. Tom Slade at Temple camp . were working desperately felling treesalong the path. Fortunately, the trees were small,and fortunately, too, the scouts knew how to fellthem so that they fell in each case away fromthe path, leaving an open way behind the camp. Along this open way the line stood, and thusthe full buckets passing from hand to hand withalmost the precision of machinery, were emptiedalong this open area, soaking it. The rest o you bys, called Jeb, climb upon the cabins—one on each cabin, and three orfour uv ye on the pavilion. Some o ye stay belowto pass the buckets up. Keep the roof
. Tom Slade at Temple camp . were working desperately felling treesalong the path. Fortunately, the trees were small,and fortunately, too, the scouts knew how to fellthem so that they fell in each case away fromthe path, leaving an open way behind the camp. Along this open way the line stood, and thusthe full buckets passing from hand to hand withalmost the precision of machinery, were emptiedalong this open area, soaking it. The rest o you bys, called Jeb, climb upon the cabins—one on each cabin, and three orfour uv ye on the pavilion. Some o ye stay belowto pass the buckets up. Keep the roofs wet—thats whar the sparksll light. Hey, Tom!1 As the hurried work went on one of Garrystroop grasped Jeb by the arm. How about ourcabin? said he, fearfully. There are two fel-lows up there. Jeb paused a moment, but shook his hev ter risk jumpin int th cut, saidhe. No mortal man cud git to em throughthem woods The boy fell back, sick at heart as he thoughtof those two on the lonely hill surrounded by. DONT JUMP—ITS ME—TOM SLADE ! Page 204 WINNING OF THE GOLDEN CROSS 201 flame and with a leap from the precipice as theironly alternative. It was simply a choice betweentwo forms of awful death. The fire had now swept to within a few yardsof the outer edge of the camp, but an open wayhad been cleared and saturated to check its ad-vance and the roofs of the shacks were keptsoaked by a score or more of alert workers as aprecaution against the blowing sparks. Tom Slade had not answered any of Jebs callsfor him. At the time of his chiefs last summonshe was a couple of hundred feet from the build-ings, tearing and tugging at one of the overflowtents. Like a madman and with a strength bornof desperation he dragged the pole down and,wrenching the stakes out of the ground by mainforce, never stopping to untie the ropes, he hauledthe whole dishevelled mass free of the parapher-nalia which had been beneath it, down to the bags rolled out from under it,
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