Cheyenne record., 1916-09-28
CHAPTER XIV.
rhe Spirit Of. the East.

Qu1ckStep OF hard'tra1neo infantry
and stood in column Of fours while
the officers sought the head Of at-
fairs. Daily promptly sent for the
young forest ranger. and in less than
It takes in the telling these two keen
witted Westerners. the woodsman
and the soldier, were ready to grap-
pie with the enemy. Light-marching
kits were dumped upon the ground
and the hard.muscled men took to
the hills and the timber under quick.
decisive orders. Two hours later
wagons arrived with commissary sup
plies and the smoky, blackened val
ley took on a military air.
1t was q Titan struggle. and 1t was
indicative of the force that has con-
Quered nature--the human atoms toll
ing In semidarkness beneath the
threatening forest choked by the
smoke. flayed by the almost unbear-
able heat. menaced by the flames that
at any moment might sweep here or
there among the rocks and declivities
OF the uneven hills and cut OF escape.
That was the great danger they
guarded against-the possibility Of
getting hemmed in. Guards we're de-
tailed to watch the vanguards of the
foe. to note the speed OF the flames
the lie of the timber. the lines that
we're likely to go fastest. following the
different growfhs. but IN the mysteri.
ous dusk and the silence of vast
mingled sounds they were impotent
and each man.had to take care Of him
self.
The mighty boom of falling patri-
archs of the forest. hoary with a thou
sand years Of age. crashing through
obstructing branches. shook the earth
each moment. With each such stu
pendous fall wealth and world-econ-
omy and prudence trembled at the
sacrilege. 1t was a carnival of waste,
sacrifice Of the gifts of God-and
among all those who fought 1t with
heart and hand and brain there was
none who knew its worldwide import
so we'll. who lamented 1t so keeniy
as the lean. brown forest rangers
whose special foe it was.
"And to think a dozen miles of gov.
ernment trails would have prevented
IT," cried the leader with an oath
Out in the valleys beyond. the heavy
smoke had obscured the setting sun
entirely. Over the crest of the Coast
Range it had spread up to the heav-
ems. drifted afar on the changing wind
and all the distant valley OF the VIII.
lamette knew that the forest fires
were burning in the hills.
The papers throughout the state
told of It that day. and 1t awakened
NO more interest than would have at.
tended the announcement of a heavier
run Of salmon than was usual in the
Columbia
They we're too common, those fires
that sported with the national wealth
each year, too much n part Of every.
day life. and they did not know that
this was to be a marker Of time in
the coast country.
Time was when they were unknown,
these monsters Of distinctions long
past time 1t was. when those first for
ent rangers, the silent Red Men of
the hills. had burned out the under
brush each year so that a pony might
20 anywhere unhindered
The silent rangers had gone with
the years-passed to the Hunting
Grounds and the reservations, via civ.
flization. and now the great timber
had shed its dry foliage and its pitch.
the little growths had sprung up sea.
son after season. the vines had crept
between and a man might not pene.
trate the fastnesses without built
trails.
So Destiny took up the land and
played with 1t that hot. dry August
All through the early hours of the
long night they labored. dirty. black,
ened, tattered scarecrows of men, run.
ming here and there. digging like mad
in the wide trench that was to stop
the surface flames. saving unceas
ingly at the towering trees. while the
guards brought twenty-minute tidings
Of the approaching fire.
High against the dun. smoke-light
ened sky the dark canopy OF the East
Belt whispered and moaned as II In
fear. and from time to time Sandry, q
'haggard. grim-lipped specter of a man
lifted his bloodshot eyes toward II. II
was still his own. his future of the
Diiiingworth. despite the tangle OF
Hampden's threats, the unrecorded
deed and the unfinished trail Of the
Yellow Pines at the south. and Il
pulled at bis heart pathetically.
There was still . stretch of almost
mpenetrable timber near the summit
se the big ridge which must be cut
through before the flames reached Il
q all would Be lost
"6hall We make Il. Johnf" asked
ne owner desperately Of Daily. who
nu b. In the smoke with wet rags e
~ over the mouths oe the mem.
~Ought to n the wind stays whers
. -" -.=.--.s :.
Il was two o'clock and that hour IN