“Perhaps you’re right, boy,” admitted the ex-superintendent, with a chuckle. “I’m not the best judge of horses, like Sim was; but I can tell a fine one when I see him. And this here bay doesn’t hold a candle to either of the others. Still, he’s good for some little time yet, I reckon.”
Bob had to keep a tight rein, for there was always a chance of a horse stumbling. The long, dead grass that covered the plain, was matted in places, so that it formed little traps for flying feet. It was Frank who had warned him against this ever-present peril.
He found himself wondering what the two fugitives in the advance might be doing. Would they imagine that their pursuers had dropped off with the coming of darkness; and take things so easily that, after a time, those who were following might come up with them?
It was while this thought was passing through Bob’s mind that he heard Frank give a sudden exclamation. Immediately he looked ahead, to see a light flash up; and then came a second, over to the left a little distance.
“Why, Frank, are they going to camp?” he asked, in surprise; “and how odd of them to make such big fires. They ought to know we’d see them!”
“You’re away off, Chum Bob!” exclaimed Frank, with annoyance in his voice. “Those are not camp fires at all. The smart rascals have taken advantage of the rising wind, and the long dead grass. They’ve fired the prairie, hoping to cut off pursuit!”
CHAPTER XV
THE PRAIRIE FIRE
Frank’s words gave his chum a new thrill.
Although he had been in the Southwest nearly a year now, Bob had never seen a prairie fire. Of course he had heard many stories connected with such events, as some of the adventurous cowboys stirred up their memories. And, like all greenhorns, Bob had naturally conceived a great respect, amounting almost to awe, for a conflagration on the boundless plain.
He noted how quickly the fire seemed to spread. It ran along almost like magic, and what looked like an insignificant blaze one minute, in another was a roaring bank of flame, driven forward by the whipping wind.