Then he set fire to the little pile of grass and started the
team slowly along the battle front. As they moved the burning grass in
the rim set fire to the grass on the prairie underneath; the rim partly
rubbed it out again as it came over, and the men were able to keep what
remained in check, but as he lengthened his line Transley had to leave
more and more men to beat out the fire, and had fewer to pull grass.
The sacks were too wet to burn; he had to have grass to feed his moving
fire-spreader.

At length he had only a teamster and himself, and his fire was going
out. Transley whipped off his shirt, rolled it into a little heap,
set fire to it, and ran along beside the rim, firing the little moving
circle of grass inside.

It was the teamster, looking back, who saw Transley fall. He had to drop
the lines to run to his assistance, and the horses, terrified by smoke
and fire and the excitement of the fight, immediately bolted. The
teamster took Transley in his arms and half carried, half dragged him
into the safe area behind the backfires. And a few minutes later the
main fire, checked on its front, swept by on the flank and raced on up
through the valley.

In riding down to the assistance of Mrs. Landson Zen found herself
suddenly caught in an eddy of smoke. She did not realize at the moment
that the wind had turned; she thought she must have ridden into the fire
area. To avoid the possibility of being cut off by the fire, and also
for better air, she turned her horse to the river. All through the
valley were billows of smoke, with here and there a reddish-yellow
glare marking the more vicious sections of flame. Vaguely, at times, she
thought she caught the shouting of men, but all the heavens seemed full
of roaring.

When Zen reached the water the smoke was hanging low on it, and she
drove her horse well in. Then she swung down the stream, believing that
by making a detour in this way she could pass the wedge of fire that had
interrupted her and get back on to the trail leading to Landson's.
She was coughing with the smoke, but rode on in the confidence that
presently it would lift.

It did. A whip of wind raised it like a strong arm throwing off a
blanket. She sat up and breathed freely. The hot sun shone through rifts
in the canopy of smoke; the blue sky looked down serene and unmoved by
this outburst of the elements. Then as Zen brought her eyes back to
the water she saw a man on horseback not forty yards a