ut they could live through it.

The ridge from which Janet and Helen had discovered the fire was
outlined against a sky shot with crimson for it was quite dark now.
Small animals, scurrying before the red menace, were racing past almost
constantly.

The fires which had been started around the bus were spreading out in a
great circle, eating their way hungrily along the parched ground. In the
light from them Janet could see Curt stalking here and there, directing
one group and then another, and pausing now to beat down some flame with
his blanket.

Both girls felt particularly helpless, for there seemed to be nothing
they could do, and Helen, her light shoes torn and thin, was
particularly wretched, for her feet were sore and bruised.

A sharp cry came from one of the men who had remained with the driver in
an effort to get the bus repaired. Someone leaped into the seat, there
was the whir of the starter and the heavy vehicle shook as its powerful
motor thundered into motion.

The driver slid out from under the hood. His face was a smear of grease
and his shirt was badly torn, for he had been working in close quarters.
He stumbled, reeling from fatigue, but someone caught him and lifted him
into the bus. Another man sounded the horn and the fire-builders, led by
Curt and Billy Fenstow, returned to the bus.

"Think the motor will hold up?" Curt snapped at the driver.

"It ought to, but I can't be sure," was the tired reply.

"What do you want to do?" The cowboy fired the question at the director.

"Get out of here and get out quick!" cried the director.

"Where'll you go?" Curt snapped the question back.

Billy Fenstow stared at him for just a moment.

"Hollywood, of course. Everybody in!"

But Curt laid a restraining hand on the director.

"The road ahead curves back directly into the path of the flame. If we
swing around this promontory, we'll be cut off ahead and before we can
get back the flames will be over this section of the road. We can only
go back."

"Then back to the ranch we go," decided the director, and again he
called, "Everybody in!"

Members of the company jammed their way into the bus and Curt took the
wheel for the driver was too exhausted to handle the heavy vehicle.

The smoke was thick now and the first flames were licking their way over
the crest of the ridge far above them.

With the motor roaring heavily, Curt threw in the gears and swung the
big vehicle about in a sharp circ