The Legend of Miner's Creek (2 page)

Rachel pointed out the van window. “It looks as if we're in for a big storm.”

Nancy followed Rachel's gaze. The trees along the road had been replaced by a large, grassy meadow. Beyond the meadow the mountains reached skyward, their snowcapped peaks hidden by heavy black clouds. The storm clouds that they had seen to the north from the airplane now completely covered the sky. Nancy heard a rumble of thunder in the distance.

“It sure does look like rain,” George said.

“I hope so,” Rachel said. “Sometimes the lightning comes without rain. That's when we worry most about fires.”

“Can't you tell by looking if there's rain in the storm?” Bess asked.

“No, but sometimes I can smell the rain in the air. Then I know the forest is safe.” As she spoke, Rachel rolled down her window. But instead of rain, Nancy caught the faint smell of burning grass.

So did Rachel. “I smell smoke, Granddad,” she said.

“So do I,” Charlie said grimly. He pulled the van to the side of the dirt road, and he and the girls climbed out. “We'd better find the source fast. The whole forest could go up.”

He and the girls peered out into the meadow, looking for any sign of fire. The air was very still, and it was hard to tell which direction the smoke was coming from. Nancy wished she could see over the grass. She looked around for something to stand on. Just off the right side of the road, she spotted a round granite rock at least four feet tall. Nancy reached it with three long steps and scrambled on top. From her higher position she could see a small patch of burning grass. The flames were edging their way outward, as though the fire had not yet chosen a direction.

“There,” Nancy said. “Three, maybe four hundred yards away.”

The others looked in the direction Nancy pointed.

“I still don't see it,” George said, squinting.

Just then a strong gust of wind whipped across the meadow. Orange flames shot skyward and spread quickly through the dry grass. Nancy knew there was no longer any question about which way the fire would go. It was moving quickly—straight toward the trees!

Nancy jumped from the rock and ran back toward her friends. Fortunately, Charlie and Rachel knew exactly what to do. Living in the forest had taught them to prepare for just this sort of emergency. Like many of their neighbors, they carried short-handled shovels and a bucket in their vehicle. It took Charlie only a moment to break out the fire-fighting equipment.

“Rachel, go get Pete!” Charlie yelled as he handed shovels to Nancy and George and took the last one for himself. “Take Bess with you and call the Forest Service. If we don't get this stopped before it reaches the trees, we've got big trouble.”

Again, thunder rumbled in the distance. Nancy looked up at the clouds, remembering that they couldn't count on the storm for rain.

Dust billowed up from the van as Rachel and Bess
drove away. Charlie raced into the tall grass of the meadow, with George and Nancy close behind.

“Be careful of the creek!” Charlie shouted as Nancy came up beside him. “It's just ahead of you.”

His cry was just in time to save Nancy from slipping into the deep water. The tall grass had hidden the creek bank from view.

Charlie ran downstream to shallower water and waded quickly across. Nancy and George followed him, barely caring that their shoes were soaked in the process. On the far bank Nancy could hear the crackle of the fire as the wind whipped it through the grass. She let Charlie stay in the lead as they raced alongside the fire, down the meadow. The wind was at their backs, pushing the flames through dried grass and wildflowers. Nancy realized they would have to outrun the blaze to stop it. Once out in front they could use their shovels to build a fire line of dirt that the flames could not cross—if they were lucky.

Nancy was surprised at how quickly the fire was moving. She ran her fastest through the uneven ground of the meadow. Charlie was still in front of her, his surefootedness making up for his age as they ran.

“Come on, we don't have much time,” Charlie urged as he rounded the front edge of the fire. “Dig up the grass,” he instructed the girls.

Nancy and George went to work, pushing their shovels into the dry earth and turning over the meadow grass.

Behind them the forest trees swayed in the wind. The huge evergreens that had stood undisturbed for more than a hundred years now depended entirely on Charlie, Nancy, and George for their safety.

