er shoulder, and as she fired, a gander
jerked in the air, and then fell like a stone back into the reeds. It
took her some time to retrieve it, and when she had done so, she looked
round again. The sound of her rifle in that great stillness would
travel a long way, and if there had been any traveller camped in the
neighbourhood he must have heard it! But there was no one to be seen
anywhere, though the smell of fire was as strong as ever. Puzzled, she
returned to the camp, looked at her own fire which was burning low and
which could not possibly be the explanation of that which was
perplexing her, and without saying anything to her companion about it,
turned in for the night.

She awoke early to find a wind humming in the tree-tops and immediately
there impinged upon her nostrils the odour of burning wood. She rose
instantly and dressing hastily went to the tent and looked in. Stane
was still sleeping, and without awakening him she hurried down to the
lakeside, very conscious that the smell of fire was much stronger than
on the previous night. When she reached the shore she looked southward
in the direction from which the wind was blowing. As she did so, for
one brief moment her heart seemed to stop and a great fear leaped up
within her.

Up the lake-side the shore was hidden under rolling clouds of smoke,
the dark green of the woods was shrouded by the same bluish veil, and
the air seemed full of distant crackling. Out of the veil of smoke as
she watched broke a long leaping tongue of yellow flame, and the air
blowing towards her seemed hot as a furnace. Her face paled before the
terror in front. Though she had never seen the like before, on the way
up to Fort Malsun, she had seen the blackened patches where such fires
had been. She had heard stories of men surprised by them, and she knew
that the forest full of dry deadfall and resinous trees, was on fire.
Her first thought was for the sick man who was in her care. The camp
was directly in the line of fire, and, if the wind kept up, must
inevitably burn. She would have to get him away. But how?

The question was beating in her brain as she hurried back, and through
the reiteration of it she became conscious of moving life about her. A
weasel almost crossed her foot without a glance at her, and she saw
others moving in front of her. Small wood-mice swarmed, fleeing from
the terror they could not see; and a great timber-wolf followed by a
couple of cubs fled by with