was not the
only one who was saddened by the picture of desolation through which
they were passing. The road, of course, was deep in dust and ashes, and
the air, still filled with the smoke that rose from the smouldering woods,
was heavy and pungent, so that eyes were watery, and there was a good
deal of coughing and sneezing.
"It's a lucky thing there weren't any houses along here, isn't it?" said
Margery. "I don't see how they could possibly have been saved, do you,
Miss Eleanor?"
"There's no way that they could have saved them, unless, perhaps, by
having a lot of city fire engines, and keeping them completely covered
with water on all sides while the fire was burning. They call that a
water blanket, but of course there's no way that they could manage that
up here."
"What do you suppose started this fire, Miss Eleanor?"
"No one will ever know. Perhaps someone was walking in the woods,
and threw a lighted cigar or cigarette in a pile of dry leaves. Perhaps
some party of campers left their camp without being sure that their fire
was out."
"Just think of it--that all the trouble could be started by a little thing like
that! It makes you realize what a good thing it is that we have to be
careful never to leave a single spark behind when we're leaving a fire,
doesn't it?"
"Yes. It's a dreadful thing that people should be so careless with fire.
Fire, and the heat we get from it, is responsible for the whole progress
of the race. It was the discovery that fire could be used by man that was
back of every invention that has ever been made."
"That's why it's the symbol of the Camp Fire, isn't it?"
"Yes. And in this country people ought to think more of fire than they
do. We lose more by fire every year than any other country in the world,
because we're so terribly careless."
"What is that there, ahead of us, in the road?" asked Bessie, suddenly.
They had just come to a bend in the road, and about a hundred yards
away a group of people stood in the road.
Eleanor looked grave. She shaded her eyes with her hand, and stared
ahead of her.
"Oh," she cried, "what a shame! I remember now. There was a farm
house there! I'm afraid we were wrong when we spoke of there being
no houses in the path of this fire!"
They pressed on steadily, and, as they approached the group forlorn,
distressed and unhappy, they saw that their fears were only too well
grounded. The people in the road were staring, with drawn faces, at a
scene of ruin and desolation that far outdid the burnt wastes beside the
road, since what they were looking at represented human work and the
toil of hands.
The foundations of a farm house were plainly to be seen, the cellar
filled with the charred wood of the house itself, and in what had
evidently been the yard there were heaps of ashes that showed where
the barns and other buildings had stood.
In the road, staring dully at the girls as they came up, were two women
and a boy about seventeen years old, as well as several young children.
Eleanor looked at them pityingly, and then spoke to the older of the two
women.
"You seem to be in great trouble," she said. "Is this your house?"
"It was!" said the woman, bitterly. "You can see what's left of it! What
are you--picnickers? Be off with you! Don't come around here gloating
over the misfortunes of hard working people!"
"How can you think we'd do that?" said Eleanor, with tears in her eyes.
"We can see that things look very bad for you. Have you any place to
go--any home?"
"You can see it!" said the woman, ungraciously.
Eleanor looked at her and at the ruined farm for a minute very
thoughtfully. Then she made up her mind.
"Well, if you've got to start all over again," she said, "you are going to
need a lot of help, and I don't see why we can't be the first to help you!
Girls, we won't go any further now. We'll stay here and help these poor
people to get started!"
"What can people like you do to help us?" asked the woman, scornfully.
"This isn't a joke--'t ain't like a quiltin' party!"
"Just you watch us, and see if we can't help," said Eleanor, sturdily.
"We're not as useless as we look, I can tell you that! And the first thing
we're going to do is to cook a fine dinner, and you are all going to sit
right down on the ground and

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