Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-09-17
By Charles @. D. Roberts
Somewhere. perhaps from a dropped

Somewhere, perhaps from a dropped
match or the red coal shaken from q
pipe. perhaps from a campfire too care
lessly extinguished, the spark had been
started. And presently a flock of sharp
little flames was scattering through the
brush, darting and licking hungrily
wherever they found p%rovender to their
taste. The spot where it all began was
remote from the fire patrols, SO in brief
space the red monster had grown full
size and eager flames were racing to
the tops of the nearest fir trees.
With the first breath of that menac-
ing scent in her nostrils the great moose
knew just what peril confronted her.
She knew that almost directly south of
her lay the waters of a long and wind
ing lake 20 wide that no fire could
overleap it. She knew also, of a rocky
island about half a mile off shore, with
little vegetation on it that would burn.
Had her calf been even a day older,
able to travel fast and far, all would
have been well. Moose are born SWIM
mers. and on that island wa secure
sanctuary. But now-her heart was torn
with terror and uncertainty.
Holding her Impotence sternly in
check, she waited till the calf had
nursed all it would. Then she moved
slowly off, picking the easiest way
through the thicket. The calf stood
staring after her, waving its long ears
stupidity, till the idea dawned upon it
that it was being deserted. With a
harsh little bleat Of fear and appeal it
went stumbling in pursuit of that dark.
withdrawing form. The mother paused
to let him overtake her, nuzzled it en-
couragingly, and moved on again. The
calf waited till she had gone a dozen
yards or SO, expecting her to return to
him. Then with another bleating cry,
this time more Of protest than alarm,
again he stumbled after her. And now,
his long legs beginning to feel rather
more as If they belonged to him, he
moved less ~unsteadily..
The mother, looking so1icitously over
her shoulder, was somewhat treasured
and kept on her slow way till the calf
stopped and bleated again, begging her
to come back. This, she knew, would
not do at all. Yet she must not dis
courage or Overture him. She waited
and called softly; and presently, seeing
that she would not return, he staggered
forward eagerly, snuggled against her
shaggy flank, and fell to nursing again.
This was all to the good, as it would
mean more strength for him; SO,
though the wind was by now coming
ominously warm through the branches
and with an ever increasing p%ungency,
which she too well understood, she
curbed her desperate eagerness and en-
couraged him to nurse all he would. At
best 1t would be his last chance until
the grim fates Of the wilderness should
have decided for or against them.
After this invigorating halt the calf
had gained strength suddenly. He went
stumbling along at his mothers heels
quite steadily and contentedly. Instead
Of pushing her way directly south to-
ward the water-as there was dire need
to do, and a. she would have done, TAX
ing all obstacles in her stride, had she
been alone-the wise COW headed east
ward for several hundred yards in or
der to gain a stretch Of more open and
even ground which would afford the
calf easier going. But when she came
out from the heavy timber and looked
northward she gave q snort OF terror,
wheeled south, and involuntarily sprang
forward In q wild race for the lake. In
a few seconds, however, she stopped,
turned and stared at the calf, stumbling
f~o rf{ooJ1vt fo~ hohinH IYor Haov%
pounding madly as she strobe back to
him, fumbled him repentantly with her
lips, and then, keeping him close at
her side, resumed her journey toward
the lake at such a deliberate pace as
she thought he would be able to main
tain.
To the northwest by this time the
sky was filled with a writhing, tumbling
curtain of smoke, its thin, yellowish
upper fringe driven before the wind in
long streamers which seemed to be
reaching out hungrily in pursuit of the
fugitives. It's lower portions, seen
through the black-green OF the inter-
vening tree tops, was a boiling turmoil
Of sooty brown with tongues of red
flame stabbing upward through it. The
smoke that o came, filtered to q
BLUSH haze through the thick foliage
OF the spruces. was so hot and pungent
that the painting nostrils of the fugi-
tives baked at breathing it and their
smarting eyes a streams.
Coming at length to a little spring.
fed pool from which an ice cold rivu-
let gurgled of through damp moses
OF a living green, the COW knelt and
plunged her whole huge head into the
water and drank greedily. She tried to
get the calf to do likewise, but could