ed. These were quickly beaten out,
for the boys were determined not to have their retreat cut off. As they
moved forward Bruce's heart grew heavy, for he could see that already the
flames had swept by the camping site of Dave Connors and his companions.
The patrol leader hoped fervently that the injured youth had been able to
keep ahead of the rushing fire.

They were approaching the fire belt. Their eyes smarted from the smoke.
They could feel the heat on every hand. They pulled their hats low to
protect their foreheads and pushed on. Fire was everywhere. Here and
there pine trees burst into flames with a hiss and a roar, and now and
then blazing branches would come hurling through space to fall with a
crash in the roadway.

Bruce began to be worried. Had he brought the scouts out on a dangerous
but useless mission? Had Dave Connors come down the wood road, or had he
gone wandering blindly through the forest to be trapped and burned to
death? Perhaps even now he was a charred mass somewhere back there in
that seething forest. The smoke was so thick that the boys could not see
two feet ahead of them, but they struggled forward, beating out menacing
tongues of flames on every hand, hoping to keep the roadway open for a
retreat.

Through the smoke they groped; bending low and breathing through their
wet handkerchiefs. Their eyes burned. Their lungs pained with the gases
they had inhaled, but they pushed on until suddenly with a cry Bruce
stumbled and pitched forward.

But he was on his feet in an instant, and examining the apparently
lifeless mass in the roadway that had tripped him. Then with a shout of
delight, he summoned Jiminy and in an instant a coat stretcher was made
with the aid of the scout staffs they had cut. Then with the limp form
of Dave Connors between them the two scouts started struggling back
toward the lake. Away from the fire they raced with the troop behind
them still beating out the menacing sparks and flames.

Forward they hurried, but as they advanced this time their way grew
easier and the smoke less pungent. Soon they were among the refugees
again. Rabbits, mink and foxes scuttled along with them, and the boys
had to turn out to keep from treading on some of the smaller animals who
could not travel as fast as their bigger woods neighbors. The heat of
the fire was left behind and falling sparks no longer bothered them.
Their way to the lake was clear.

A few minutes later