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"Do you s sniff and looks around "Not really Must be so from the kitchen" I take another sniff to ht, Starvation MacFarland didwith beef stew; plain fair, but tasty Starvation has also ar for dessert I don’t know if all the CCC camps feed theirto coain There it is, the smell of woodsmoke! "Come on, Boodean Don’t you smell it, the smoke?"

He looks around and takes a few breaths "Could be thetrashProbably shouldn’t, not with this wind And there’s a patient on the porch, s"

Frustrated, I ask the camp secretary to come out Maybe women have better noses "Do you smell smoke, Mrs Ross? Like woodsmoke?"

She looks at me out of the corner of her eye, as if this is soht answer "Maybe a little"

"See," I tell Boodean as we enter the infirmary "Mrs Ross smells it too Can you find the captain and ask hiate? After that, check with Drake at the tower, see if he’s seen anything?"

"Not likely to reach him," the older lady re The two fellows trying to fix the antenna were going into Liberty for a part If they don’t find one there, they’ll try Delh So there’s no way to communicate with the outside world and no way for Drake to communicate with us either, but that’s really notin the next patient"

Fire

By three o’clock, there’s no doubt about it There’s a fire soh the sky is still clear, even Boodean can now smell the smoke The captain is tense and has called in the four ca at the open door as Wolfe takes a seat behind the superintendent’s desk

"Listen, guys I know this isn’t regulation, but without Milliken soe Until we’re able to contact District Five, I hope you won’t mind if I step up"

Loonie Tinkshell ht," says the captain "So here’s what I need you to do People have s stronger and if I’ over the mountain We need to take about twenty boys off their usual assigno all the way up to the cliffs and maybe a little way over the mountain The fire may be on the other side

"The cook can keep his cree have to eat"--here there are a few chuckles--"and Lou Cross still has his guys out building a fire trench, but that’s a big project and will take the whole day Maybe some of the men from the sawmill could look for him We need to be on the alert Otherwise, it’s business as usual Surveying class tonight, Ed?"

"You betcha"