A Campfire Girls Test of Friendship | Page 8

yourselves how close they were to having to turn and run from the
fire."
"It looks as if some of the houses here had actually been on fire," said
Dolly, as they passed into the outskirts of the village.
"I expect they were. You see, the wind was very high just before the
shift came, and it would carry sparks and blazing branches. It's been a
very hot, dry summer, too, and so all the wooden houses were ready to
catch fire. The paint was dry and blistered. They probably had to watch

these houses very carefully, to be ready to put out a fire the minute it
started."
"It didn't look so bad from our side of the lake, though, did it?"
"The smoke hid the things that were really dangerous from us, but here
they could see all right. I'll bet that before another summer comes
around they'll be in a position to laugh at a fire."
"How do you mean? Is there anything they can do to protect
themselves--before a fire starts, I mean?"
"That's the time to protect themselves. When people wait until the fire
has actually begun to burn, it's almost impossible for them to check it.
It would have been this time, if the wind had blown for a few hours
longer the way it was doing when the fire started."
"But what can they do?"
"They can have a cleared space between the town and the forest, for
one thing, with a lot of brush growing there, if they want to keep that.
Then, if a fire starts, they can set the brush afire, and make a back fire,
so that the big fire will be checked by the little one. The fire has to have
something to feed on, you see, and if it comes to a cleared space that's
fairly wide, it can't get any further.
"Oh, a cleared space like that doesn't mean that the village could go to
sleep and feel safe! But it's a lot easier to fight the fire then. All the
men in town could line up, with beaters and plenty of water, and as
soon as sparks started a fire on their side of the clearing, they could put
it out before it could get beyond control."
"Oh, I see! And being able to see the fire as soon as it started, they
wouldn't have half so much trouble fighting it as if they had to be after
the really big blaze."
"Yes. The fire problem in places like this seems very dreadful, but
when the conditions are as good as they are here, with plenty of water,

all that's needed is a little forethought. It's different in some of the
lumber towns out west, because there the fires get such a terrific start
that they would jump any sort of a clearing, and the only thing to do
when a fire gets within a certain distance of a town is for the people
who live in the town to run."
Soon the road began to pass between desolate stretches of woods,
where the fire had raged at its hottest. Here the ground on each side of
the road was covered with smoking ashes, and blackened stumps stood
up from the barren, burnt ground.
"It looks like a big graveyard, with those stumps for headstones," said
Dolly, with a shudder.
"It is a little like that," said Eleanor, with a sigh. "But if you came here
next year you wouldn't know the place. All that ash will fertilize the
ground, and it will all be green. The stumps will still be there, but a
great new growth will be beginning to push out. Of course it will be
years and years before it's real forest again, but nature isn't dead,
though it looks so. There's life underneath all that waste and desolation,
and it will soon spring up again."
"I hope we'll get out of this burned country soon," said Dolly. "I think
it's as gloomy and depressing as it can be. I'd like to have seen this road
before the fire--it must have been beautiful."
"It certainly was, Dolly. And all this won't last for many miles. We
really ought to stop pretty soon to eat our dinner. What do you say,
girls? Would you like to wait, and press on until we come to a more
cheerful spot, where the trees aren't all burnt?"
"Yes, oh, yes!" cried Margery Burton. "I think that would be ever so
much nicer! Suppose we are a little hungry before we get our dinner?
We can stand that for once."
"I think we'll enjoy our meal more. So we'll keep on, then, if the rest of
you feel the same way."

Not a voice dissented from that proposition, either. Dolly