Our Ancestors

Fireplace! ’ ‘Who’s there? Who’s shouting? ’ spoke back voices. no longer faraway from the spot used to be a charcoal-burner’s website, and a gaggle of guys from Bergamo, pals of his, have been drowsing in a shack within reach. ‘Fire! hearth! ’ quickly the total mountainside used to be resounding with the cry. The charcoal-burners scattered over the woods shouted it to one another of their incomprehensible dialect. alongside they got here working from all instructions. And the hearth was once subdued. this primary try at arson and the assault on his existence must have warned Cosimo to maintain away from the wooden. rather than which he begun going into the complete subject of controlling fires. It was once the summer season of a sizzling, dry yr. within the coastal woods in the direction of Provence a fireplace have been burning continuous for per week. At evening its gleam mirrored at the mountainside just like the final sundown. The air used to be dry, timber and trees like tinder within the drought. The wind looked to be urging the flames in our path, the place occasional fires, both accidentally or on objective, might get away, becoming a member of the remaining in one belt of flame alongside the full coast. Ombrosa was once surprised by way of the chance, as though it have been a fort with a straw roof attacked by way of enemy incendiaries. The sky itself used to be charged with hearth; each evening taking pictures stars could fly everywhere in the firmament and we might look ahead to them to fall correct directly to us. In these days of basic dismay, Cosimo obtained up loads of barrels, crammed them with water, and hoisted them as much as the tops of the top timber on dominating issues. ‘One by no means is aware, yet this type of thing’s been necessary as soon as. ’ now not content material with this, he studied the classes of the streams crossing the woods, part dried up although they have been, correct again to the place their springs despatched out just a trickle of water. Then he went to refer to the Cavalier. ‘Oh, yes,’ exclaimed Enea Silvio Carrega, clapping a hand to his brow. ‘Reservoirs! Dykes! We needs to make plans! ’ and he broke out into little cries and jumps of enthusiasm with the myriad rules crowding in his brain. Cosimo set him to paintings at calculations and drawings, and in the meantime approached the vendors of the personal woods, the tenants of the general public woods, the woodcutters, the charcoal-burners. All jointly, lower than the path of the Cavalier (or fairly the Cavalier lower than them all, compelled to direct them and never enable his options wander), with Cosimo superintending the paintings from above, they shaped reserves of water in this kind of method that they can get pumps to each element the place a hearth may escape. yet this was once no longer adequate; squads of guys needed to be geared up to place the fires out, teams who in case of alarm knew find out how to set up themselves instantaneously into chains to go buckets of water from hand handy and halt the hearth prior to it unfold. So there seemed one of those military which took activates defend and evening inspection. the boys have been recruited through Cosimo one of the peasants and artisans of Ombrosa. And right away, as occurs in each organization, there grew up a company spirit, a feeling of pageant among the teams, and all felt able to good things.