ts of
times. Many campers are careless, and don't seem to realize that a
very few sparks will be enough to start the dry leaves burning.
Sometimes people see that their fire is just going out, as they think,
and they don't feel that it's necessary to pour water on it and make
sure that it's really dead. You see, the fire stays in the embers of a
wood fire a long, long time, smouldering, after it seems to be out, and
then--well, can't you guess what might happen?"

"I suppose the wind might come up, and start sparks flying?"

"That's exactly what does happen. Why, in the big forest preserves out
west they have men in little watch-towers on the high spots in the
hills, who don't do anything but look for smoke and signs of a fire.
They have big telescopes, and when they see anything suspicious they
make signals from one tower to the next, and tell where the fire is.
Then all the rangers and watchers run for the fire, and sometimes, if
it's been seen soon enough, they can put it out before it gets to be
really dangerous."

"Well, I know now why I've got to be careful," said Dolly. "I wouldn't
start a fire for anything!"

"Good! And I think it's time to sing the good-night song!"

CHAPTER II

FOREBODINGS OF TROUBLE

"I think we'll beat those old Boy Scouts easily when we have that field
day, Bessie," said Dolly Ransom to her chum, Bessie King. "Look at the
way we beat them in the swimming match the other day."

A friendly rivalry between the Camp Fire Girls and the Boy Scouts of a
troop that was camping at a lake some miles away had led, a short time
before, to a swimming contest in which skill, and not speed and
strength, had been the determining factors, and, vastly to the surprise
and disgust of the boys, the girls had had the best of them.

"We don't want to be over-confident," said Bessie. "You know they
thought we were easy, and I don't believe they tried as hard as they
might have done. After all, girls and boys aren't the same, and if
boys are any good, they're stronger and better at games than girls, no
matter how good the girls are."

"Oh, they tried right enough," said Dolly. "They just couldn't do it,
that's all."

"Another thing, Dolly, we've got to remember, is that those weren't
races. If they had been we'd have been beaten, because those boys
could really swim a lot faster than we could. It was just a case of
doing certain things and doing them just the right way. Anyone can
l