“Where’s water?” asked Amy.

“I don’t rightly remember,” confessed Pollock.  “I’ve only been in here once.”

“I’ll find out in the morning.  Good luck!”

Jack handed Bob three of the canteens, a hoe and rake and one of the flat files.

“What’s this for?” asked Bob.

“To keep the edge of your hoe sharp,” replied Jack.

They shouldered their implements and felt their way in the darkness over the tumbled rock outcrop.  As they surmounted the shoulder of the hill, they saw once more flickering before them the fire line.

V

Charley Morton received the lunch with joy.

“Ain’t had time to get together grub since we came,” said he, “and didn’t know when I would.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Bob.

“The fire line’s drawn right across from Granite Creek down there in the canon over to a bald dome.  We got her done an hour ago, and pretty well back-fired.  All we got to do now is to keep her from crossing anywheres; and if she does cross, to corral her before she can get away from us.”

“I wish we could have got here sooner!” cried Bob, disappointed that the little adventure seemed to be flattening out.

“So?” commented Charley drily.  “Well, there’s plenty yet.  If she gets out in one single, lonesome place, this fire line of ours won’t be worth a cent.  She’s inside now—­if we can hold her there.”  He gazed contemplatively aloft at a big dead pine blazing merrily to its very top.  Every once in a while a chunk of bark or a piece of limb came flaring down to hit the ground with a thump.  “There’s the trouble,” said he.  “What’s to keep a spark or a coal from that old coon from falling or rolling on the wrong side of the line?  If it happens when none of us are around, why the fire gets a start.  And maybe a coal will roll down hill from somewhere; or a breeze come up and carry sparks.  One spark over here,” he stamped his foot on the brushed line, “and it’s all to do over again.  There’s six of us,” added the ranger, “and a hundred of these trees near the line.  By rights there ought to be a man camped down near every one of them.”

“Give us our orders,” repeated Bob.

“The orders are to patrol the fire line,” said Morton.  “If you find the fire has broken across, corral it.  If it gets too strong for you, shoot your six-shooter twice.  Keep a-moving, but take it easy and save yourself for to-morrow.  About two o’clock, or so, I’ll shoot three times.  Then you can come to camp and get a little sleep.  You got to be in shape for to-morrow.”

“Why especially to-morrow?” asked Bob.

“Fire dies in the cool of night; it comes up in the middle of the day,” explained Morton succinctly.