it does any damage?" asked
Bluff.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that now. See there! The smoke is getting
thicker and thicker all the time. Boys, we might as well look the matter
straight in the face."

"What do you mean, Frank?" asked Will in a trembling voice.

"We must cut and run for it, that's all, for the fire is coming
swiftly!"

CHAPTER XXI

NEVER GIVE UP

At first, the boys made light of the flight. All of them were pretty
fair runners, and although the weather was warm for such exertion, they
did some clever work.

"It's getting worse back there!" said Will, who brought up the rear.

Frank had known this for several minutes, and was correspondingly
worried.

The wind had risen to such an extent that it rushed through the
tree-tops like an express train, making a doleful sound. Nor was this
all, for they could plainly hear a crackling from the rear that was
gradually becoming a subdued roar.

"Oh! I saw the fire then!" called Will a minute or two later.

Looking over their shoulders as they ran, all of them had glimpses of
the flames leaping hungrily upward. What Mr. Mabie had feared all along
had actually come to pass. All of them were glad, however, that it had
not been through any fault of theirs, since they had built no fire that
day.

"Frank, it's catching up with us! Whatever shall we do?" panted Bluff,
close beside the one he addressed.

Frank had been considering this same question. He at first thought they
might outrun the fire, but now he changed his mind. The woods were so
dense, and the vegetation so thick, that whenever they tried to make
fast time they kept tripping over trailing vines, or else banging up
against the trunks of the forest monarchs, sometimes damaging their
noses by the contact.

"What was he telling us about fighting fire with fire?" asked Jerry, who
was by this time feeling not quite so jaunty as usual, but ready to
seize upon any opening that promised safety.

"That was out on the prairie. I don't think the scheme would work here
in the woods. It would take too long for the second blaze to get a
start, and we'd be caught between the two fires," was Frank's reply.

"But we must do something pretty soon!" cried Will.

[Illustration: "FRANK, IT'S CATCHING UP WITH US!"--_Page 192_.
_The Outdoor Chums After Big Game_.]

Indeed, it would appear so. They were now enveloped in a pall of
smoke, that, entering their eyes, made them smart fiercely. Not