“Sure prairie dry,” grunted Deerfoot.
“We’d better leave here as fast as we can then, hadn’t we?” exclaimed Joseph, now fully alarmed. As he spoke they could see the fire suddenly spring up all about the former home of the Scotts. Fanned by the ever freshening breeze it made its way swiftly along the ground and gathering power as it ran, leaped into flame and started on its mad career.
“Come,” said Deerfoot, and he turned about and ran. The smell of smoke was now strong in their nostrils and this new foe, much more deadly than the former ones, inspired the fugitives with a fear that seemed almost to put wings on their feet. A deer suddenly passed them, wide-eyed and snorting with fright; close behind it sped two gray wolves, the fact that the deer was their quarry apparently being forgotten in the fear of a common peril.
To escape by running around the fire was out of the question. It not only traveled straight ahead, but as it came it continually widened its scope, the wall of flame and smoke growing broader and broader with every moment that passed.
The three men ran as they never had run before. Behind them roared the racing fire, the noise striking terror to the heart of every living thing within hearing distance. Side by side ran men and animals, their ancient enmities forgotten, everyone aware of the fact that a foe more powerful than any of them was at their backs. Water was what they all sought, and unless they could reach it before the fire did they were lost.
Neither Joseph nor Robert knew of any water nearer than the stream they had left the evening before. It was out of the question to think of gaining that. Perhaps Deerfoot knew of some lake or pond on the prairie. At any rate he could not stop to say so now, and meanwhile the fire raged behind them, ever nearer and constantly increasing in fury.
CHAPTER VII
A NARROW ESCAPE
The heat from the fire now reached the fleeing men. All the animals had far outdistanced them in their flight and these three were left behind to continue the race. There was no doubt that the fire was gaining on them rapidly. The air about them was full of smoke which choked and at times nearly strangled the three fugitives. As far as either Joseph or Robert could see, there was no place of refuge ahead of them and both boys were now fully convinced that escape was well nigh impossible. They were determined to die fighting, however, and to keep going until the very last.
Joseph glanced behind him as he ran. As he caught a glimpse of the great wall of smoke and flame he could not help thinking, even in this moment of extreme peril, of the pictures he used to see in the fairy books. The prairie fire he likened to the great dragons that always guarded the ancient treasures. Flame and smoke always issued from their mouths and nostrils, and so tortured was the boy’s mind that he suddenly gained the impression that he was being pursued by one of these dragons. Could he escape the ravenous beast? That was the question.
Like a race horse, the fire galloped forward over the prairie. The air was now filled with sparks, while the roar of the seething conflagration grew ever louder in the ears of the fleeing men. Ahead of them, perhaps a quarter of a mile, appeared a row of bushes, and toward this spot Deerfoot seemed to be making his way. Just why he did this neither Robert nor Joseph knew, but they followed blindly the lead of their guide.