ht, and in front of them,
and they now turned in a course which seemed to place the greatest
distance between them and the furious element. Ever and anon a
frightened deer or elk leaped past, and the hounds no longer noticed
them, but remained close to the horses. The flames came on with awful
rapidity. The light increased in brilliance, and objects were
distinguishable far over the prairie. A red glare could be seen on the
sides of the deer as they bounded over the tall dry grass, which was
soon to be no longer a refuge for them. The young man heard a low
continued roar, that increased every moment in loudness, and, looking in
the direction whence they supposed it proceeded, they observed an
immense, dark, moving mass, the nature of which they could not divine,
but it threatened to annihilate every thing that opposed it. While
gazing at this additional source of danger, the horses, blinded by the
surrounding light, plunged into a deep ditch that the rain had washed in
the rich soil. Neither men nor horses, fortunately, were injured; and,
after several ineffectual efforts to extricate themselves, they here
resolved to await the coming of the fire. Ringwood and Jowler whined
fearfully on the verge of the ditch for an instant, and then sprang in
and crouched trembling at the feet of their master. The next instant the
dark, thundering mass passed overhead, being nothing less than an
immense herd of buffaloes driven forward by the flames. The horses bowed
their heads as if a thunderbolt were passing. The fire and the heavens
were hid from view, and the roar above resembled the rush of mighty
waters. When the last animal had sprung over the chasm, Glenn thanked
the propitious accident that thus providentially prevented him from
being crushed to atoms, and uttered a prayer to Heaven that he might by
a like means be rescued from the fiery ordeal that awaited him. It now
occurred to him that the accumulation of weeds and grass in the chasm,
which saved them from injury when falling in, would prove fatal when the
flames arrived. And after groping some distance along the trench, he
found the depth diminished, but the fire was not three hundred paces
distant. His heart sank within him. But when on the eve of returning to
his former position, with a resolution to remove as much of the
combustible matter as possible, a gleam of joy spread over his features,
as, casting a glance in a contrary direction from that they had recently
purs