THE CHASE
"Lively boys! Swat it out! Farther off to the left there, Skinny!"
"All right, Pete! I get you!"
"Dave, there's a flicker behind you. Swat it out!"
"Out she goes!" answered the young cowboy.
"Tubby, step along with a little more life!" the foreman cried. "Th' fire'll git yo' if yo' don't watch out!"
"I'm goin' along as fast as I can, Pete."
"Well, move faster. We've got to beat this fire!"
Thus with friendly gibes and taunts Pete kept his men at work. The fire was coming nearer, but the burned strip was widening too, and soon would be too broad for the flames to leap over.
They would separate, of course, and travel down on either side of the charred section, but the cattle might be saved.