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

three horsemen were looping up IT'S
level floor. Lean, 1.-THE men they
were, clad IN sober khaki, and they
leaped from their horses with bust
nesslike alacrity, dropping reins over
saddle horns instead OF on the ground.
Those three horses were well trained,
intelligent aids, ready to stand for
hours in one spot. to come at a
whistle, and they wanted no drag
ging straps to hinder.
We're forest rangers" announced
the spokesman, a Quick-eyed, steady
young chap, to Sandry, give me your
men,"
Thank tn Lord" said Daily fer.
vently, take command"
The newcomer talked q moment
with his two companions, m%otioning,
dividing localities, sketching a quick
plan. Then he turned to the owner and
his foreman.
Where's your best TIMBER" he
asked.
Right over that first ridge to tn
east an s%outh-an' there's a big fire
burnin' back toward it."
Come along. l want to climb that
east ridge"
In hurrying silence the three men
climbed the mountain, standing at last
on a narrow crest between two rol.
licking areas Of fame that leaped and
ate and roared in a hundred places.
The stranger questioned %pointedly-
how long they had been burning, how
many fires there we're at the start.
how 1t had all begun, and Sandry no.
ticed his thoroughness.
Daily gave every detail freely.
tits ben SET" he said bitterly, AN
fer tn life Of me l don't know why.
We'd a-had 1t all under by now but
fer this one up here-an' tn start
an'-but, oh Lord. what's tn user
They ben sprjngin' US Eastern we'd
get 'em out"
Got any enemies?"
"Only the Yella Pines, an they're
rich as us-off to tn south there"
The ranger studied the hills, the lie
Of the land, the trend or the valleys,
and held up his hat to get the force
and direction of the wind.
NORTH" said Daily, ben whippin'
up from tn backwater like hell all
day. That's what's done tn business"
Wrong" said the ranger. north
by-northeast. Worse, for it's going to
change. Then it'll go back toward
that heavier timber there.
He nodded toward the East Belt and
Daily groaned.
Sandry only shut his lips.
He began to see why his foreman,
himself q born woodsman and familiar
with the region, had SO heartily
turned over his command to this
stranger. popped up from nowhere.
He recognized trained ability, a man
Of business handling his business.
They hastily returned to the valley
and the ranger gathered twenty men,
putting them under one Of his aides.
go up over that ridge" he direct
ed briefly, "and cut a forty-foot fall
straight across the dip behind the
fire. Go on and cut 1t up over the big
ridge. Don't stop to fight"
AS the men hurried of with cross.
cuts and axes, he plunged into the
smoke and fire, shouting terse com
mands, taking men from what seemed
imperative tasks to put therl at work
in places removed from the ire-dig,
ging trenches, cutting a great pine
here, a towering spruce or fir there.
Good man." painted Sandry to his
foreman as they passed with axes
and dripping sacks.
BEST thing in the timber. They
know tn woods an tn fires an tn
air currents. VISIT we had a hun
dred of 'em. They'd save tn country
is goin' to hell with these fires"
The one-horse railroad redeemed It,
self that night, for it sent a special
train from the Summit with all the
men from the stations along the $50
lated mountain line. That was no
great load, for the few tiny towns lost
in the wilderness had little to boast
Of in population, yet what they sent
was good, live stun-timbermen and
fire-fighters by instinct.
Dawn came over the mountains In
blood-red haze. The sun was a ball of
copper shining dimly through a can
opy OF dun-white smoke. The wind
which had dropped a bit in the latter
part Of the night, came up again and
gave new impetus to the flames. The
roar was in~cessant. Here a giant
pine, rich with resin, caught fire and
fairly tore into the sky in It's fury Of
burniLg-there q huge fir, eaten
through at the base by a pack of tin
der, fell with a majesty Of sound that
was awesome And everywhere the
men, like ants attacking some mighty
task, toiled without sleep.
Daily had been up for fortY-eight