g."

"That's pretty dangerous, isn't it?"

"Yes, unless the man who's doing it knows exactly what he wants to do
and exactly how to do it. But I guess Mr. Durland and Dick Crawford
won't make any mistakes."

"It's lucky for these farmers that Mr. Durland knows a fire when he
sees it, isn't it, Jack? If they let that fire alone, Bob Hart said it
would sweep over the whole place and burn up the farmhouses."

"Sure it would! The trouble is they never believe anything until they
see it. They think that just because there never was a really bad fire
here before, there never will be."

"There have been fires on Bald Mountain before, though, Jack. I've
seen them myself."

"That's true enough--and that's just the trouble. This is the trouble.
There's been scarcely any rain here for the last two months, and
everything is fearfully dry. If the brooks were full the fire wouldn't
be so likely to jump them. But, as it is, any old thing may happen.
That's the danger--and they can't see it."

Each Scout was carrying his Scout axe and stick, a stout pole that was
useful in a hundred different ways on every hike. The axes were out
now, and the sharp knives that each Scout carried were also ready for
instant use. Durland, at the head of the little column in which the
Scouts had formed, was casting his keen eye over the whole landscape.
Now he gave the order to halt.

The Scouts had reached the edge of the fertile land. The course of the
little stream was directly before them, and on the other side was the
land that had been partially cleared of timber the year before, filled
with stumps and dry brush.

"Go over and borrow a few shovels from the farmhouse over there,"
directed Durland. "Crawford, take a couple of Scouts and get them. I
want those shovels, whether they want to lend them to you or not. It's
for their own sake--we can't stand on ceremony if they won't or can't
understand the danger."

"Come on, Danby and Binns," said Dick Crawford, a happy smile on his
lips, and the light of battle in his eyes. "We'll get those shovels if
they're to be found there, believe me!"

The farmer and most of the men, of course, were in the fields, still at
work. If they had seen the advance of the Scouts they had paid no
attention whatever, and seemed to have no curiosity, even when three of
the Scouts left the main body, and went over to the farmhouse. There
Dick and the others found a woman, hatchet faced and determ