Part 14 (1/2)
At last we cauard of the herd, when the Indians at once gave chase
We had been riding on for soreater speed than they do under ordinary circuht of the party, stopped, and looking round hi I could not understand what he said, and asked Mike if he could
”Sure, it's soether plisant,” he answered ”Look there, Masther Roger What does thatline of what looked like greyabove the horizon to the ard
I saw several of the Indians standing up in their stirrups and gazing in the same direction They knew perfectly hat it was, but they were trying to ascertain a point of vital importance to us all The prairie was on fire! Of that there was no doubt; but, in order to give the their lives, it was necessary to settle, before galloping forward, what course to take
While the Indians were discussing this point, Mike, who had been looking about hio, and that is to the north-east Never , I reet into one of the the wather”
”But the Indians will probably take the sa that same, they would have been off at once,” he answered ”They have so, and we have another for ill do; so co I mourn for, and that isthat another ti his heels into his horse's flanks, he set off in the direction he proposed; and I, seeing that the Indians were too alloped after hi towards the north-west
The fire having approached with far greater rapidity than I could have supposed possible, I began to fear that they were right and rong, when I saw the fla up furiously, with dense masses of black smoke above them, and already scarcely a mile behind us; indeed, they looked very ration, faster than any horse could gallop Happily we had the start of it, but we must, we knew, keep our steeds at the utmost stretch of their powers to ed more and more from that of the Indians, they soon discovered our object, and shouted to us to accompany them
”Baay, me boys!” answered Mike ”It is not convanient just now to attind to you”
When our intention became clearly evident, the chief despatched two of his people in pursuit of us; but we kept well ahead of our pursuers, and they, fearing that the fire would overtake them, turned and took the saht of our late companions
”I would be well contint never to set eyes on you again, n of farewell
Althoughthat, after all, the fire would overtake us Happily our horses were fleet and in good wind, as we had not exhausted the the early part of the day; and all we could do at present was to gallop on The wind, of which there had hitherto been very little, now got up, and blew al the fire in the direction the Indians had taken, and at the sa Still on came the fire, the whole country in our rear apparently one mass of flame Even now, did we stop, we should be overtaken
Happily for us, there were no buffalo in the direction froer of being overwhel by us or close at our heels, but too reat a hurry to interfere with them
I am almost afraid to say how many miles we covered in a couple of hours, but certainly not till that tiet to a safe distance fro back, we could see it raging along the whole verge of the horizon to the ard and southward It was clear to me that Mike was mistaken about the swaed, we should probably have fallen victi to ht prove a barrier to the flae of wind drive the, so far as we could see, to stop the fire fro us Our horses, too, were already suffering froerly looked out for a pool or streareatly to our joy, as evening was approaching, we caught sight in the far distance of a silvery line of water glittering in the rays of the western sun It was a river running from the north-west to the south-east, and as we approachedthat it was of considerable width Should it not prove fordable, we resolved to swim across
With infinite satisfaction we reached the bank of the river, and descending quickly, allowed our horses to drink; while, stooping down by their sides, we lapped up the water eagerly with our hands It seeh When we had somewhat slaked our thirst, we looked about for a place at which to cross From the appearance of the current a little lower doe hoped that we should there find the river fordable; we accordingly agreed to lead our horses to it
On cli in the direction from whence we had come; and it was evidently very much nearer We had wished to allow our ani to cross; but on again looking backthat there was no tied our steeds into the water, keeping their heads up the strearew deeper and deeper, and we expected every s; still it would not do to turn back Our greatest chance of safety lay in pushi+ng forward The cool water restored strength to our beasts, and, sagaciously leaning over against the current, they soon got across the deep part We had now no further difficulty, and in a few minutes landed safely on the opposite side Fortunately there was plenty of fresh herbage, and we allowed the animals to crop it, while we sat down and discussed soht, we had provided ourselves Without it we should have starved; for we could find nothing eatable anywhere around As night was approaching, and our horses were too o further, we resolved to rely hobbled the aniht afford us shelter
Our search was rewarded by the discovery of a hollowfloods Here we hoped that we er Indians were not likely to be passing at that ti, and no wolves would find their e believed, into our cave Our horses were, of course, ed to let them take their chance, for unless they were allowed to feed during the night they would be unable to carry us the next day
After leaving our horses to pick up their supper, ere about to return to our cave, when, on looking to the eastward, we observed that the fire was ress in our direction We felt thankful indeed that ere on the right side of the river
On ca every minute, while dark wreaths of srass and shrubs hissed and crackled The darkness of night added to the fearful character of the scene As far as the eye could reach there appeared a long unbroken line of fire: now, as it caught soh in the air; in other places it ca, till it reached the bank of the river, when every shrub and tree was enveloped in a sheet of fire; and notwithstanding the width of the river, we expected every instant to see some of the sparks carried across, and the whole country on our side given over to destruction We ht save our own lives, but our horses would inevitably be lost
We sat anxiously watching the conflagration as it raged along the entire bank: now the sparks, wafted by the wind, flew high into the air; now burning branches fell hissing into the water
”It's all very fine,” observed Mike, after watching it for so quietly to slape”