s companions. Every man leapt up, rifle in hand,
believing that the Indians were approaching.

'We must be up and doing,' Mr. Hardy said cheerfully; 'the Indians have
fired the Pampas.'

There was a thrill of apprehension in the bosom of many present, who
had heard terrible accounts of prairie fires, but this speedily subsided
at the calm manner of Mr. Hardy.

'The fire,' he said, 'may be ten miles away yet. I should say that it
was, but it is difficult to judge, for this grass does not flame very
high, and the smoke drifts between it and us. The wind, fortunately, is
light, but it will be here in little over half an hour. Now, let the
four Guachos attend to the horses, to see they do not stampede. The rest
form a line a couple of yards apart, and pull up the grass by the roots,
throwing it behind them, so as to leave the ground clear. The wider we
can make it the better.'

All fell to work with hearty zeal. Looking over their shoulders, the sky
now appeared on fire. Flickering tongues of flame seemed to struggle
upwards. There was an occasional sound of feet, as herds of deer flew by
before the danger.

'How far will it go, papa, do you think?' Hubert asked his father, next
to whom he was at work.

'I should say that it would most likely stop at the stream where we
halted to-day, Hubert. The ground was wet and boggy for some distance on
the other side.'

The horses were now getting very restive, and there was a momentary
pause from work to wrap ponchos round their heads, so as to prevent
their seeing the glare.

The fire could not have been more than three miles distant, when the
space cleared was as wide as Mr. Hardy deemed necessary for safety. A
regular noise, something between a hiss and a roar, was plainly audible;
and when the wind lifted the smoke, the flames could be seen running
along in an unbroken wall of fire. Birds flew past over head with
terrified cries, and a close, hot smell of burning was very plainly
distinguishable.

Starting about half way along the side of the cleared piece of ground,
Mr. Hardy set the dry grass alight. For a moment or two it burned
slowly, and then, fanned by the wind, it gained force, and spread in a
semicircle of flame.

The horses were already unpicketed, and half of the party held them at a
short distance in the rear, while the rest stood in readiness to
extinguish the fire if it crossed the cleared space.

Over and over again the fire crept partially across,--