All of them were panting, but it was more from the intense heat than weariness. Thad hoped the pond would show up soon. He was half choked with the smoke, and coughed with nearly every breath. A drink of cool refreshing water, he believed, would make him feel a thousand per cent better.
There could no longer be any doubt about the anticipated change in the wind having taken place; for the fire was certainly coming after them, full tilt. Jim, too, was beginning to cast glances over his shoulder; and when a runner does this Thad knew it was a good sign that he is anxious about something. It may be the presence of a rival sprinter back of him; in this case that racer was the fire.
“Will we make it, Jim?” Thad found himself just forced to ask, in order to relieve the terrible sensation of suspense that gripped him.
“Dead sartin!” came the reassuring reply; “thar she be, right naow!”
And looking ahead Thad saw the sheen of a body of water in the dull glow of the forest fire. It was not a large pond, but would offer them an asylum, where in all possibility they might laugh at the efforts of the fire to get them.
When they gained the shore Jim kept pushing on until a point had been reached that was opposite to the course over which they had just come. This threw the water of the little pond between them and the source of danger.
Thad drew a long breath of relief as he realized that their race with the flames was over, and safety assured. The giant sank down upon the ground, and scooping up the water in the cup of his hand, drank savagely, showing that he must be almost parched with thirst.
Feeling a little the same way himself, Thad followed suit; and never in all his life had water tasted as refreshing as then. After that, he just stood and watched the terrible panorama that was being gradually unfolded before his eyes; listening to the roar of the devouring element as it seized whole rows of pines in its grip, and enveloped them with a mantle of flames.
Thad was fairly awed by the sight. He had never dreamed it could be so terrible, even when his imagination played at its liveliest clip. He saw the leaping billows toss higher and higher; he watched them play tag with one another; and all the while realized what havoc was being made with that splendid forest. When the fire had passed on, or been finally extinguished by the downpour from above, it would leave blackened and smouldering trunks where just a brief while before the glorious pines stood in all their robes of green.
The heat was rather fierce, too, and often they would bend forward to lave their faces in the cooling waters of the pond. Long since had the rim of ice around the edge of the pool vanished, as though by magic; this was on account of the warmth that had taken possession of the atmosphere while the conflagration lasted.