listen. The next instant the roar of the water came to their ears,
and the tremble caused by logs and boulders rolling with the flood
was felt. Then every man understood what was done, for they had
been log-drivers all their lives, and knew the signs of a loosed
sluicegate or of a broken jam.
They climbed the steep bank toward the buildings, to be above the
flood-line, yelling warnings that were half-cheers.
In a few moments the water was below the mouth of the gorge, and
then it rushed over the low west bank of the brook and spread out
on the wide flat where the fire was raging. For a minute clouds of
steam and loud hissing marked the progress of the wave, and then
the brush-heaps from edge to edge of the valley bottom were covered
and the fire was drowned.
The fires left in the trees above the high-water mark and the
flames back on the ridge still thrust and flared, but were unable
to cross the wide, wet flood-belt. The settlement and the "big
woods" beyond were saved.
Sol Cardin reached the settlement on the following day, and heard
the story of the fire. In response to an offer from Will, he replied:
"No, my boy, you needn't pay for the dam by working or anything
else. I'm in debt to you for saving my timber above the settlement,
instead." Then he added, in a quiet way characteristic of him,
"It seems a pity if wit like yours doesn't get its full growth."