Bushy

“Jip, if you don’t keep still I will come out and whip you,” called Bushy next morning about four o’clock. She raised the wagon-cover and peeped out to see why the horse should make such a clatter that she could not sleep. An odd light in the sky made her lift the canvas higher and put her head outside so close to Jip’s nose that he snorted with surprise.

“What is it, Jip?” she asked, kissing his cold ears and patting him lovingly. “Why, you are all of a tremble! It looks awfully light and queer; not a bit like sunrise! It is the reddest we ever saw, Jip.”

Rover uneasily crawled under the wagon, and, throwing up his nose toward the bright sky, gave a little howl and then seemed to forget his distress over whatever it was, in his joy at seeing Bushy.

“Keep still, Rover,” she cried in a loud whisper; “you will wake everybody up. How queer it smells! Why, that’s the wrong side for the sun! It is smoke, I do believe! She sniffed the air and raised herself high on the side of the wagon and leaned far out to get a better view.

“Padre, the mountains are on fire!” was the cry that went like an electric shock to the heart of every sleeper in the wagon, and roused all instantly.

Tom looked very funny without his skull-cap, and, had Bushy ever seen a clown in a circus, she would have called him one then, because in his alarm he had not stopped to protect his head, and without any hair and his face white with fear, he made a very odd-looking picture. Shanks had long hair, and it was all tousled and standing up almost straight, as if it never meant to lie smooth again or be combed into curls about his neck. Bushy burst into a laugh, forgetting the seriousness of things.

But the laugh died away on her lips, for one glance at the face of her father, who was looking over their heads at the lurid sky, made her remember all.

“See yonder, boys,” he said, and he pointed to the north. The broad heavens now seemed fairly on fire. The men turned and gazed in wonder, then in fear. Tom hurriedly remarked: “We must get out of here. These pine-trees will burn like paper.”

“What is to be done?” cried Shanks, smoothing down his tangled locks and fastening his belt snugly about his waist as if preparing for a fight.

Bushy was already dressing herself in a buckskin suit, exactly like the one she had cut into strips the night before. “It will stand fire better than any cloth,” she said to herself.

“Great Scott, boys! we are in greater danger than I imagined; see there!” exclaimed Tom. He pointed to a jack rabbit that was making its way down the ravine toward the stream. “That is a bad sign. There goes another. There is something leaping on the other side of the cliff. There it goes; it looks like a deer! The fire must be very close!”

By this time the other people in that little camp had been roused by Tom’s loud calling, shaking at the wagon fronts, and pounding on cabin doors. There were only seven cabins, and the inmates were all miners.

“Where do you go in case of fire?” asked Mr. Sukolt of one of the men, as he hurriedly saddled Jip and ordered Bushy to roll up two horse-blankets and then jump on and await his orders.

“There is no place of safety this side of the mines,” said the man addressed. “The long tunnel abandoned six months ago can be utilized for the horses and cattle if we can get them there, but”——

“Padre,” ventured Bushy, “don’t you remember the wide place in the stream just below the mine, and don’t you remember how, back about two hundred feet, a high ledge of rocks juts over the water—just below where Willie fell yesterday? Maybe all of our wagons can be got under there.”

“I did not notice it. Perhaps we had better try, if you are sure of what you are talking about. The tunnel will not hold all of us.”

“Hi, Shanks,” he called, “Bushy will lead us to the shallow spot in the stream, or where the water spreads, and”——

“I know I can, Shanks, because Willie and I waded almost across yesterday, and the great ledge of rocks we called our fairyland. I know we can get under, but I don’t know how we can get the wagons down.”

“If you two children got down we can, and we will let the wagons go if the fire proves a bad one. I would much prefer the water and rocks to the tunnel.”

So off they started, Bushy on Jip leading the way.

“We are going to take to the water,” called Mr. Sukolt, as one of the miners came back for a last look at the cabins, now deserted.

“All right,” said the man, “but you are welcome to join us in the tunnel. The wind is coming from the north, and will sweep down from the back, and we have pumped up a lot of water, and will pump more in hopes to keep the woodwork at the mouth of the tunnel from burning.”

“Don’t go back far into the mine under any circumstances,” called Mr. Sukolt. “I rather wish you would come with us; Bushy says she knows the place is large, and the ledge is on the north side.”

“No,” the man called back, “we are all right,” and he hastened after the other men; Mr. Goodwin deciding to follow them to the tunnel because of Willie and his mother.

The wind began to rush upon them, bringing with it hot smoke and fine cinders. Sheets of flame lighted the air for miles about. Great clouds of smoke began to rise and darken the sky, until sudden day would turn into sudden night. Then, as if the fire had attacked some new group of pines, the light would burst up in the north and clouds of sparks would shoot high, piercing the blackness like forks of lightning.

“Hurry, drive faster, for heaven’s sake!” cried Mr. Sukolt to Tom, who was in the lead. Shanks drove the second wagon, and Bushy and her father rode horseback.

“It’s coming close, Bushy,” cried her father. “You know we are placing our lives in your hands, child!” He rode near and anxiously gazed into her flushed and frightened face.

“I know, Padre, that the water is shallow, and not so very rocky, and that we can all get under the rocks, and that no trees grow close.”

“Let her alone,” cried Tom, assuringly. “She never forgets a place; don’t you know that, old man? I’d trust to her to lead me even in the dark.”

On they went, up and down, over rough places that almost upset the wagons, and down steep pathways that scarcely allowed the passing of the wheels.

“All I fear, Padre, is that the wagons may not get through,” she cried, once, when it was only by holding on to the wheels that Shanks and Tom succeeded in keeping a wagon from tumbling over the edge of a precipice.

“Here we are at last,” joyfully called Bushy, pointing to a place where the water spread out like a fan. “We are safe now, are we not, Padre?”

“I think so,” he replied, and he reached over and squeezed her little hand. “What a blessing to us you remembered this spot! Go ahead to where you and Willie were yesterday.”

Now, light-hearted in the thought that she had done the right thing, Bushy dashed down into the water and called for Tom and Shanks to follow.

Jip would not go farther; his head was turned to face the red sky. He snorted and reared and pawed the water all over Bushy and her buckskin suit, until she leaped from his back, and gripping his bits, scolded and urged until he slowly but still resentfully followed her, Bushy wading knee-deep in the water. Ofttimes he fairly lifted her from her feet when the wind howled loudest and the flames seemed to roll over their very heads.

“Come on, Tom!” she called, “we are almost there.” Tom and Shanks were obliged to lead their horses also, and the wagons went bumping over the rocky bottom of the fierce little stream.

“At last!” they all cried as the wagons were placed close under the overspreading rocks and the horses were hitched and well tied.

The air grew hot and the cracking and snapping and roaring of the angry blaze made the animals snort and plunge.

“Take out your blankets, dip them in the stream and throw them over the horses,” cried Mr. Sukolt. The men did so, and then with buckets kept the coverings saturated with water. Bushy had all she could do to hold Jip. He was determined to rush across into the bright red flames. “Jip, poor Jip, don’t be afraid. There, now, old fellow, keep cool; keep cool, sir!” were the odd words that kept him in control.

It was hours before the danger was over and the little group made their way up the hill. A spot was selected where there had been few trees to burn, and there they camped for the day. The horses and mules were tied tight to the wheels of the wagons, as there was danger of their getting badly burned if they wandered about. Silence reigned, a dull smoke hung over their heads, and it was still hard to breathe. The wind had rushed on with the fire, leaving all quiet and gloom-stricken behind.