The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-11-22

see squirrels and rabbits and even snake
fleeing in the same direction. 10 the lef
Of US we heard splash in the creek.
young bear was swimming across.
g The woods are afire, Jasper ! shoute'
Harry, 'and everything is running ava.
for safety. -
''He did not need to tell me. say
it all. l can tell you we got out of tina
creek and into our clothes in a hurry
By the time we were dressed stray spark
were flying over our heads, and the SUI
itself was obscured by thick, yellow
fog of smoke.
s. 'We'll have to run for our lives 7
exclaimed excitedly. And here we were
fools enough to get dressed on this side o
the creek -
"'It's too late to run, responded Harry
There's only one thing to do. We'll
have to get into the creek up to our neck'
and let the fire pass over us. -
" But gracious 7 l objected fearfully
when the fire sweeps over us, our headl
will be burned. -
I +" Thought of that, returned Harry
quickly. Still the creek our only hope,
Jasper. We must get the blankets anG
other things down to the creek. Vel
need them. -
"He was the leader, and | always
obeyed him. In two or three minutes we
had everything down at the bank. Harry,
to my surprise, took time to put what was
left of our ham into pot and sink it into
the creek. All the while the smoke was
blowing against us in great volumes, spark
ling pine needles we're flying over oul
heads in a regular fire storm and We could
hear distinctly the roar and cracking OF
flames in the near distance. The heat was
growing intense.
&C Into the water ordered Harry.
He plunged in with all his clothes On, and
was glad to follow. We dragged the
baskets with u.s. Now, said Harry, as
cool as you please, we've got to keep as
far under the water as possible. Jasper,
you throw that wet blanket over your head,
and II cover myself with this one. But
keep ducking every minute or two, so the
blanket don't get hot and take fire. And
keep near me-.
II followed every word he said. In a
! few minutes the fire was upon us. On
both sides of the creek dry trees were
burning with fury, famed by considera
BILE breeze. Even through the wet blan-
kets we would have to duck and stay un.
der water for six or eight seconds. Qnce
[ dared to look from under the blanket
and saw the top of the creek steam.
ing from the heat. Neither of us said
anything. The battle for our lives took
all our time and energies.
"How long we were in the water We
never knew, but it must have been some
four hours. During that time thought
that almost every minute would be oul
last. Iexpected either to drown or to be
choked to death by the thick smoke.
Once or twice | almost fell to the bottom Of
the creek from exhaustion.
"Even after the worst of the fire had
abated, and only heaps of charred sticks,
with here and there bare tree still
pointing to the sky, remained of the beau
tiful pine woods, we dared not venture out
of the water
"When we finally did get out, the heat
of the ground was so great that we could
feel it through our shoes. We scraped
away the cinders and. sticks On the bank
and made place for our wet blankets. II
was somewhat more comfortable to sit
there than to stand in the creek. We
could now breathe little more easily, but
not much. The smoke was SO thick that
it seemed like twilight, but we knew that
it must be still early in the afternoon.
''We let our clothes dry upon us [. sup
pose we both fell asleep from exhaustion,
and slept long while, because when we
got up it seemed to be early the next
morning The air was still hot, and traces
Of smoke were about, but the sun came
out brightly.
Refreshed by our sleep we looked
around for something to eat. Harry S
forethought was again our salvation.
saw then why he had put the remainder
of our ham in pot at the bottom of the
creek. We didn't leave anything but the
bone, and then we decided to get home
as quickly as our legs would carry us.
~ shall never, never forget that fifteen
miles walk home. Our poor feet were
blistered from the hot ground, our eyes
were sore and swollen. Several times we
almost gave up. How we managed to
find our way can scarcely explain. The
sun was our only guide in the charred
waste which we traversed For the last
two or three miles of our walk we staggered
along like drunken men. 1t was past ten
O clock when we got home. You can
imagine with what joy we were received.
The folks had been worried to distraction
thinking we had persisted in the terrible
| fire.
ssI was hustled to bed and swathed in
bandages and liniment. In spite OF my
pain I fell asleep in a few minutes. My
parents never gave me one word of reproof.
They could see from my poor bruised and
burned body that had learned a great
lesson in the school Of experience, and that
it was not likely would ever run off to the
woods again.
Hanson Slaps Roosevelt.