The other Beaver Patrol Scouts who shared the tent, already were out of bed and dressing with frenzied haste. Judy pulled on her own clothes, aware that more and more smoke was swirling about the canvas shelter.
Once outside, she saw the source of the fire. Heavy black smoke was billowing toward the camp from the woods where duff and debris were ablaze.
Judy’s first moment of relief that camp buildings and tents were intact, gave way to concern. The surface fire was dangerously close. Fed by a light but steady wind, the flames were moving toward the camp with amazing speed!
As she started for the adjoining tents to awaken the girls there, a gong in the main dining room sounded the first alarm.
Tent flaps went apart, and sleep-eyed Scouts began to thrust tousled heads out into the cold night air.
“What’s up?” demanded Beverly, one of the first Beaver Patrol girls to scramble into her clothes. “Is the camp afire?”
“Not yet, but it will be if we don’t work fast!” Judy asserted. “Oh!”
She uttered a little scream as a flying brand, borne by the wind, dropped in the grass only a few feet away.
Badly frightened, she and Beverly ran to stamp out the tiny flames.