ll flying away as fast
as his pony could carry him.

"No--never!" replied Joe; "I won't go nigh that awful thing! Don't you
see it's getting dark? How'll we over find the way home again?"

The latter remark startled Glenn, for he had lost all consciousness of
the lateness of the hour in the excitement, and to his dismay had also
lost all recollection of the direction of his dwelling, and darkness
had now overtaken them! While pausing to reflect from which quarter
they first approached the mound, the buffalo, to his surprise and no
little chagrin, rose up and staggered away, the darkness seen
obscuring him from view altogether. Glenn, by a blast of his horn,
recalled the dogs, and joining Joe, set off much dispirited, in a
course which he feared was not the correct one. Night came upon them
suddenly, and before they had gone a mile the darkness was intense.
And the breathless calm that had prevailed during the day was now
succeeded by fitful winds that howled mournfully over the interminable
prairie. Interminable the plain seemed to our benighted riders, for
there was still no object to vary the monotony of the cheerless scene,
although they had paced briskly, and, as they supposed, far enough to
have reached the cliffs of the river. Nor was there even a sound heard
as they rode along, save the muffled strokes of their horses' hoofs in
the dry grass that covered the earth, the low winds, and an occasional
cry of the dogs as they were trodden upon by the horses.

Ere long a change came over the scene. About two-thirds of the
distance round the verge of the horizon a faint light appeared,
resembling the scene when a dense curtain of clouds hangs over head,
and the rays of the morning sun steal under the edge of the thick
vapour. But the stars could be seen, and the only appearance of clouds
was immediately above the circle of light. In a very few minutes the
terrible truth flashed upon the mind of Glenn. The dim light along the
horizon was changed to an approaching flame! Columns of smoke could be
seen rolling upwards, while the fire beneath imparted a lurid glare to
them. The wind blew more fiercely, and the fire approached from almost
every quarter with the swiftness of a race horse. The darkened vault
above became gradually illuminated with a crimson reflection, and the
young man shuddered with the horrid apprehension of being burnt alive!
It was madness to proceed in a direction that must inevitably hasten
their fat