Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-10-18

n unDroken wilderness. AT long -
tervals he passed loggers' camps and
more rarely a farm In the forest, but
he avoided these. Instinct told him
that the news Of Ryder's murder had
travelled far and wide. In all that
range of country there was no inhabit-
ed spot where he dare show his face.
Now that he had evolved a definite
purpose he was quite cheerful and hap
Ply save for occasional spells of de-
preston and bitter self accusation, but
the excitement of his flight buoyed him
up amazingly.
He had distanced and outwitted pur-
suit, and his old pride in his physical
strength and superiority returned. The
woods I'VE ceased to interest him.
There was a mighty freedom about
them, a freedom he shared and joyed
in. He felt he could tramp on forever,
with the scent of the pines filling his
nostrils and the sweep Of the wind in
his ears. His muscles seemed of iron.
There was cunning and craft, too, in
the life he was living.
The days were sultry August days.
No rain had fallen in weeks, and the
earth was a dead, dry brown. A hot
haze quivered under the great trees.
Off in the north, against which his face
was set, a long, low, black cloud lay
Oh the horizon. Sometimes the wind
lifted it higher, and it sifted down dark
threads of color against the softer blue
of the summer sky. Presently TIE
wind brought the odor of smoke. at
first it was almost imperceptibla-a
suggestion merely-but by and by it
was in every breath he drew. The for
est vas on fire ahead of him. ne
judged that the tide of devastation
was rolling nearer, and he veered to
the west. Then one evening he saw
what he had not seen before-a dun
red light that shone s~ullenly above the
pines. The next day the smoke was
thick in the woods. The wind, blow
ing strongly from the north, hoated
little wisps and wreaths of it down
upon him. 1t rested like a heavy mist
above the cool surface Of the lake, OF
the shores of which he had made his
camp the night previous, while some
thickly grown depressions he crossed
were sour with the stale, rancid odcs
that clung to his clothes and rendered
breathing difficult. There was a pow
dering Of fine white ashes everywhere.
At first it resembled a boar frost and
then a scanty fall Of snow.
By 5 o'clock he gained the summit of
a low ridge. From it's top he was able
to secure an extended view of the fire.
A red line-as red as the reddest sunset
stretched away to the north as far
as the eye could see. He was pro-
Ioundly Impressed Dy the spectacle.
q ~confagration was on a scale so
gigantic that it fairly staggered him.
he knew millions of feet of timber
must be blazing.
he decided to remain on the ridge
ana study the course of the fire, so he
lay down TO rest. Sleep came over him,
TOR the day had been a faticuine one
out at midnight he awoke. A duh.
roaring sound was surging through the
forest, and the air was sitting The
IRE mad burned closer while he slept,
II mad reached the ridge opposite,
which was nearly parallel to the one
ne was on, and was burning along its
northern base. The ridge fattened per
ceptibly to the west, and already at
this point q single lone line of fire had
surmounted the blunt crest and was
creeping down into the valley which
interviewed. Presently tongues Of fire
shot upward. The dark, nearer side of
the ridge showed clearly in the fierce
!lght, and soon the fire rolled over it's
entire length, a long, ruddy cataract of
name. AS it gained the summit II
seemed to fail forward and catch fresh
TIMBER, then 1t raced down the slono
toward the valley, forming a great red
avalanche that roared and Kissed and
crackled and sent up vast clouds Of
smoke into the night.
Clearly any attempt to 20 furth.r
north would be but a waste Of ,In,a
ana strength. The fire shut him oy
completely ~ that quarter. He must
retface his steps until he was well IN