It was picturesque
work, and Norah loved it, though she would have been somewhat
embarrassed had you hinted that the picturesqueness had anything to do
with its attractions.
One after another, they would light the stumps, some squat and solid,
others rising thirty or forty feet into the air. Once the fires were
lit, it was necessary to keep them going; moving backwards and forwards
among the trees, stoking, picking up fallen bits of burning timber and
adding them to the fires, coaxing sullen embers into a blaze, edging
the fire round a tree, so that the wind might do its utmost in helping
the work--there were no idle moments for the "burners-off." Sometimes it
would be necessary to enlarge a crack or hole in a tough stump, to gain
a hold for the fire. Norah always carried a light iron bar, specially
made for her at the station forge, which she called her poker, and
which answered half a dozen purposes equally well, and though not an
ideal weapon for killing a snake, being too stiff and straight, had
been known to act in that capacity also. Every scrap of loose timber on
the ground would be picked up and added to the flames. Some stumps were
very obstinate and resisted all blandishments to burn; but careful
handling generally ensured the fate of the majority.
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