Fire in the Woods / Illustrated

by James De Mille

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“To Tracadie.”

“But I thought we were going to search farther for Phil—to the north.”

“So we are,” said the priest; “but we’ll have to go back. If we were to walk through the woods, we would only be losing time. Now, I propose to go back, and drive along the road to a place about fifteen miles away, where some men are already in the woods engaged in this search. We can either go there, or go farther on; in fact, it might be well to go as far as the Bay de Chaleur, and get people there to keep a lookout. But first, we must go back, and we can see what the prospects are.”

They now retraced their steps in accordance with what the priest had said. It was a deep disappointment to Bart to find himself returning again without having accomplished anything; and in addition to this, he was very greatly troubled by the disappearance of Pat and Solomon. By the time they reached Tracadie it was evening, and as nothing more could be done that night, Bart once more took up his quarters for the night with the priest.

While sitting together that evening, the conversation was very naturally drawn to the great fire, of which the priest had already spoken several times; and at Bart’s request he now gave a more particular account of it.

“It was in the year 1825,” said the priest. “The summer had been the hottest and the dryest ever known, not only in this province, but all over North America. There was no rain for months. The hay crop was a total failure everywhere, and the garden vegetables all wilted and withered. Corn, turnips, potatoes, almost everything failed. The roads were all covered with fine dust, the fields were all cracked, and the grass was as if it had been scorched. The woods were dried and parched in the same way, the sap seemed to dry up in the trees, and the leaves and branches were ready to flash into a blaze at the slightest approach of fire.

“Fires, indeed, were in the woods in different places from midsummer till autumn. These burned steadily, though without making any very great progress. There were fires in these woods, and up at the head of the bay, and near the Nashwaak. The most extensive was one near Fredericton. There were also fires in the woods of Maine. And in Canada some of them had reached very serious dimensions. As a general thing, none of our people thought anything of it. Fires are so common that they excite no attention, and so it was with us. It was so dry that there was every reason to expect them, and if they were even larger than usual, that was no more than might be expected under such unusual circumstances.

“At last the month of October came, and in the early part of that month various causes contributed to spread the fires. On the 6th it was noticed that they had increased very greatly, and their extent was now far beyond anything that had ever been known before. People wondered at this, but thought that before long it must come to an end. Rain must come and put a stop to it.