The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-03-02

through soot-grimed lips, and I cant
sfford to Sleep"
Cant afford to 90 down fer good"
said the general sternly. mo steam.
no power. Food an sleep-fuel an
water. Do you tend to your bilers."
And the owner, with q wry smile,
sank On a pile Of gunnysacks beside
the improvised rollway Of the upper
cutting.
When he awcke 1t wal to find him.
self under a light blanket Of fanciful
weave which belonged to Silerz. The
shy, silent girl had been about him in
his sleep.
When he hurried to the work he
saw here and there groups Of Indians.
The reservation had arrived In force.
But things were growing worse win
every hour.
The sound Of the flames was as the
surf on a thousand miles of shore.
The pail of smoke shut out the light
OF heaven, lending q lonesome. fear
giving darkness to the world-the
little world Of the Dillingworth valley.
Long steamers OF the gray moss that
hung from the branches high above
famed out in fantastic shapes and
banners.
The cutting at the valleys head had
changed in these few hours beyond
recognition, its close-packed, green
Businesses being now but blackened
spikes reaching high, its splendid,
straight trunks fallen like jackstraws
across one another.
Fire was everywhere. in the earth
and in the heavens. 1t heated the
sweet winds to unbearable, scorching
blasts. 1t illumined the dun dusk with
dull, crimson light. 1t deserted the
cutting and swept forward toward the
north. leaving ashes and ruin, suilen
brands and %smoldering logs that
famed forth vindictively from time
to time.
But as 1t went 1t leaped and az
ulted, for 1t rushed to the embrace OF
heavier timber. The wind still held
by orth-by-northeast, veering slightly
this way and that, threatening now
the reservation of the Siletz. In whose
basin there lay the finest body Of
standing timber in all the common
wealth Of the states. o the magnih.
cent East Belt that seemed to grip
the heart of Walter Sandry like q liv-
ing thing in danger.
So dawn found them on that hot,
grim day in August.
The lean, young ranger was every
where, and Sandry, in amazed appre-
citation. saw a trench shut on a
ground fire, and the telling Of a single
pine change the trend Of a flood OF
flame that was going out Of bounds.
But by twelve O'Clock the wind
turned and headed south. With ap-
palling might the food spread up
the ridges, crept down into the dip
and Joined the slow-burning enc
there.
At that the ranger fired three shots
into the air which brought one OF his
aids running out Of the smoke, pant
ing and ~disheveled from fighting
hand-to-hand with a growth Of young
spruce.
go telegraph for the Vancouver
soldiers" he directed tersely, this
is going to beat all records"
III we only had trails!" he rasped
to Daily, trails and telephones and
men and horses! Damn a stingy gov.
eminent! And what fine timber 1t Is!
Going up in smoke unless we get help
at once. We can't cut trails fast
enough to get in and work to advan-
tage. A straight fall through beyond
this hollow would head off that
branch" he waved an arm vehement
ly, "but it'll beat the trail cutters!"
They called all the lei they could
spare from the north and set them at
work In the rolling smoke ahead OF
the fire that was beginning to eat
southwark.
TO BE CONTINUED