Quiz shook his head solemnly as he and Jerry started down the ridge. “Just my luck. I always call them wrong.”
As it turned out, it was one of the unluckiest calls Quiz had ever made in his life.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Trapped on the Hill
Several times during the next hour, Sandy heard the deep rumble of thunder, and a few minutes after three o’clock, the sun was blotted out by a low overcast. But the velocity of the wind had been steadily increasing, and the fire was raging more fiercely than ever. The backfires had been completely ineffective, and at three-fifteen, Jerry came puffing up the hill with the bad news.
“She’s breached the line. Lukas says there’s no holding her now. They’re going to evacuate.”
For some time, a sweeping curtain of smoke had obscured Sandy’s view of the fire front. And the reports he had received over the walkie-talkie from headquarters indicated that aerial observation was no better.
“I’d better wake up Dick,” he said. He went over to the ranger, who was still in a deep sleep, and shook him violently.
Dick Fellows raised himself laboriously on his elbows and listened glassy-eyed as Sandy told him the latest development. “I knew it! I knew it!” he mumbled. “All of it for nothing. In the end she was bound to beat us.” He struggled to his knees. “I’ll notify headquarters. You boys take one last scout down the line. Make certain all the men get out safely.”
At the bottom of the slope, Sandy turned and whistled to Prince, who was sniffing curiously at a half-eaten sandwich in the grass. “Better come with us, boy, so you don’t get left behind.”
With a yelp, the dog trotted after them.