got even with the smoke, then we turned in directly toward it
through a very large potato field. After an hour's hard driving, we came
to the entrance of a narrow canyon. We tied the horse, and, with as many
shovels as I could carry on my shoulder, and with the jug, I followed my
friend, who had taken a couple of shovels and two heavy axes. It was a
sultry midsummer day, and how I did sweat!

"We hurried on, the smoke getting thicker and thicker, and still we could
see no flames. We went up a long, narrow canyon in which there was a tiny
stream, and about every hundred yards we stopped to drink. By and by we
came to the top of a low ridge, and the farmer met us.

"'Hurry, fellows, hurry!' he shouted. 'Give me a couple of those axes.
Report to the first man you meet, and come home in the buggy when you
can.' He swung his horse round, and in a moment was gone. I was tired out
already, and the jug of water was very heavy to carry by so small a
handle. As we got near the top of the ridge, we came to an old prospect
hole. An idea struck me. I would leave the jug there by the hole, and it
would be easy to find when I wanted it, and I would hurry on with the
shovels. As we reached the top of the ridge, the fire came into full
view. My, what a sight! A great sea of burning, crackling trees below,
and above an ocean of heavy smoke, floating upward in great billows. Far
away, at least it seemed so to me, I heard chopping, chopping. I don't
know how long I stood there wondering at the sight, but presently an old
man--he looked to me like a wild man, came toward me, eyeing me with a
scornful look.

"'Well, ye goin' to stand there all day with them implements, son?' He
mopped away the great beads of perspiration from his forehead with a big
blue bandanna handkerchief. A large Russian hound stood, panting, by his
side. Nearly a year afterwards I learned that the old man was no other
than Old Ben himself.

"'Where's that jug of water that Jim said ye was a bringin',' he howled
as he snatched the best shovel from my hands. I don't know what I said,
but I know that he cursed me roundly and I started for the prospect hole
to get the jug. I was excited to the limit. I came to the prospect hole,
and the jug was gone. I was starting back when I came to another hole,
then a third, then a fourth. I raised my eyes and surveyed the hillside.
There were at least a hundred prospect holes. Which one did I leave the
jug by? Was it lost, that pre