her way the
fire would not harm us."

But the wind was blowing right toward Uncle Fred's ranch houses, and he
and the cowboys knew they must hurry to plow the safety strip of land.

And so they began. Back and forth the teams of horses pulled the plows,
turning the dry grass under and leaving only bare earth on top. Then
other cowboys came, and the farmers and ranchers who had been telephoned
to, and soon many were fighting the prairie fire.

Nearer and nearer it came. The horses, smelling the smoke and seeing the
flames, began to snort and prance around.

"Only a little more now," cried Uncle Fred, "and we'll be safe!"

Back and forth the plows hurried, turning up strip after strip of damp
ground. It was so hot now, because the fire was nearer, that Daddy
Bunker led the children back a way.

"Could the fire get ahead of me if I ran fast?" asked Russ, as he
watched the flames and smoke.

"Yes, if the wind blows hard the fire can go faster than the fastest man
can run," said Captain Roy, who came up to where Daddy Bunker stood. The
captain was thirsty, and wanted a drink of water from the pail Daddy
Bunker had carried from the house.

"Do you think you can stop the fire?" asked Violet.

"Oh, yes, we'll stop it now all right," the former soldier answered. "We
started to plow just in time."

And so it happened. The flames and smoke in the burning tall grass
rolled right up to the edge of the plowed strip, and then they stopped.
There was nothing more for the fire to "eat," as Russ called it. Some
little tongues of fire tried to creep around the ends of the plowed
strip, but the cowboys soon beat these out by throwing shovels full of
dirt on them.

"There! Now the fire is out!" cried Uncle Fred. "There is no more
danger."

"And will your houses be all right?" Rose asked.

"Yes, they won't burn now."

There was still much smoke in the air, but the wind was blowing it away.
And then the children could see the big field, all burned black by the
fire.

"The cows can't eat that now, can they?" asked Laddie.

"No, it's spoiled for pasture," said Uncle Fred. "But it will grow up
again. Still a prairie fire is a bad thing."

The little Bunkers thought so, too, and they were glad when it was over.
They went back to the house, leaving some of the cowboys on guard, to
see that no stray sparks started another fire.

"And now we'll have dinner," said Uncle Fred. "It's a little late, but
we'll call it dinner just