plash, and went down, down, it seemed to him,
a mile. Then his feet touched a hard, rocky bottom, and he shot back to
the surface, spluttering and blowing the water out of eyes, mouth and
nostrils. A brown head was bobbing beside him. He seized it by the hair,
pulled it up, and disclosed the features of Paul, his comrade. Paul,
too, began to splutter and at the same time to try to swim.

Splash!

A heavy body struck the water beside them with a thud too great for that
of a man. It was the stag leaping also for safety and he began to swim
about, looking at the boys with great pathetic eyes, as if he would ask
them what he ought to do next for his life. Apparently his fear of
mankind had passed for the moment. They were bound together by the
community of danger.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The water resounded like the beating of a bass drum. Three more deer, a
buffalo, and any number of smaller game sprang into the stream, and
remained there swimming or wading.

"Here, Paul! Here's a bar that we can stand on," said Henry who had
found a footing. At the same time he grasped Paul by the wrist, and drew
him to the bar. There they stood in the water to their necks, and
watched the great fire as it divided at the little prairie, and swept
around them, passing to left and right. It was a grim sight. All the
heavens seemed ablaze, and the clouds of smoke were suffocating. Even
there in the river the heat was most oppressive, and at times the faces
of the boys were almost scorched. Then they would thrust their heads
under the water, and keep them there as long as they could hold their
breath, coming up again greatly refreshed. The wild game clustered near
in common terror.

"It's a lucky thing for us the river and prairie are here," said Henry.
"Another half mile and we'd have been ashes."

Paul was giving thanks under his breath, and watching the fire with
awe-stricken eyes. It swept past them and rushed on, in a great red
cloud, that ate all in its path and gave forth much noise.

It was now on the far side of the prairie, and soon began to grow
smaller in the distance. Yet so great was the wall of fire that it was
long in sight, dying at last in a red band under the horizon. Even then
all the skies were still filled with drifting smoke and ashes.

The boys looked back at the path over which they had come, and although
the joy of escape was still upon them it was with real grief that they
beheld the stricken forest, la