e, the fire extending in one unbroken line from left to
right, and in front of them; and they 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. The hounds no
longer noticed them, but remained close to the horses. The leaping
flames came in 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 men
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 over
head, being nothing less than an immense herd of buffalo driven
forwards by the flames! The horses bowed their heads as if a
thunderbolt was 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