“If this gets going full blast in the woods, people will say that we started it, and there will be the dickens to pay!” he groaned inwardly, as he threw the water from his pail onto the fire. “Oh, I do wish that Buck and his squad was here to help us!”
Boys who had not been able to supply themselves with pails had seized anything handy with which to beat at the edges of the fire and they fought stoutly to beat it to submission. The smoke was choking and the heat thrown off was blistering. Ted, having emptied his pail, raced down to the spring, to find another problem confronting them.
The two springs had been drained down to mere trickles. A half dozen pails of water from each had effectively emptied them and Ted did not dare wait for the basins to fill up. There was but one thing to do.
“Fill your pails at the creek!” he cried, and dashed off down the slope to Bear Creek. Here he dipped his bucket into the black water and ran back up the hill with it, splashing it on the fire.
“Good glory, we’ll never beat it at this rate, and we simply have to!” was his despairing thought.
He remembered the large extra piece of canvas in the truck, and abandoning his pail he ran down the hill and procured the material. Just as he was about to charge back up the slope there was heard the sound of running footsteps and Buck’s squad, nearly played out from their hurried descent, arrived in the camp.
“Buck!” shouted Ted, joyously. “You just got here in time!”
“I guess so!” was the panted reply. “Here, let me have an end of that canvas and we’ll try and smother some of the fire.”
The boys who had just arrived in camp procured flat pans, shovels and anything else that came to hand and joined the almost exhausted boys at the pine grove. Ted and Buck carried the canvas up and each of them took an end. This large section of material, when raised and lowered by the two boys, snuffed out long, ragged edges of flame, and by working busily they soon had the fire under control. But their work was by no means ended as yet. There were dozens of individual spurts of fire still to be put out and to these they gave their attention. Two dead trees were beginning to blaze and the two camp leaders quickly put them out, so that the fire would not be noted by anyone living nearby. At the present time they desired no publicity.
The last glimmer of fire had been put out and the smoked and blackened boys stood silent for a moment, panting heavily. The night had been indeed a strenuous one, and the chasing squad in particular was worn out completely. Their long dash after the mountain man, their speedy return, and the exertions around the pine grove, had been as much as they could bear. Some of the smaller boys were shaking decidedly, now that danger was over, but the trembling was the result of excitement and exhaustion.