le smoke and fairly good air.

Flocks of panic-stricken birds veered uncertainly about. They would
flee the fire, encounter dense smoke, and turn straight back toward the
flames. They circled and alighted at the bottom of the gorge. No
sooner safely there, then they'd take wing again and flutter back into
the trees near the fire. Many dropped, overcome by the smoke, whole
flocks disappeared into the roaring flames to return no more. They
lost all sense of direction, all instinct for self-preservation.

But the birds were not alone in their distress; the animals, too, were
on the move. Down the slopes came deer, does with their young, bucks
with tender, growing horns. To my surprise, they paid no attention to
me. Whether they were unable to get my scent because of the fumes of
burning woods, or whether the fire filled them with a greater fear, I
could not decide. A coyote trotted calmly down a game trail, eyed me
for a moment, and went on his way toward safety. He was the only one
of the wild folk able to keep his wits about him.

Occasionally one of the deer would break away from the refugees, head
up or down without apparent reason, the rest of the band instantly
following his lead. In less than a minute all would return. They
feared to desert their usual haunts in time of trouble. The smoke
robbed them of their sense of smell, the noise of the fire was too loud
for their usually alert, big ears to catch the smaller, significant
sounds. As their confusion grew their terror mounted; they bundled
nervously away in all directions, rushing back together, heading
upstream toward the fire, and leaping wildly over smoldering needles of
the forest floor.

The fawns were deserted, their mothers dashed about frantically as
though unable to recognize their own offspring; they snorted wildly to
rid their noses of the biting fumes that robbed them of scent. A fawn
stopped within a few feet of me and stared about with luminous,
innocent eyes. Its hair was singed and its feet burned. It lifted its
left hind foot and stared at it perplexed; then I saw between its
dainty, parted hoofs a burning stick.

Other animals passed. A badger waddled slowly down the trail, pausing
to grin at me comically. Two beavers splashed downstream, following
the water, diving through the deeper pools and lumbering through the
shallows of the brook. Other animals crashed through the woods, but I
could not recognize them.

A little