"Yes, I think you could."
"Well, then, let's make for Jessie. She will be surprised to see us, more surprised even than when you went with Uncle Tom, because, you see, you were on horseback, and I'm only on my legs. She'll wonder how on earth I got there," and Eva gave an anticipatory chuckle at the thought of the astonishment her appearance would create.
It was rough walking through the bush, and Eva's legs began to ache a little.
"Is it a great deal further, Jack?"
"We're only about half way there. I believe we'd better go back, though we shall look rather fools having done neither one thing nor the other," but the suggestion of turning back did not please his companion.
"Let's rest a little, and then I'll get on all right. There's heaps of time before us," so they sat with their backs supported against the trunk of a tree, whilst Jack told stories of his late experiences. At last he sprang to his feet.
"And now if we mean to get there at all this afternoon," he said, "we must be getting on, unless you would rather go back."
"No, I'll go on; Jessie will be so surprised," reiterated Eva, and the children little knew that the decision, made so lightly, possibly saved both their lives. As they neared the clearing which was only about a mile and a half from Jessie's home, Jack became aware of a distant fitful roar that he could only imagine was the rising of the wind before a coming storm, and wondered within himself what he could do with Eva in such a predicament.
"The sun's gone in and the sky's all copper-coloured," said Eva, as they emerged into open country, "I believe it's going to thunder;" but Jack's quick eyes, glancing towards the horizon, saw flames partially concealed by smoke leaping and dancing through the bush, and knew that for the first time in his life he was within reach of a bush fire. He had watched many a one with delight from the safe distance of his grandfather's farm, but to see one racing towards him, urged on by a wind behind, was a wholly different matter, and it was the far-off roar of flames that he had heard, and even Jack's brave little heart quailed before the danger which threatened them, but it was of Eva's safety that he thought rather than his own, and the sense of responsibility weighed heavily upon him.