Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-23
A WAGON=LOAD OF FIRE.
Ey Lewis B. FILLER.
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over the straw, pulled down till 1t cut
| deep, and tied to the hind end Of the
| frame. l tossed Sinclair's coat, pow
der horn and ammunition bag up to
him, and reached up the musket.
| Then, getting the oxen started into
| the road, l stepped upon the wagon
tongue, climbed the rope hand over
| hand, and sat on the front end Of the
load.
Sinclair put down the gun, with the
pointing muzzle behind, stuck the
| powder horn into the straw to keep it
from sliding off, crawled forward and
ST by my side. He was in good hu-
NOR now.
Night must overtake us long before
we could get home, and from the
smoke rising beyond the ridge we
knew that the prairie was burning.
At dusk we saw the fire itself on top
of the ridge. Night had already set
tied down when we rounded a point
of timber and came upon the burning
grass.
The fire had come over the ridge in
V-shape, little end first. AS there
| was no wind to speak of, the apex
had stopped at the road, and the two
blazing lines were now separating, one
other from us.
Coaly, bad-tempered beast, puffed
and puffed as we approached the first
| fire, and tried to turn out of the road,
but Lep logged along complacently
| and refused to turn. Soon the wagon
had passed the narrow front of fire,
and was moving between unburnt
prairie on the left and blackened.
smoking ground on the right.
Soon we overlook the other line of
fire. The blaze near the road was
| only few inches high, the grass there
| being very short. We saw no danger
| in passing on, and to this day I don't
| know how the accident happened.
| Possibly the straw was hanging lower
| than we thought, but more probably
| the blaze had just reached q bunch of
high grass or a tall, dry weed, and
| running up set fire to the straw. The
light of the burning prairie kept us
| from discovering that we were afire
till the wagon had gone several yards.
The first thing we knew flames We're
| leaping up from the right fore corner
| of the load from part Of the fore
| end, and from over larger part of the
right side!
We both sprang to our feet, shouting
"Whoaw with all our might, and the
wagon had nearly stopped when the
| oxen turned their heads to see what
look was enough. With snort and a
plunge Coaly started. Even lazy old
Lep was panic-stricken. Away they
went!
| AS the wagon bounded forward SIN
| clair and l tumbled backward on the
straw. The oxen were galloping with
| the big but light load jumping and
rocking behind them. The rush of air
swept the fire over the straw. Before
we could get up smoke and flame
| were in our faces. Blinded and con-
| fused we scrambled to the side and
dropped off, glad to escape in any way.
When We fell, we rolled over and
over in the grass, jarring ourselves
and bruising out knees and elbows.
By the time we had risen and recov-
cred our presence of mind the oxen
and wagon were a hundred yards
down the road, and still running The
| flames had spread over the whole top
of the load, and were leaping forward.
| Come onn' l cried to Sinclair. And
after the wagon I ran, shouting to the
oxen at every jump. Being a pretty
good runner l gained on them, and
had got within twenty yards of the
wagon when l heard Sinclair yelling
behind me:
Look out there! You'll get shot"
In my frantic eagerness to stop the
oxen so as to get them loose and save
the wagon 1 had forgotten all about
that old musket, half full of powder
and buckshot on top Of the blazing
straw. but now l stopped suddenly
and ducked my head in my fright.
Don't get closer cried Sinclair,
catching up with me. "She's likely to
go off at any momentr'
But l exclaimed desperately, "yvc
@'N'S Wv 'olIIti tilILs5 VI iOSc cNtIy tulllS
the oxen, too Let's run round tc
the side Of the wagonw
mo, we won'tr' replied Sinclair
NO telling which way that guns
pointing by this time. Keep back till
she goes off. Then we can"
Rip-bang-boom. A stream CT fire
shot out almost over our heads as the
old RAINY musket exploded The buck
shot whistled over us. AT the fash
we had both started to run. l caught
my toe in the grass and fell. At the
same moment a sharp pain rar
through my knee. I was badly fright
ened.
I'm shot"' exclaimed, getting upo-
my feet.
"Where?" asked Sinclair, returning
to my assistance.
Here in the knee I felt the buck
shot go in. It-no, I'm not, either"
cried, laughing with relief as I plucked
out big grass-bur that I had faller
on and threw it away.