“Then the Guide sprang into the saddle of the other horse and started his private caravan out of the clearing. He had gone back as far as the old camp-site where the smoldering fire had been stamped out just in time to prevent a conflagration, when an ominous sound from ahead and above reached his acute hearing. Also the instincts of the high-bred horses caused them to snort and paw the ground. The three little burros flapped their great ears fearsomely, while the hair on their necks seemed to stand up like bristles on a brush.
“‘Um-m-mm! murmured Tally, taking in the situation at once. ‘Mebbe you fine outlaws mek udder fires an’ leave he’em lak you leave one dis mornin’, so now we have fine beeg fores’ fire!’
“The Indian’s eyes flashed as he spoke. ‘Mebbe now I tie you to jus’ such beeg tree lak you burn down, an’ leaf you to tas’ nice hot fire what you mek. My burro an’ dese two fine hosses what you steal, we go down-trail an’ get out after we leaf you here.
“There was no mistaking the signs that the forest was on fire, but the two cowards who now realized that the blaze was up in the direction of their camp of yesterday cringed and begged of Tally to hurry and get them out, else they would be roasted to death.
“‘Da’s goot for men what leaf camp fire smolder! goot for ’em to feel how fine beeg trees feel when flames roast efery one. Mebbe you know better when you baked goot and black lak forest after fire,’ Tally believed in ‘rubbing it in’ once he had the golden opportunity.
“But he kept on down the trail, in spite of his threats to stop and tie the two outlaws to the trees which now seemed to be doomed by the fast-spreading fire.
“Finally the going became too precarious even for such a daring guide as the Indian, and, true to instinct, he swerved away from the blazing tree-tops above, and broke through an almost impassable jungle of undergrowth. This wilderness proved to be merely a strip that separated the winding stream he had followed, from a new trail recently blazed by the Rangers.
“Following this comparatively easy path now Tally rode on behind his cortege until he came to a forester’s blaze. Here he read that he was riding away from the bridge instead of to it. Consequently he drove his cavalcade back, for a mile or more, to a cross-trail he had seen, but which had looked too insignificant to take.
“Reaching this he stopped to read the blaze; thus he found he could climb by the trail and strike into a good hard road where he would pass by the spot where he had left his horse. This he did and after arduous climbing he reached the log-bridge.
“He says he was so glad when he got his old horse back that he actually kissed its nose. There was no sign of the devastating fire at this section, and the horse had not even sniffed the smoke, and was well rested and ready for another jaunt.