"Oh, what can have happened?" murmured Ruth with clasped hands, while tears came into her eyes.
"Don't worry, dear," begged Alice.
"But I can't help it."
"Perhaps they are all right, Ruth. They may have gone to one side, just as we did, and of course they couldn't ride towards us until they got beyond the path of the flames."
"Oh, if I could only hope so!" the elder girl replied.
The wagon was rocking and swaying over the uneven ground as the horses galloped on. Russ, who had run to one side when the halt was made, held up his hand as a signal to halt. He had taken films until the vehicle was too close to be in proper focus.
"Do get up and get in with us!" begged Ruth. "You must not stay here any longer."
"I was thinking that myself," he said grimly.
A glance back showed that the fire there had increased in intensity, and the one in front was also growing. There was presented the rather strange sight of two fires rushing together, though the one in the rear, or behind the refugees, came on with greater speed, urged by a stronger wind. As Mr. Switzer had said, a vacuum might have been created by the larger conflagration, which made a draft that blew the smaller fire toward the bigger one.
"Do you see any opening, either backward or forward?" asked Russ of Paul, when they had gone on for perhaps half a mile.