Vainly did the flames dart forth, fanned by that still raging wind, and endeavor to reach the buildings that had been cut off from their grasp by the destruction of the old factory. The more they tried, the greater the efforts of those who held the water nozzles continued. Wherever a certain point was threatened there would be a concentration of splashing fluid, and the enemy retreated, baffled again and again.
Rob noticed presently that each time the fire made this attempt to cross the divide it seemed to grow just a little weaker. He knew that the fuel by means of which it was maintained was being devoured at such a rate that, given time, the efforts of the Department would prove successful. Even now matters had reached such a stage he believed the worst to be over; and that victory was in the air.
Chapter XXI
After It Was All Over
“I guess it’s all over but the shouting!” exclaimed Sim, which remark proved that he too must have noticed some of the same signs detected by Rob.
“Oh! do you really believe that?” cried Tubby, a little look of relief appearing on his face, which lately had been screwed up in all sorts of lines denoting his strained feelings.
“Well,” explained Sim, with alacrity, “you can see for yourself that so far none of the sparks have set fire to the roofs of the mills and factories, thanks to the men who are guarding the same, armed with buckets of water. If you watch carefully you’ll learn that the blaze keeps on getting weaker right along. It’s burning itself out, I tell you, Tubby. We win, and most of the glory goes to Rob here for thinking up such a grand scheme.”
“Don’t you believe that!” exclaimed the scout leader, energetically. “Nine-tenths of it ought to go to Ralph, you’d better say. Didn’t he get the apparatus for blowing up that factory, and wasn’t it Ralph who piloted the car back home and here again, going like mad? But perhaps you had better not say anything more about that business, boys; neither of us want to pose as heroes. After all, what we did was only the most natural thing in the world.”
“Just what it was, and we’re fishing for no bouquets, either, remember,” said Ralph, who was close enough to hear all this talk.
It was now close on midnight, but no one in all Wyoming would dream of such a thing as going to bed. Some had been burned out of house and home, while all the remainder had suffered such a shock to their nerves that sleep was quite out of the question for them.
The danger was past, and every one could take a good long breath of relief. Why, even the wind had commenced to die down now, as though conscious of its defeat in trying to aid its companion element in destroying the bustling town.