The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1916-06-08
CHAPTER XVI.
The Spirit Of the East.

''hAANNtF = NiAA'A NhlANAA A'NAlhtb
son. they trottcd swiftly UP with the
Quickstep OF hard.traiucd infantry
and stood in column OF fours while
the officers sought the head of az
fairs. Daily promptly sent for the
young forest ranger. and TN less than
II takes In the telling these two keen
witted Ncsterncrs. the woOdsman
aGG the soldier. were ready TO crap.
pie with the enemy. Light.marching
hits were dumped upon the ground
II the hard.muscled men tool 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.
II was a Titan struggle. and Il 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. fayed by the almost unbear.
able heat, menaced by the flames that
ut 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 were de.
tailed to watch the vanguards OF the
zoe, to note the speed OF the flames
the lie OF the timber. the lines that
were likely TO go fastest. following the
diHerent growths. but in the mysteri.
Gus dusk and the silence OF vas,
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 n prudence trembled at the
sacrilege. 1t was a carnival OF waste.
a sacrifice OF the gifts Of God-and
among all those who fought IL with
heart and hand and brain there was
none who knew its worldwide import
so well. who lamented II so keenly
as the lean, brown forest rangers
whose special foe II was.
And to think a dozen miles OF gov.
N trails would have prevented
~ 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 II had spread up 10 the heay.
ems, drifted afar on the changing wind
and all the distant valley OF the WI.
annette knew that the forest fires
were burning in the hills.
The papers throughout the state
told OF II that day, and IL awakened
no more interest than would have AZ.
tended the announcement OF a heavier
run OF salmon than was usua! in the
Columbia.
They were too common. those fires
that sported with the national wealth
each year, too much a part OF every.
day life, and they did not know thai
this was 10 be a marker OF time in
the coast country.
Time was when they were unknown.
: csc monsters OF destructlon-a long.
past time II was, when those first for.
est rangers, the silent Red Men OF
the hills, had burned out the under.
brush each year so tha' . pony miglt
go anywhere ]unhindered.
The silent rangers had gons with
the y~ears-passod TO the Huntil,,
Grounds and the reservations. via civ.
i'ization, and now the great timper
had shed its dry foliage and its pitch
the little growths had sprung up sea.
son after season the vines had cgept
between and a man might not pcue.
trate the lastnes IS without bull,
trails
So Destiny took M The land ana
played with II that hot, dry August.
All through the early hours Of tho
long might they labOr.d, dirty. black.
ened, tatterol sca~ecrowg O! mon. run.
ming here and there. digging Ike mad
in the wide trench that vas 10 s,op
The surface flames, saving unceos.
ingly al the towering trees. while the
guards brought ywenty.minu,e tidipgs
Of the approaching fire
High against the dun. smoke.ugbt.
ened sky the dark canopy OF he Eas,
Belt whispered and mOaned as n In
fear, and from time 70 time Sandrv a
haggard, g%rim'lipped specter OF a man
lifted his bloodshot eyes toward IL /,
was still his own, his future OF tho
Dillingworth, despite the tangle OF
Hampden's threats, the unrecorded
deed and the unfinished trail OF the
Yellow Pines at the south. ana IL
pulled at his heart pathetically.
There was still a stretch OF almost
impenetrable timber neal the summit
OF the big ridge which must be cut
through before the flames reached It.
or all would be lost
Shall we make Il. John?" asked
the owner desperately OF Daily. who
ran by in the smoke with wet rags to
tie over the mouths OF the men
Ought to II the wind stays where
II is"
II was W. o'clock and that hour in
the sleeping world outside whom all
the elements are at an ebb.
Than oil auddanlv laatInv aughaa