We dashed excitedly back and forth, dragging dead limbs and branches from out the forest.

The flames soared higher and higher, and the smoke-column out-towered the trees.
There was a tremendous snapping and crackling and roaring.

It was the most monumental work we had ever effected with our hands, and we were proud of it.

We, too, were Fire-Men, we thought, as we danced there, white gnomes in the conflagration.
The dried grass and underbrush caught fire, but we did not notice it.
Suddenly a great tree on the edge of the open space burst into flames.
We looked at it with startled eyes.

The heat of it drove us back.
Another tree caught, and another, and then half a dozen.