“How'd this happen?” A new and demanding voice came from the direction of the woods. Nancy turned quickly to see a stocky, older woman behind her pitch in with the shoveling. The woman's short hair was a tousled mixture of brown and gray, and she wore a white T-shirt under blue striped overalls. Nancy had been so intent on throwing dirt that she hadn't seen the newcomer approach, carrying her own shovel.

“Maddie Emerson,” Charlie called without missing a shovel beat. “Glad you showed up. We can use all the help we can get.”

“I was on my way home. How'd this start?” the woman asked again.

“Don't know. Lightning, I guess,” Charlie told her. Then with a few quick directions he split the group into pairs. He and George worked side by side, making a furrow two shovels wide through the meadow. Nancy and Maddie moved side by side in the opposite direction. By the time they had dug a line fifty feet long, Nancy was near exhaustion. The fire was drawing closer. The smoke was so thick, Nancy couldn't see Charlie and George at the other end of the fire line. Nancy's back was aching from the hard work, but she knew she couldn't stop digging.

Suddenly Maddie grabbed her roughly by the arm and jerked her aside. Nancy took two flying steps and fell sprawling into the meadow, just as the fire rushed through the grass behind her and stopped at the line of dirt they had just dug.

“Got no sense, young lady?” Maddie said gruffly. “You must be one of those city folks. Don't know when to get out from in front of a fire.”

“I was trying to finish the line,” Nancy said, scrambling to her feet. She was close enough to see the lines in the older woman's leathery skin.

“Well, it's as done as it's going to get,” Maddie told her. She spoke quietly as she turned to watch the blaze, and the harshness had left her voice. “Now it will either hold or it won't.”

Nancy watched as the flames gathered themselves behind the line. The fire appeared to be growing smaller as it ran out of grass to burn. Suddenly, with a mighty roar, the wind picked up again, whisking tongues of flame across the hard-dug trail of dirt. Once again the fire raced toward the forest, burning to the edge of the line of trees. Nancy and the others stood helpless as the first giant pine exploded into flames.

A flash of lightning and a crash of thunder seemed to announce their defeat. Nancy raised her head toward the sky. She could see why this kind of storm put the forest in so much danger. The huge thundercloud seemed to hang just overhead, ready to throw its lightning bolts toward the ground.
Another flash drew Nancy's eyes toward the mountains. There, rushing across the meadow, was a curtain of rain, blowing in with the wind! “Look!” Nancy cried, pointing toward the rain. Maddie saw it and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

In another moment the downpour reached them. Nancy and Maddie were instantly drenched, and the fire that had seemed unstoppable minutes earlier was reduced to a few smoldering ashes. The danger was past.

Maddie and Nancy ran for the cover of the forest to wait for the storm to pass. Nancy could see Charlie and George coming toward them through the smoke. Their wet clothes clung to their bodies, and streams of water had turned the soot and dirt to mud on their faces. Despite their frazzled looks, both Charlie and George were smiling.

“That was close,” George said. “I thought we'd lost the whole forest.”

“I want to thank you girls for your help, and you, too, Maddie,” Charlie said.

“You can thank people all you want, but sooner or later that's not going to be good enough,” Maddie said. Her scowl had returned. “Looks to me like your luck is running out, Charlie Griffin.”

“What do you mean by that?” Nancy asked, frowning.

“I mean, he'd better figure out a way to stop all of these fires, or Highland Retreat is going to be nothing but ashes.”

“Now, Maddie, this could have been caused by
lightning,” Charlie said. “Besides, it's under control.”

“This time it is. But next time you may not be so lucky,” Maddie said. Then she turned and started heading back toward her jeep.

“That almost sounded like some kind of threat,” George said as Maddie waded across the creek and headed for the road.

“Oh, she's just mad about the sale,” Charlie said. “Maddie runs a wild bird hospital. She cares for birds that have been shot or hit by cars. Maddie thinks a state park will bring more people and more problems for the birds.”

