After I had eaten I began to gain strength. But my face was
puffed from the heat, my injured arm was stiff and sore, and my legs seemed
never to have been used before.
Darkness came on quickly. The dew fell heavily, and the air grew chilly.
Our blazing campfire was a comfort. Bud and Bill carried in logs for
firewood, while Herky made me a bed of dry pine needles.
"It'll be some cold tonight," he said," an' we'll hev to hug the fire. Now
if we was down in the foot-hills we'd be warmer, hey? Look thar!"
He pointed down the ravine, and I saw a great white arc of light extending
up into the steely sky.
"The forest fire?"
"Yep, she's burnin' some. But you oughter seen it last night. Not thet it
ain't worth seein' jest now. Come along with me."
He led me where the ravine opened wide. I felt, rather than saw, a steep
slope beneath. Far down was a great patch of fire. It was like a crazy
quilt, here dark, there light, with streaks and stars and streams of fire
shining out of the blackness. Masses of slow-moving smoke overhung the
brighter areas. The night robbed the forest fire of its fierceness and lent
it a kind of glory. The fire had ceased to move; it had spent its force,
run its race, and was now dying. But I could not forget what it had been,
what it had done.
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