This time Mr. Bentley laughed whole-heartedly.
“Sorry to cheat you out of a good show, my boy,” he said, while the others grinned. “Perhaps we’ll be able to put on something for you before you leave. However,” and his face became suddenly grave, “a forest fire is really not in the least amusing. It is the most heartbreaking thing in the world—a fight that brings out all that is best in a man, a struggle that taxes his courage to the limit. If you had ever lived through one—a real one, I mean, where your flesh is scorched and your eyes go blind in the agony of the fight—you would be thankful, as we here at the station are thankful, for this respite. It is probably only a respite,” he continued in his old light tone, “for the old demon is bound to break out sometime, somewhere. And when it does, there will be excitement enough to satisfy even you lads.”
As the boys walked slowly back toward the lodge, Mr. Bentley’s words went with them. But, so far from dulling their desire to see a real forest fire—one “in which your flesh is scorched and your eyes go blind in the agony of the fight”—the ranger’s vivid description merely fired their imaginations and made them all the more eager, not only to see, but to participate in such a fight.
“It would be worth a couple of burned hands and the loss of an eyebrow or two,” chuckled Joe, unconsciously voicing what was in the minds of all of them, “just to be in a show like that once.”
“I’ll say it would,” agreed Jimmy, softly.
As they neared the lodge their pace quickened. They had spent more time at the station than they had intended and they were fearful that Dr. Dale might have arrived to find no one awaiting him.
But the rambling little house was as quiet as it had been when they left it and they concluded that Dr. Dale had scheduled his arrival for some time later that afternoon.
They set about getting lunch, talking excitedly about the marvels of the ranger station.
“Say, make believe I wouldn’t like to get a job there!” cried Herb, longingly. “Believe me, those rangers live some easy life.”
“Except when there happens to be a fire,” Bob reminded him. “From what Mr. Bentley says, I guess at such times they are pretty much on the job. But say, fellows, be honest,” he added. “Did you ever see a radio outfit to equal that set over there?”