The thundershower passed over in a matter of minutes, and Nancy, George and Charlie emerged from the forest. As Maddie drove away in her gray jeep, the retreat's van suddenly came into view. It parked by the big rock, and Rachel and Bess jumped out. Behind them was a dark-haired, stocky man. The three of them trudged through the wet grass as Nancy and George helped Charlie put out the embers from the fire.

“I guess you girls got an unusual welcome to Highland Retreat,” the man said when they came up. He was of medium height, with broad shoulders and a large stomach that partially covered the big buckle on his western belt. His wide-brimmed brown cowboy hat kept the last drops of rain off his tanned face.

“This is Pete Sims, our main hand at the retreat,” Rachel said.

“Pleased to meet you,” Nancy said. “And our first day
has
been a little more exciting than we'd expected.”

“And we haven't even gotten to our cabin yet,” George added.

“You all run along now. I'll finish up,” Pete said, waving toward the van.

Nancy thought fast. She wasn't ready to leave the fire scene quite yet. The first shadow of a doubt about the cause of this fire was forming in the back of her mind. Charlie had said it was probably the result of lightning, but Nancy remembered seeing lightning only near the mountains before the fire started. That, plus the fact that this wasn't the first suspicious fire on the retreat, made Nancy want to investigate.

“I'll catch up,” she said to the others. “I think I lost my watch while I was digging.” As she spoke, she quickly slipped her watch off her wrist and into her pocket.

“We'll help you look for it,” Bess offered.

Nancy waved her friend away. “That's okay,” she said. “I think I know exactly where it is.”

As the others headed toward the van, Nancy began to follow the fire line, looking at the ground carefully as if searching for the watch. When she got to the end of the fire line, she circled around toward the spot where the fire had started. Pete was still back near the fire line, throwing dirt on the last embers. She hoped he wouldn't look up. Across the
meadow Charlie and the girls were almost to the van.

Nancy was looking for anything that seemed out of place—anything that would tell her someone had been near the start of the fire. She found nothing on the ground, but then, just as she was about to give up, she spotted a flash of white caught in the thorns of a low bush. Nancy reached in carefully and pulled out a partly burned piece of paper.

Suddenly she heard a noise behind her. Nancy turned to see Pete Sims scowling at her from beneath his wide hat brim.

“What do you have there?” he demanded.

Nancy quickly tucked the paper into her pocket and pulled out her watch. “I found my watch,” she said, showing it to Pete.

“Then you'd better get out of here,” the dark-haired man ordered. “Don't you know this is a dangerous place to be? This fire could start up again any minute.”

“Are you coming, too?” Nancy asked. She thought Pete seemed awfully anxious to be alone in the meadow.

“Soon enough,” Pete told her shortly. “Now, go on before the van takes off without you.” He gestured in the direction of the road, where Charlie and the girls had just reached the van.

“Sorry. Thanks for your help.” Nancy tried to sound cheerful as she started off to join the others.

A few rays of sun streaked through the heavy clouds overhead. Bess stood by the van with her
head hung to one side, squeezing the excess water out of her long blond hair. Her blue shorts and denim blouse were soaked to her skin. George and Rachel were already inside the van. They looked as if they had just been pushed into a swimming pool with their clothes on. Everyone was smudged with dirt and ash. They could all use warm showers, Nancy thought.

“How will Pete get back?” she asked as Charlie held open the van door for her.

“Don't worry,” Rachel volunteered. “There's a trail that leads from the meadow back to the lodge. In fact, Pete was just coming back from there when we found him and told him about the fire.”

“He'd been in the meadow?” Nancy asked in surprise.

Rachel nodded. “He'd been putting out a salt block to attract deer for the guests to watch.” She paused, frowning. “He seemed very surprised about the fire. He hadn't noticed it when he was there, so it must have just started,” she said.

It seemed to Nancy that a lot of people had “happened” to be around the fire scene. Pete had been in the meadow just before it started. Maddie Emerson had shown up just after. It was even an interesting coincidence, she thought, that the fire had started as they were driving by. Could someone have planned for them to see it? She remembered Maddie's words: “He'd better figure out a way to stop all of these fires, or Highland Retreat is going to be ashes.”