eatest foe! Old Penetier is doomed!" cried Dick Leslie.
"That line of fire is miles long, and is spreading fast. It'll shoot up
the canyons and crisscross the forest in no time. Bent, what'll we do?"

"Mebbe we can get around the line. We must, or we'll have to make tracks
for the mountain, an' thet's a long chance. You take to the left an'
I'll go to the right, an' we'll see how the fire's runnin'."

"What will Ken do?"

"Wal, let him stay here--no, thet won't do! We might get driven back a
little an' have to circle. The safest place in this forest is where we
camped. Thet's not far. Let him drive the ponies back thar an' wait."

"All right. Ken, you hustle the pack-team back to our last night's camp.
Wait there for us. We won't be long."

Dick galloped off through the forest, and Hiram went down the slope in
almost the opposite direction. Left alone, I turned my horse and drove
the pack-ponies along our back-trail. Thus engaged, I began to recover
somewhat from the terror that had stupefied me. Still, I kept looking
back. I found the mouth of the canyon and the trail, and in what I
thought a very short time I reached the bare, rocky spot where we had
last camped. The horses all drank thirstily, and I discovered that I was
hot and dry.

Then I waited. At every glance I expected to see Dick and Hiram riding
up the canyon. But moments dragged by, and they did not come. Here there
was no sign of smoke, nor even the faintest hint of the roar of the
fire. The wind blew strongly up the canyon, and I kept turning my ear
to it. In spite of the fact that my friends did not come quickly I had
begun to calm my fears. They would return presently with knowledge of
the course of the fire and the way to avoid it. My thoughts were mostly
occupied with sorrow for beautiful Penetier. What a fiend Buell was! I
had heard him say he would fire the slash, and he had kept his word.

Half an hour passed. I saw a flash of gray down the canyon, and shouted
in joy. But what I thought Dick and Hiram was a herd of deer. They were
running wildly. They clicked on the stones, and scarcely swerved for the
pack-ponies. It took no second glance to see that they were fleeing
from the fire. This brought back all my alarms, and every moment that I
waited thereafter added to them. I watched the trail and under the trees
for my friends, and I scanned the sky for signs of the blue-white clouds
of smoke. But I saw neither.

"Dick told me to wait here;