Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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24 stopped short in horror, one front wheel partly over the edge of the cliff. A false move, even the shifting of her body, and she would be sent hurling thru space to her death below on the crags and rocks. For a moment she hung there, suspended half way between Heaven and earth, then. her brain nearly paralyzed by fear, she mechanically reversed her engine and slowly, slowly backed back to safety. How she ever completed that perilous trip she never could remember, but at'last she found herself incoherently pouring out her story to Mrs. Bartlett, who telephoned to Northford, her message sending a great number of men to fight forest fire. the greatest enemy of all farm- ers and ranchers. After resting an hour to quiet her shaken nerves. Marjorie started back home, but not by the Range Road. Reaching home, she found the place deserted. Hastily flinging a shovel and pick into the car, she started for the Timber. Night had lowered. and altho several miles away she could see the long tongues of flame shooting into the air, and the dull red haze coloring the skv. Driving her car into the forest, she alighted and, guided by the shouts of the men, who were digging a wide trench to stop the devastating Hames, she rushed to the spot to lend her aid. She found her mother already there, hurriedly carrying water from a small spring to the blackened and choking. Marjorie joined her and together they rushed back and forth with water through the roaring flames. The fire was eating its way nearer, despite the most desperate efforts of the men. The smoke became so dense that it was diffi- cult to see, and Marjorie, returning from the spring, a pail of water in each hand, became confused and wandered deeper into the flames, instead of away from them. She soon real- ized her mistake, but was unable to find her way back. Dipping the light sweater that she wore into the pail of water, she tied it about her head to keep from suffocating, and then struggled on. She stumbled and fell, and attempting to rise, gave a low moan of pain as her right leg doubled under her. Beating the ground in a frenzy with her clenched hands, The Blue and White she tried to crawl, but it was no use, she could not. She must lie there and suffer death by the flames, after escaping from death far gentler than the one which was before her. Glancing up into the sky, she gazed horrified for she was directly in the path of a giant tree which was about to fall, its branches a glow- ing skeleton of red. It cracked and snapped and slowly began to settle as Marjorie closed her eyes in a faint-and a tall straight figure dashed out of the smoke towards her. XN'hen she again opened her eyes she was amazed to find herself in a wheel-chair on the sunny porch of her home. Her head and hands were bound in bandages and pained dully. VVhile she was trying to comprehend all this, her father came from the house, accompanied by a young man. Seeing Marjorie's wide blue eyes, her father rushed to her, his face full of joy. Marjorie, he exclaimed, you are better. Do you know me. dear? Of course I know you, indignantly an- swered his daughter, why shouldn't I know my own father? But, tell me, how long have T been here? Is the fire out? NVho's this young man with you P He'p! laughingly responded her father, overjoyed to see her better, one at a time. This young man, he said, growing grave, is Neal Deane, who pulled you from under that tree nearer dead than alive. He has been ap- pointed forester for this part of the State and had just arrived in Northford when we learned of the fire. He is going to stay with us for awhile. Marjorie looked up into two steady blue eyes set in a brown, tanned face, as Deane came forward and took her hand. I have a lot to thank you for, she said in a low voice, your arrival was very timely. Don't let your gratitude keep you awake nights, Miss Daring, he returned, jokingly. But tell me the rest, demanded Marjorie, turning to her father. VVell, . he answered, the rain came, as it nearly always comes to end a severe drought, heavily, and lots of it. The fire was out by the next morning, and laltho it seemed fierce

