it had been in ascending the mountain. But daylight and the
fact that they were going down-hill made it possible for them to travel
with comparative rapidity. Once they noticed that they were advancing by
the most difficult route, they left the margin of the brook and cut
straight down the slope.

Now the way was more open. They could see farther. But both were so
preoccupied with what lay immediately around them that for a time neither
gave heed to more distant views. Furthermore, the bottom was still
obscured by a heavy night mist. The warm spring sun rapidly dissipated
this, opening the valley to view as though some invisible hand had rolled
back a giant cover. Presently Lew reached a little area that was swept
absolutely bare of everything. Nothing remained but the nude rocks and
soil. Lew, who was leading the way, paused to spy out the best path. Then
he cried out in dismay. A moment later Charley stood by his side and both
boys gazed in speechless horror at the scene before them.

The magnificent stand of pines that they had expected to see in the bottom
was no more. For miles the valley before them was a blackened waste. Like
giant jackstraws the huge pine sticks, that they had last seen as
magnificent, towering trees, were heaped in inextricable confusion or
still stood, broken, blasted, gaunt, limbless, spectral, awful remnants of
their former selves. No words could convey the terrible desolation of the
scene. Where formerly these giant pines had risen heavenward, higher and
more stately than the most exquisite church spires or cathedral columns,
there were now only scattered and blasted stumps, while the floor of the
valley was strewn with the horrible debris. The scene was sickening,
appalling.

For a moment neither lad spoke. The scene before them oppressed them, made
them sick at heart. They knew no language that would convey what was in
their minds. But even yet they did not fully understand the tragedy of a
forest fire. They were soon to learn. Silently they went on; but they had
gone no more than a hundred yards when they came upon a sight that fairly
sickened them. In a little circle, as though the animals had crowded close
together in their terror and helplessness, lay the remains of a number of
deer. The flesh had either been burned or had rotted away; but the most of
the bones and parts of the hides remained. There could be no mistake as to
the identity of the dead animals. The very positions of the