“Confound it! It—it isn’t fair—a fire like that—it won’t give a fellow half a chance!” he moaned.
“A hundred men would be needed to fight it here.”
“They can’t raise half so many to save the settlement.”
“But the other neighbors——”
“Not enough of ’em to do any good. They’ll have to telephone to town for help.”
Sam considered the case for a moment. “The folks at the pavilion will think of that, of course.... And Step and Poke must have roused ’em by this time. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Not a thing!” said the Shark. “And our camp’s as good as done for, I reckon. Our little stop was all right in its way, but this”—he broke off and waved a hand at the great fire—“this is big business, Sam. It’ll burn over everything on this side of the lake.”
“I’m afraid so,” said Sam gloomily. “Maybe there’ll be time, though, to work back and save some of our plunder.”
“Doubt it,” quoth the Shark crisply. “No harm trying, though,” he added.
Sam gave a parting glance at the furnace, and found it raging more furiously than ever. It was a wonderful sight, fascinating if terrifying. His fancy stirred; there were before him glowing arches and long aisles reaching far back into the woods through which the flames had spread; but in the foreground, where the fire was roaring toward him, it was easy to picture a monster of savage destruction.