CHAPTER 7FIRE!
May first John was out of bed at half past three and climbing the hill in back of the Ranger’s station. A burning spring sun was just coming over the tops of the eastern mountains. The dew that moistened last year’s carpet of leaves on the forest floor was already beginning to evaporate. He picked up a handful of leaves and ground them between his palms. They crumbled into bits and a fine dust sifted away from them. John shook his head worriedly. If a Ranger ever prayed for anything, he thought, it would be for a rainy May.
He climbed on to the fire look-out in the road that ran down the mountain and looked over the Rasca. The hill directly across from him was clearly visible through a light film of blue haze. But across the far hills the haze rested thicker, and the more
