hours' tete-a-tete with her, but
thought it strange that old Joe, the
farm hand, had not come for me, as
usual. Tess explained that the man
was off at Tour Croix, a neighboring
town, helping fight forest fire.
"Great Heavens!" I exclaimed.
"Suppose the fire should come this
way and overtake us before we get
homew
Tess laughed. "No danger of that,
I guess" she said, as she turned the
horses head back in the direction he
had come.
1t was a delightful afternoon. The
air was now cooling down and, under
the shade of the trees that overhung
our homeward way, it was very pleas
ant. We chatted and laughed until
we quite forgot the existence OF any
such thing as fire or danger.
1t was good eight miles from the
railroad to the farm house, and we had
covered about a quarter of that dis
tance, when, on looking to the south,
1 suddenly noticed dense black
smoke rising in large, thick masses
three or four miles off. 1t seemed to
be rapidly approaching. Again that
terrible thought of fire suggested
itself.
"We had better get home as quickly
as possible! That is the forest en-
fre!" said Tess. 'Wouldn't it be a
terrible thing if it should reach the
road before we do! 1t is certainly
coming toward us!'
And coming toward us it was, at a
most alarming rate. Our octogenarian
steed would not move any faster and
the road seemed to cross the track OF
the fire some distance ahead of us.
Our situation was becoming serious.
| ~ Il L.