Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-04-30

naQ never seen DeIOre. lie 1eSltated,
wondering if it were not a drifting
cloud. But the plume f1aunted itself
against the sky, mounted and swept
along like the wing of a fateful bird.
'The woodpile is afire," shouted Jams
to the solitude, and ran for the town.
There was hand fire engine at Lead.
and the fire company had an enthusi-
asm for their task, but though they
worked all night and all day they made
no impression on the fire that had eaten
into the core Of the wood mountain.
Nell Onderdock, watching the men
in the faint twilight of morning, saw
them swarming over the top of the
woodpile and crawling in its tunnels.
They burrowed in it like ants-ants for
size, in comparison to that pile! They
fought with axes, with fails, with
water, with tarpaulins. They tried to
drown it, to smother it, to beat it out
and to blow it out. But their efforts
availed nothing. The mills were run
with minimum Of men. Every one
who could be spared was out to fight
the fire. The big boys were taken from
the school; the women sat on the hills
near, their babies in their arms, watch
ing, or they carried water and food to
the wearied men. In the churches the
people prayed that the fire might be
quenched by a miracle. In the mills
the men talked of agencies
hydraulics, pneumatics. And the COM
mon men, half-suffocated, obstinate,
courageous, fought with blackened
faces, aching lungs. and blinded eyes;
while over the whole town the wrath
full cloud of smoke hung, like an Afrit
| Of the desert.
Jams Jensen, in charge of a crew of
| men, sat on the side of the hill think
| ing. Nell Undertook was near him,
regarding him with cOldly critical eyes.
She wanted him smoke-begrimed with
barred arms; she wished to see him
leading OH his men desperately, shout
ing, hoarse and frantic. She was ex-
cited, and she desired to see her possi-
| BILE hero heroic. But he smoked a pipe,
| stared at the streaming cloud above
| him, and said nothing. 1t was humili-
| ating. However, after time, without
noticing her particularly, he went away
to the mills. He returned with an add
ed force of men, and he went to the top
of the pile. Then the men were called
out Of the tunnels. Every one was put
on top.
"We are to fight the fire from the
top" he said, "and we will do it by
! StODDino tha dra IF -
Orders were sent to the hills to con-
tinue the driving of the logs. They
swept down the great chutes in hun.
dreds. They closed the air passages,
and the men directed them till every
| opening Of the pile was closed The
smoke took to itself heavier quality,
as it does when flame is quenched. The
whole town argued pro and con. Some
| thought the whole mass doomed. Some
believed it was saved. On the outcome.
obviously, depended Jams Jensen's rep
utation. The smoke turned from black
to copper color; it grew dun. it grew
| gray. 1t faded. The fire went out.
Back into the mills swarmed the
men. The furnaces were heated to
their height; the great caldrons of
amalgam seethed and bubbled, the
mighty ingots were cast.
And Jams Jensen put on the finger of
Nell Undertook a little ring made from
the gold of Lead and set with glitter
ing pebble Of the Black Chicago
i Tribune.