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Westbrook High School And so for a time theiquestion was settled and peace reigned in the Daring household. For Marjorie, the days were full of happi- ness. She spent most of her time in her car, driving over the narrow, winding roads and thru the green, sunlit valleys. Sometimes she was accompanied by her mother, but her father, true to his word, could not be persuaded to set his foot into that car. August was ushered in by a severe drought, and anxious days followed. The grazing lands became dry and brown and the crops were withered and burned by the glaring sun. Rivers and springs were low and water for the cattle became scarce. Mr. Daring was silent an-l preoccupied, a perpetual frown between his eyes. ' One afternoon of one of the hottest days. while her mother was resting, Marjorie took out her car to go for a cooling spin. Driving nearly a mile along the Northford road, she finally turned off on a little-used wood road, leading to a favorite haunt, where a merry brooklet rippled, and the air was cool and re- freshing. Altho bordered on either side by large trees, the road was hot, suffocatingly so. The air was thick and heavy, and-did she---' was that smoke which she smelled? She sniffed the air again in quick alarm, then, speeding up, she hurried ahead until she came to a small clearing. Stopping her car, she looked around her. ln the VVest she could see the lofty, snow- capped peaks of the distant cascade mountains. But in the East a bluish haze of smoke rose into the air. Marjorie's heart leaped and then fell down, down in fright and despair. The Timber was on fire and her father was in Northford and all the ranchmen were far on the other side of the ranch, erecting fences! The Timber was a large tract of forest land belonging to her father and was his great- est pride. In her mfnd's eye Marjorie saw the giant Douglas firs, acres and acres, of them. of untold value, and recalled his plans to turn them into dollars in the spring. She knew that she must summon help quickly. 'But how? To go to Northford was out of the question, it would take far too long. The nearest tele- phone was at the Bartlett ranch across the 23 Range, a long, steep, densely wooded moun- tain. To go around the Range by the wagon road would take nearly as long as to go to Northford. She thought quickly-there was no other way, she must go over the Range Road. Leaping into her car, she turned quick- ly, and at top speed rushed back the way she had come, straight past her own home and on until she reached the base of the Range. Turn- ing her car into the Range Road, a road made years ago across the mountain before the bet- ter road had been built around the Range, she started to climb. The road, a hard climb for a person on foot, was now almost impossible for a horse and for an automobile-but Mar- jorie grimly shut her lips and looked straight ahead. Over small trees and shrubs she went. sending terror to the hearts of timid rabbits and squirrels by the crashing and snapping. Her engine began to churn and labor, and she shifted into second and then into low. It was with an exclamation of despair and fear that she saw a large tree had fallen across the road ahead of her. Climbing from the car, she tugged at it, tearing and scratching her hands, but finally succeeding in rolling it to one side. Then she went on, inch by inch, crawling up- ward like a small insect. Would the valiant little car make it? Yes, Marjorie held her breath as the last rise was made and she came upon the Hat top. There she paused, 'faint and trembling, trying to nerve herself for the rest of the journey, for the Range Road was not the worst, ahead was the Pass. Behind her Marjorie could see the smoke pouring upward, black and threatening, so she hastily started again and followed the nearly obliterated road, which grew narrower and narrower and terminated in the Pass, a narrow shelf of rock winding around a great cliff. Marjorie measured its width with her eye and decided that it would just about accommodate her car, but a few inches beyond and-Mar- jorie shuddered as she looked down thru space, far, far below. Her heart beat like a trip- hammer as she started, slowly and cautiously. The first few feet she negotiated safely and found herself half way across. But, turning the steering wheel a bit too quickly, she

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Westbrook High School Compliments of Compliments of SAUNDERS BROS. Harry D. Brooks MdNufkCfUf6fJ M Dawflr MANUFACTURERS, AGENT Tel, 409 48 Exchange St., Portland, Maine PO RTLAND'S Compliments of BEST NEWSPAPERS E'U67ZI?7g' Express J. E. GOOLD CO. Sunday Tefegmw Federal Street, Portland Read Them for the News of Westbrook Presumpscot Electric Company Distributors of Hydro-Electric Power l 895 MAIN STREET WESTBROOK, MAINE Rffiabff ' o. G. K. ROBINSON Confmcfor amz' Buzfder Exterior and Interior House Finish, Door and Window Frames Clapboard Siding, Pine Sheathing, Cabinet Work Telephone 391 MILL AND OFFICE, 14 FITCH STREET, WESTBROOK, MAINE