his
face was white.

"Smoke, Y.D!" he gasped. "The wind has changed!"

It was true. Already low clouds of smoke were drifting overhead like a
broken veil. The erratic foothill wind, which a few minutes before had
been coming down the valley, was now blowing back up again. Even while
they took in the situation they could feel the hot breath of the distant
fire borne against their faces.

"Well, it's up to us," said Transley tersely. "We'll make a fight of it.
Got any speed in that nag of yours?" Without waiting for an answer he
put spurs to his horse and set forward on a wild gallop into the smoke.

A mile down the line he found that Linder had already gathered his
forces and laid out a plan of defence. The valley, from the South Y.D.
to the hills, was about four miles wide, and up the full breadth of
it was now coming the fire from Landson's fields. There was no natural
fighting line; Linder had not so much as a buffalo path to work against.
But he was already starting back-fires at intervals of fifty yards,
allotting three men to each fire. A back-fire is a fire started for the
purpose of stopping another. Usually a road, or a plowed strip, or even
a cattle path, is used for a base. On the windward side of this base the
back-fire is started and allowed to eat its way back against the wind
until it meets the main fire which is rushing forward with the wind, and
chokes it out for lack of fuel. A few men, stationed along a furrow or a
trail, can keep the small back-fire from jumping it, although they would
be powerless to check the momentum of the main fire.

This was Linder's position, except that he had no furrow to work
against. All he could do was tell off men with sacks and horse blankets
soaked in the barrels of water to hold the back-fire in check as best
they could. So far they were succeeding. As soon as the fire had burned
a few feet the forward side of it was pounded out with wet sacks. It
didn't matter about the other side. It could be allowed to eat back as
far as it liked; the farther the better.

"Good boy, Lin!" Transley shouted, as he drew up and surveyed
operations. "She played us a dirty trick, didn't she?"

Linder looked up, red-eyed and coughing. "We can hold it here," he said,
"but we can never cross the valley. The fire will be on us before we
have burned a mile. It will beat around our south flank and lick up
everything!"

Transley jumped from his horse. He seized Linder in his arms and
l