“Smoke.”
“Huh! here’s wood burning at your feet.”
“No, no!” exclaimed the other. “This breeze is rising and is blowing more steadily than it did. And it brings the smoke to us. Look up through the tree tops. D’ye see how hazy it’s grown?”
“Umph-ah!”
“Nothing to fool over, Jack. It’s a big fire.”
“D’yer believe so, Bill?”
“I do, indeed,” said the anxious scout.
Texas Jack cast his eyes about the forest aisles reflectively. He knew as well as his companion the peril attending a forest fire; but he was naturally of a more volatile character, and the discovery made less impression upon him at first.
“We’d better make a break, hadn’t we, Bill?” he asked finally.
“Just think a bit, Jack,” the other replied. “Where’ll we go? Do you realize that this crick is the biggest body of water in a circle of forty miles?”