CHAPTER XII

FIRE

The light had got dim, and Carrie put down her sewing and looked about. A belt of yellow sky glimmered above the distant snow, but the valley was dark and the pines rolled in blurred masses up the hill. Thin mist crept out of the deep hollow and Carrie shivered when a cold wind shook the trees. She was beginning to know the wilds, and now and then their austerity daunted her. By and by a red twinkle in the distance drew her glance and she turned to Jim.

"What is that?"

Jim looked and frowned. "Ah," he said, "I'd begun to think our luck was too good!"

"But what is the light?"

"A bush fire."

Jake indicated the drift of the smoke from their cooking fire. As a rule, the valleys of British Columbia that open to the west form channels for the Chinook wind from the Pacific, but now and then a dry, cold current flows down them to the coast.

"It won't bother us unless the wind changes," he remarked. "In this country, however, the wind generally does change when you'd sooner it did not, and it's not safe to trust your luck much. Looks as if Nature had put up her shingle on the mountains, warning the white man off."

"But white men do live in the mountains," Carrie objected.

"Men who are strong enough. They must fight for a footing and then use the best tools other men can make to hold the ground they've won. We're scouts, carrying axes, saws, and giant-powder, but the main body must cooperate to defend its settlements with civilization's heavy machines. It's sure a hard country, and sometimes it gets me scared!"

Now, provide a numbered list of answers to these questions:

1. Who is with Carrie?
2. What hobby was she working on?
3. What caught her eye?
4. What did Jim think it was?
5. Did he think they were in danger?
6. Unless what happened?
7. Which direction was the wind blowing?
8. Who did he believe Nature was trying to warn away?
9. Did this make sense to Carrie?
10. What tools does he mention?
11. Despite those tools, what was required for survival?
12. Was Carrie experienced in the wilderness?
13. What temperature was the breeze?
14. What purpose did their fire serve?
1. Jim.
2. sewing
3. a red twinkle in the distance
4. "A bush fire."
5. no
6. the wind changes
7. down to the coast.
8. the white man
9. no
10. axes, saws, and giant-powder
11. main body must cooperate
12. no
13. cold
14. cooking