. It's bad enough to see the forest ruined, but
when you think of the houses, and all the other things that are burned,
too, why, it seems particularly dreadful."

"Tom Pratt told me that a whole lot of animals were caught in the fire,
too--chipmunks, and squirrels, and deer. That seems dreadful."

"Oh, what a shame! I should think they could manage to get away, Bessie.
Don't you suppose they try?"

"Oh, yes, but you see they can't reason the way human beings do, and a
lot of these fires burn around in a circle, so that while they were
running away from one part of the fire they might very easily be heading
straight for another, and get caught right between two fires."

Soon, however, they passed a section where the land had been cleared of
trees for a space of nearly a mile, and, once they had travelled through
it, they came to the deep green woods again, where no marring traces of
the fire spoiled the beauty of their trip.

"Ah, don't the woods smell good!" said Dolly. "So much nicer than that
old smoky smell! I never smelt anything like that! It got so that
everything I ate tasted of smoke. I'm certainly glad to get to where the
fire didn't come."

Now the ground began to rise, and before long they found themselves in
the beginning of Indian Gap. The ground rose gradually, and when they
stopped for their midday meal, in a wild part of the gap, none of the
girls were feeling more than normally and healthfully tired.

"Do many people come through here, Miss Eleanor?" asked Margery.

"At certain times, yes. But, you, see, the forest fires have probably
made a lot of people who intended to take this trip change their minds.
In a way it's a good thing, because we will be sure to find plenty of
room at the Gap House. That's where we are to spend the night. Sometimes
when there's a lot of travel, it's very crowded there, and
uncomfortable."

"Is it a regular hotel?"

"No, it's just a place for people to sleep. It's where the trail starts
up Mount Sherman, and it's the station of the railroad that runs to the
top of the mountain, too, for people who are too lazy to climb. There's
a gorgeous view there in the mornings, when the sun rises. You can see
clear to the sea."

"Oh, can't we stop and see that?"

"We haven't time to climb the mountain. If you want to go up on the
incline railway, though, we can manage it. You get up at three o'clock
in the morning, and get to the top while it's still dark, so that you
c