“No one has come down from that far,” said Ruth. “We have watched the people on the road all day. But probably they would not leave the lake. And if they did they would go north 157 by the river. But the road certainly won’t be open long. The fire is spreading north as it comes down.”
“I must hurry, then,” said the Bishop, gripping his reins.
“Oh, but you cannot, you must not!” exclaimed Ruth. “You will be trapped. You can never go through. We are the last to leave, except a few men with fast horses who know the country every step. You cannot go through on the road, and if you leave it you will be lost.”
“Well, I can always come back,” said the Bishop lightly, as he set his horse up the hill.
“But you cannot. Won’t you listen, please, Bishop,” Ruth pleaded after him. “The fire may cross behind you, and you’ll be trapped on the road!”
But the Bishop was already riding swiftly up the hill. Whether he heard or not, he did not answer or look back.
Ruth sat in her saddle looking up the road after him. She did not know whether or not he realised his danger. Probably he did, for he was a quick man to weigh things. Even the knowledge of his danger would not drive him back. She knew that.
She knew the business upon which he went. No doubt it was one in which he was ready to risk his life. He had said that they would all be driven in upon Little Tupper. In that he 158 meant hunters and hunted alike. For there were the hunters and the hunted. The men of the hills would be up there behind the wall of fire or working along down beside it. But while they fought the fire they would be hunting the brush and the smoke for the traces of other men. Those other men would maybe be trapped by the swift running of the fire. All might be driven to seek safety together. The hunted men would flee from the fire to a death just as certain but which they would prefer to face.
The Bishop was riding to save the lives of those men. Also he was riding to keep the men of the hills from murder. Jeffrey would be among them. Only yesterday she had spoken that word to him.
But he can do neither, she thought. He will be caught on the road, and before he will give in and turn back he will be trapped.