THE SOULS DESTINY

talk. If youre ridin over that way, Kenneth, you better take a look at Mans guard, he called after him. A good mile of guard, along there, would help a lot if a fire got started beyond. The way he fixed it, it aint no account at all. Kent proved by a gesture that he heard him, and rode on without turning to look back. Already his form was blurred as Polycarp gazed after him, and in another minute or he was blotted out completely by the smoke veil, though he rode upon the level. Polycarp watched him craftily, though there was no need, until he was completely hidden, then he went on, ruminating upon the faults of his acquaintances. Kent had no intention of riding over to Cold spring. He had not been there since Manleys marrriage, though he had been a frequent visitor before, and unless necessity drove him there, it would be long before he faced again the antagonism of Mrs. Fleet wood. Still, he was mentally uncomfortable, and he felt much resentment against Polycrap Jenks because he had caused that discomfort. What was it to him, if Manley had gone back to drinking He asked the question more than once, and he answered always that it was nothing to him, of course. Still, he wished futilely that he had not been quite so eager to cover up Manleys weakness and deceive the girl. He ought to have given her a chance A cinder like a huge black snowflake struk him suddenly upon the cheek. He looked up, started, and tried to see farther into the haze which closed him round. It seemed to him, now that his mind was turned from hid musings, that the smoke was thicker, the smell of burning grass stronger, and the breath of wind hotter upon his face. He turbed, looked away to the west, fancied there a tumbled blackness new to his sight, and put his horse to a run. If there were fire close, then every seconf counted and as he raced over the uneven prairie he fumbled with the saddle string that held a sodden sack tied fast to the saddle, that he might lose no time. The clinders grew thicker, until the air was filled with them, like a snowstorm done in India ink. A little farther and he heard a faint crackling topped a ridge and saw not far ahead, a dancing, yellow line. His horse was breathing heavily with the pace he was keeping, but Kent, swinging away from the on rush of flame and heat, spurred him to a greater speed. They neared the end of the cracking, red line, and as Kent swung in behind it upon the burned ground, he saw several men beating steadily at the flames. He was hardly at work when Polycarp came running up and took his place beside him but beyond that Kent paid no attention to the others, though he heard and recognized the voice of Fread De Garmo calling out to some one. The smoke which rolloed up in uneven volumes as the wind lifted it and bore it away, or let it suck backward as it veered for an instant, blinded him while he fought. He heard other men gallop up, and after a little some clattered up with a wagon filled with barrels of water. He ran to wet his sack, and saw that it was Blumenthall himself, foreman of the Double Diamond, who drove the team. Lucky it aint as windy as it was yesterday and the day before, Blumenthall cried out, as Kent stepped upon the brake block to reach a barrel. Itd sweep the whole country if it was. Kent nodded, and ran back to the fire, traling the dripping sack after him. As he passed Polycrap and another, he heard Polycrap saying something about Man Fleetwoods fire guard but he did not stop to hear what it was. Polycrap was always talking, and he didnt always keep too closely to facts. Then, of a sudden, he saw men dimly when he glanced down the leaping fire line, and he knew that the fire was almost conquered. Another frenzied minute or two, and he was standing in a group of men, who dropped their charred, blackened fragments of blanket and bags, and began to feel for their smoking material, while they stamped upon stray embers which looked live enough to be dangerous. Well, shes out, said a voice, But it did look for a which as if itd get away in spite of us. Kent turred away, wiping an eye which held a cinder fast under the lid. It was Fred De Garmo who spoke. If somebodyd been watchin the railroad a leetle might closer Polycrap began, in his thin, rasping voice. Fred cut him short. I thought you laid it to Man Fleetwood, burning fire guards, he retorted. Keep on, and youll get it right pretty soon. This never come from the railroad you can gamble on that. Blumenthall had left his team and come among them. If you want to know how it started, I can tell you. Somebody dropped a match, or a cigarette, or something, by the trail up here a ways. I saw where it started when I went to Cold Spring after the last load of water. And if I knew who it was Polycarp launched his opinion first, as usual. Well, I dont know who done it, but, by granny I can might nigh guess who it was. Theres jest man that I know of been traveling that trail lately when he want in his sober senses Here Manley Fleetwood rode up to them, coughing at the soot his horse kicked up. Say you fellows come on over to the house and have something to eat and, he added significantly, something wet. t told my wife, when I saw the fire, to make plenty of coffee,for fighting fires hungry work, let me tell. Come on no hanging back, you know. Therell be lots of coffee, and lve got a quart of something better cached in the haystack As he had