Working as they had seldom worked before, the lumbermen cut down the trees and brushwood, and turned up the soil with plows, picks, and spades. Then as the fire kept coming closer, Gilroy ordered some of the timber blown up with sticks of dynamite—a dangerous proceeding in the midst of such hurry and confusion. The sparks kept coming on faster and faster, and then came a mad rush of wind that sent the fire clear over the line upon which they had worked so faithfully.
"It's no use, boys!" sang out the foreman. "We've got to give it up. Back to the cabin, all hands, and let us save what we can down there!"
CHAPTER XVII
THE RAGING OF THE ELEMENTS
"This looks as if the whole camp would be swept away!" cried Owen, as he and Dale hurried back to the cabin with the others.
"The fire will certainly lick out a big portion of the forest," answered Dale. "And by the look of things, I begin to think we'll be lucky if we get out with a whole skin."
"Perhaps we would have done better had we remained at the Wilbur lodge."
"Never mind, we have the horses and can go back, if the worst comes to the worst."
The lumbermen were soon at the cabin, and then, amid considerable confusion, the things there were packed and loaded on the horses and mules. Dale and Owen had a valise apiece, and also a box containing the precious musical instruments and other things, and these they strapped on the Wilbur horses.