The Winslow mail., 1920-12-31
Snowbird's work will be through and
she'll come back here"
"Then she's down In the valleyY'

forest service to hire women when
they can be obtained. 1t was policy
started in war times and kept up now
because it is economical and efficient.
She and girl from college have
cabin not five miles from here on old
Bald mountain, and they're doing look
out duty"
Dan wondered intensely what look
out duty might be. You see, Dan,"
Lennox said in explanation, 'the gov
ernment loses thousands of dollars
every year by forest fire. fire can
be stopped easily if it is seen soon
after 1t starts. But let it burn awhile.
in this dry season, and it's terror-a
wall of flame that races through the
forests and can hardly be stopped.
And maybe you don't realize how
enormous this region is-literally hun
dreds of miles across. We're the last
outpost-there are four cabins, if you
can find them, in the first seventy
miles back to town. So they have to
put lookouts on the high points, and
now they're coming to the use of air.
planes so they can keep even better
watch. Snowbird and girl friend
from college got jobs this summer as
lookouts-all through the forest serv-
ice they are hiring women for the
work. They are more yigilant than
men. less inclined to take chances,
and work cheaper. These two girls
have cabin near spring, and they
cook their own food, and are making
what is big wages in the mountains.
I'm rather hoping she'll drop over for
a few minutes tonight"
"Good Lord--does she travel over
these hills in the darkness"
The mountaineer laughed-a de-
lighted sound that came somewhat
curiously from the bearded lips Of the
stern, dark man. Dan, I'll swear she's
afraid of nothing that walks the face
of the earth--and it isn't because she
hasn't had experience either. She's
dead shot with pistol, for one thing.
She's physically strong, and every
muscle is hard as nails. She used to
have Shag. too-the best dog in all
these mountains. She's a mountain
girl. 1 tell you; whoever wins her has
got to be able to tame her!" The
mountaineer laughed again.
The call to supper came then. and
Dan got his first sight of mountain
food. There were potatoes, newly
dug, mountain vegetables that were
crisp and cold, steak of peculiar
shape, and a great bowl of purple ber-
ries to be eaten with sugar and cream.
Dams appetite was not as rule par
ticularly good But evidently the long
ride had affected him. He simply
didn't have the moral courage to re-
fuse when the elder Lennox heaped
his plate.
"Good heavens, can't eat all that"
he said, as it was passed to him. But
the others laughed and told him to
take heart.
He took heart 1t was a singular
thing, but at that first bite his sudden
confidence in his gustatory ability al
most overwhelmed him. So he cut
himself a bite of the tender steak
fully half as generous as the bites that
Bill was consuming across the table.
And its first flavor simply filed him
with delight.
What is this meat?" he asked.
I've certainly tasted it before"
"Ill bet a few dollars that you
haven't. if you've lived all your life
in the Middle West" Lennox an
swered. Maybe you've got what the
scientists call an inherited memory of
it. It's the kind of meat your grand
father used to live on-venison."
Soon after dinner Lennox led him
out of the house for his first glimpse
of the hills in the darkness.
They walked together out to the
gate, across the first of the wide pas
lures where, at certain seasons, Len
noX kept his cattle; and at last they
came out upon the tree-covered ridge.
The moon was just rising. They could
see it casting a curious CLINT over the
very tips Of the pines But 1t couldn't
get down between them. They stood
too close, too tall and thick for that.
And for a moment, Dams only sensa-
tiOn was one of silence.
You have to stand still a moment,
to really know anything" Lennox told
him.
They both stood still. Dan was as
motionless as that day in the park,
long weeks before, when the squirrel
had climbed on his shoulder. The first
effect was a sensation that the silence
was deepening around them. 1t wasn't
really true. 1t was simply that he
had become aware of the little con-
| tinuous sounds of which usually he
was unconscious. and they tended to
accentuate the hush of the night. He
knew, just as all mountaineers know,
that the wilderness about him was
stirring and pulsing with life. Some
of the sounds were quite clear-an
occasional stir of pebble or the crack
of twig. and some, like the faintest
twtching of leaves in the brush not