Don raced past with head lowered, the greedy flames licking his face. Half-blinded, he stumbled on for a dozen yards or so before turning to ascertain how Puggles had stood the ordeal. To his horror he then discovered that the fire had swallowed up the pathway at a single bound, and that Puggles was nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER X.—IN WHICH THE OLD SAW, “OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN, INTO THE FIRE,” IS REVERSED WITH STARTLING EFFECT.
Back he ran, battling with the flames and sparks that rolled in volumes up the hillside, until, half-stifled and well-nigh fainting from the heat, he was forced to turn and flee for his life before the swiftly advancing flames.
Whether Puggles, terrified by the close proximity of the fire, had hung back at the last moment, or whether he had attempted to follow his master and paid for his devotion with his life, heaven alone knew.
“Poor chap!” gasped Don, as he stumbled free of the smoke and turned for a last look at the fiery veil so suddenly drawn over his faithful servant's fate. “God help him!”
The rapid advance of the fire, however, allowed little time for the indulgence of emotion. The long rainless months had scorched the face of the hill until the thick-set bamboo copse was as dry as tinder, inflammable as shavings. The wind and the steepness of the hillside, too, proved powerful allies of the flames. On and up they swept, leaping from point to point with such rapidity that Don found it necessary to strain every nerve to avoid being overtaken by the greedy holocaust. Glad indeed was he when, the scene of his recent adventure passed, he at length emerged upon the comparatively open ground abreast of the encampment.
Stumping uneasily to and fro, “abaft the fo'csle,” with Bosin perched contentedly upon his shoulder, was the old sailor—the jerky creak, creak of his wooden leg showing him to be in an unusually disturbed state of mind.
“Right glad I am to clap eyes on ye, lad!” he sang out cheerily on catching sight of the returned wanderer. “An' whereaway's Master Jack an' the leetle nigger, I axes?”