of,
though. It wouldn't do to go into a country while the fire was on,
because it might be dangerous and we'd certainly be in the way of the
people who were fighting it, and that wouldn't be right."

"Whatever should we do, Miss Eleanor? Go home?"

"Oh, I hardly think it's likely to be as bad as that. We might have to
stay at Crawford for a day or two, but I was planning to spend tonight
there, anyhow. Some friends of ours have a big camp on the lake, and
they said we could stay, if we wanted to."

"Is it as pretty a place as Long Lake?"

"I think so. But it's quite different. Lake Dean is a great big
place, you know. It's more than thirty miles long, and you could put
Long Lake into it and never know where it was. But it's very
beautiful. And it's the highest big lake anywhere in this part of the
world. It's right in the mountains."

"I suppose there will be lots of people there?" asked Dolly.

"Plenty," said Eleanor, smiling back at her. "But we won't have much
to do with them, we'll be there such a short time."

"Oh, well, I don't care!" said Dolly, defiantly, as she heard the laugh
that greeted Eleanor's answer. "I probably wouldn't like them, anyhow!"

"I really do think it's getting darker. We must be getting nearer to
the fire," said Bessie, who had been looking out of the window. "Do
you suppose it was some careless campers who started it, Miss Eleanor?"

"That's pretty hard to say. But a whole lot of fires do get started by
just such people in the woods. It shows you why we are so careful when
we build a fire and have to leave the place."

In the next hour, as the train still crawled upward, the smoke grew
thicker and thicker, until presently it was really like dusk outside
the car, and, though it was hot, the windows had to be closed, since
the smoke was getting into the eyes of all the passengers and making
them smart.

"I used to think a forest fire would be good fun," said Dolly, choking
and gasping for breath, "but there isn't any fun about this. And if
it's as bad as this here, think of what it must be like for the people
who are really close to it."

"It's about the most serious thing there is," said Eleanor, gravely.
"There's no fun about a forest fire."

At Crawford they saw the big lake, but much of its beauty was hidden
since it lay under a pall of heavy smoke. Even then they could see
nothing of the fire, but the smoke rose thickly from the woods to the
west of the