.

"Not a bit, Jack. The wind's the other way, and if it shifts it's
certain to bring rain with it and put the fire out, anyhow. It would
take a good, strong, east wind to blow the fire over this way, and that
would mean a regular rain storm, sure. So we're safe enough here.
Fires never have reached Eagle Lake."

"I'm glad of that. It would be a shame to have any fire here. It
might burn up the camps, you know, and that would be a pity."

"It sure would! But I guess we're safe enough here. The guides all
say so, and they ought to know, certainly. They've lived in the woods
most of their lives, from what they say, and they don't seem to think
that there's any danger at all."

"They certainly ought to know," agreed Jack. "They know more than we
do, anyhow. That's a sure thing."

The two Scouts were pretty well tired out from their long hike, and
they enjoyed their comfortable beds that night. It was warm, and even
though the air was full of smoke, it was strong and bracing. So they
awoke in the morning refreshed and full of life, and, when Chris hailed
them, they joined him with a will in a plunge into the chilly water of
the lake.

"How far away is the fire, Jim?" Jack asked, after breakfast.

"Two or three miles to the west, I guess," said Jim, carelessly. "It
won't come any nearer, either, Jack."

"I think I'll go take a look at it," said Jack. "Coming, Pete and
Chris?"

"Sure we are!" they cried.

Their eyes smarted, and their throats were parched as they made their
way toward the burning timber, but they didn't mind such small
discomforts, and soon Jack had a chance to see a real woods fire
burning at its height.

"This is the real thing, Pete," he said, when they got a good look at
the fire from the ridge where they had found Bess Benton on the first
night they had been at Eagle Lake, some weeks earlier.

"Gee," said Pete, "I thought that fire we helped to stop near the city
was big enough, but this beats it all hollow, doesn't it, Jack?"

"Come on!" said Jack, with sudden determination. "This isn't safe, no
matter what the guides say. If the wind changes this fire would sweep
right down to the edge of the lake. A little rain wouldn't make any
impression on it at all."

Jack, once his mind was made up, wasn't afraid of ridicule or anything
else. He went back to camp, and sought out Mr. Benton.

"I think that fire's mighty dangerous, Mr. Benton," he said. "I know
the guides say