Fire

AuthorHouse

Contents

Chapter I A Goat Senses.................................................................1Chapter II Listen to the Flowers........................................................3Chapter III A Biology Lesson............................................................9Chapter IV Meet Miserable Smythes.......................................................17Chapter V Wind Rising! Smell of Smoke!..................................................25Chapter VI Surprise at the Trailhead....................................................31Chapter VII Chaos, Injury and Courage...................................................37Chapter VII Bruised Ego! Courageous Girls...............................................45Chapter IX Frantic Hikers try to Ambush Girls...........................................51Chapter X Spared by Faithful Dog........................................................57Chapter XI Good Sense Prevails..........................................................61Chapter XII Concern and Hope............................................................73Chapter X111 Arrogant Smythes Located...................................................79Chapter XIV Courageous Mule.............................................................89Chapter XV Ranger cedes authority to Lindall............................................99Chapter XVI Trailhead but Trouble! Can Ginger Save?.....................................107Chapter XVII Ecstasy short lived! Dragon Waiting........................................115Chapter XVIII Flames Howling toward Trailhead...........................................121Chapter XIX Toffa and Ginger tackle Ravenous Reptile....................................129Chapter XX Hope Fades for Rescuers......................................................137Chapter XXI Black Apparitions stumble behind Ginger.....................................139Chapter XXII Rains and Revisit to the Mountain "Where Flowers Sang".....................149

Chapter One

A GRIZZLED MOUNTAIN GOAT, his hair glistening white in the afternoon sun, led his herd of nannies and kids to a crystal-clear lake to drink from the cold water. A clattering of small rocks caused them to look up at the rocky crags surrounding the crater. A herd of Rocky Mountain sheep made their way across the side of the sheer ridge, coming to the lake.

No concern were they to the Billy, so he led his group to bushes growing among the gray boulders beneath a massive rockslide. There he grazed with his herd, but he did not stay for long where he could see only the inside of the rock cirque surrounding the Crater Lake. But while his herd browsed on the bushes, he picked his way past lichen-covered rocks toward the highest peak in the region.

He gave scant attention to a pika dragging a small willow branch in front of him, nor to a marmot whistling from its position on the tip of a rock. For a few moments he stood eye to eye with a big buck, then continued his journey.

Almost straight up he climbed until he reached the highest rock and looked at the ridge west of him where wispy clouds heralding bad weather scudded across the sky. South of him a hundred elk grazed on the grass just above timberline.

He shifted his gaze and peered through the blue haze at five lakes nestled in craters around a large valley. A coyote splashed in the creek running out of the largest lake in the center of the valley. Since the little animal posed no danger, he surveyed the area north of the peak.

Small streams ran down the sides of the mountains and made a larger creek in the bottom. He looked carefully into the willow bushes beside the creeks for sign of a mountain lion or another ambitious goat, but he saw nothing to frighten him.

Then he saw three human beings trotting along a trail by the big creek. He shook his long beard, whirled to check his herd. He then watched the figures until they followed the trail into a forest of dark spruce trees.

A tent awning flapped in the slight breeze causing him to look quickly to the northeast. Even to his sharp eyes, the tent looked like a rock, and the men in front of it like strange trees. Between him and the tent another man made his way to the head of a little creek. The Billy goat stomped his feet until he knew the man had moved away from him.

He completed his survey of Lost Wilderness by looking across the mountains to the plains a hundred miles east. Satisfied no immediate threat existed, he lay down and slept in the summer sun.

Only a few minutes passed before his sensitive nose detected a foreign smell. He jumped to his feet with his brown eyes flashing. He snorted and ran around the peak searching for the cause of the odor. He spotted smoke drifting out of a grove of dense spruce trees far across the valley near the peak on that side.

Lowering his head, he butted into the air with his sharp horns. The three figures jogged out of the trees into a clearing. He twisted on his perch glaring first at the smoke and then at the figures on the trail. Finally he snorted even louder, ran down the mountain to the base of the rockslide, and led his herd over the rocky ridge away from Lost Wilderness toward the gathering storm.

Chapter Two

RENA AND MARNA Brown ran up the mountain, straining to maintain their speed as the trail got steeper. They had run for miles, jumping small streams, winding through thick, pine-scented forests, admiring the wonders of nature. As they reached the crest of the steep hill, Rena broke the spell.

"How far was Mother ahead of us?" she asked.

Marna panted and struggled to speak. "I think .. we gave her .. nearly a mile head start."

"Let's rest a while then," Rena said. "We probably can't catch her."

"No way. If we let her beat us to camp, Dad will laugh at us for days. We've got to catch her."

They charged up the trail determined to catch their mother. As they rounded a clump of bushes by the trail, Rena said, "There she is with Toffa, the dog. She hasn't crossed the creek."

"Good deal. Let's help her along," Marna said.

She stopped and grabbed a handful of small pebbles. Rena also picked up some rocks. Then they hurried, running softly to keep their mother from hearing them. When they were twenty feet from her, they threw their first pebbles.

"Hey, cut that out!" Marie Brown shouted as she jumped Ruby Lake Creek. "Quit hitting me with those rocks!"

Rena narrowly missed her with another pebble. "Come on, you can run faster than that!"

"Faster," Marna yelled, and she hit Marie squarely on the bottom.

Shaking with laughter, Rena could hardly run. Both of them taunted their mother as they trotted by her.

Crying out in mock anger, Marie stopped and grabbed a stick lying by the trail. "I don't have to go faster. In fact, I don't have to run at all. Just because you smart alecs think you are track stars doesn't give you the right to pelt me with rocks."

Rena and Marna stopped for a moment and grinned at her. Both had white teeth framed by full lips, big, wide eyes set in tan faces with high cheekbones. A few freckles scattered over their noses. Their chins squared just a little. They could have passed for twins except Rena stood an inch taller at five feet...