you're perfectly safe here, but I've lived in a place
where they had big woods fires nearly every year, and this is the
biggest fire I ever saw. It would take a week's soaking rain to stop
it, and if the wind turns to the east, even if it does bring some rain,
it will turn that fire straight for the lake here, and burn up
everything it meets on the way."

"What would you advise, Jack?" asked Mr. Benton. There was a twinkle
in his eye, for he thought the guides knew more than Jack, but he
wanted to humor the Scout, who stood very high in his estimation.

"I'd dig a deep, broad ditch, and fill it with water. I'd make it at
least five feet deep, and ten or twelve feet broad, Mr. Benton. That
would give us a chance to keep the fire from reaching the buildings
here. There's still some water in that brook that runs down from the
ridge, though there won't be very long, and you could divert that into
the ditch, and then dam the ditch at the lake, so that you'd have quite
a little pond behind the houses on the side nearest the fire. If you
could get half a dozen men they could dig a ditch like that, roughly,
in a day. And I'd certainly do it, sir!"

Mr. Benton was impressed, despite himself, by Jack's earnestness. His
camp had cost him nearly ten thousand dollars, and practically nothing
would survive the fire if it should sweep over it. So, after a little
thought, and not heeding the laughter of Jim Burroughs and the guides,
he decided to take Jack's advice.

The guides, pressed into service for the digging of the ditch, thought
that the task was foolish. They grumbled at having to do it, but they
had no choice but to obey, once Mr. Benton had given the order. And
before they were half done, the wind, which had died away completely,
began to come again in short puffs from the east.

"That means rain," said Jim. "Jack, you young rascal, I believe you
started this scare just to see us all work!"

"I've known the wind to blow from the northeast for a whole day before
the rain came," said Jack, "especially at this time of the year."

The fire was a mile nearer the camp when the ditch was finished. It
wasn't much of a ditch, and it wouldn't last very long, but looking it
over, Jack decided that it was much better than nothing. And it held
the water, at least, which was the most important thing.

As the wind continued to come from the east, without a sign of the
hoped for rain, Mr. Benton looked very grave.

"