He stumbled over a root and fell headlong, picked himself up and went
on again, taking great leaps, like a scared deer. She was down there.
And when the fire struck that manzanita it would just go _swoosh_ in
every direction at once.... And so he, brave, impulsive young fool
that he was, rushed down into it as though he were indeed a god and
could hold back the flames until she was safe away from the place.




CHAPTER TEN

WHEN FORESTS ARE ABLAZE


It seemed to Jack that he had been running for an hour, though it
could not have been more than a few minutes at most. Where the trail
swung out and around a steep, rocky place, he left it and plunged
heedlessly straight down the hill. The hot breath of the fire swept up
in gusts, bearing charred flakes that had been leaves. The smoke
billowed up to him, then drove back in the tricky air-currents that
played impishly around the fire. When he could look down to the knoll
where the hydrometer stood, he saw that it was not yet afire, but that
the flames were working that way faster even than he had feared.

Between gasps he shouted her name as Hank Brown had repeated it to
him. He stopped on a ledge and stared wildly, in a sudden panic, lest
he should somehow miss her. He called again, even while reason told
him that his voice could not carry any distance, with all that crackle