rning this
way and that, paddling their feet only enough to keep afloat. On the
shore where Neewa and Miki paused was a huge porcupine, chattering and
chuckling foolishly, as if scolding all things in general for having
disturbed him at dinner. Then he took to the water. A little farther up
the shore a fisher-cat and a fox hugged close to the water line,
hesitating to wet their precious fur until death itself snapped at
their heels; and as if to bring fresh news of this death a second fox
dragged himself wearily out on the shore, as limp as a wet rag after
his swim from the opposite shore, where the fire was already leaping in
a wall of flame. And as this fox swam in, hoping to find safety, an old
bear twice as big as Neewa, crashed panting from the undergrowth,
plunged into the water, and swam OUT. Smaller things were creeping and
crawling and slinking along the shore; little red-eyed ermine, marten,
and mink, rabbits, squirrels, and squeaking gophers, and a horde of
mice. And at last, with these things which he would have devoured so
greedily running about him, Neewa waded slowly out into the water. Miki
followed until he was submerged to his shoulders. Then he stopped. The
fire was close now, advancing like a race-horse. Over the protecting
barrier of thick timber drove the clouds of smoke and ash. Swiftly the
lake became obliterated, and now out of that awful chaos of blackness
and smoke and heat there rose strange and thrilling cries; the bleating
of a moose calf that was doomed to die and the bellowing, terror-filled
response of its mother; the agonized howling of a wolf; the terrified
barking of a fox, and over all else the horrible screaming of a pair of
loons whose home had been transformed into a sea of flame.

Through the thickening smoke and increasing heat Neewa gave his call to
Miki as he began to swim, and with an answering whine Miki plunged
after him, swimming so close to his big black brother that his muzzle
touched the other's flank. In mid-lake Neewa did as the other swimming
creatures were doing--paddled only enough to keep himself afloat; but
for Miki, big of bone and unassisted by a life-preserver of fat, the
struggle was not so easy. He was forced to swim to keep afloat. A dozen
times he circled around Neewa, and then, with something of the
situation driven upon him, he came up close to the bear and rested his
forepaws on his shoulders.

The lake was now encircled by a solid wall of fire. Blasts