"It will be night before we get to the Fort," I heard the former say;
"and who knows what may have happened there!"
"But your men will make a fight for it," said Barker.
"My principal fellow, Grey, will fight to the death," said Mr Raydon;
"but there are not enough to hold the place. It is ruin and
destruction. I ought not to have come."
"Hush!" I said, excitedly. "What's that?"
Mr Raydon stopped short, and held up his hand, when a low, dull,
roaring sound as of a flood of water rushing up the valley was heard
increasing rapidly.
"Great heavens!" cried Mr Raydon, excitedly; "they have fired the
forest down below."
And as he spoke there was a faint hot puff of air borne toward us, and
with it the unmistakable odour of burning wood.
A thrill of excitement ran through the men at the above words, and they
looked at one another. The next moment they would have rushed back up
the valley, but Mr Raydon cried sharply--
"No, no, my lads; the fire cannot be right across the valley; let's go
on and try and pass it."
They seemed to be ready to obey the first who gave them orders, and Mr
Raydon led on again, but in less then ten minutes, during which the hot
puffs of air and the roar had increased rapidly, we were face to face
with the fact that the fire was coming up like some terrible tide,
evidently stretching right across from side to side, and already above
our heads there were clouds of pungent smoke; and the crackle, roar, and
hiss of the burning wood was rapidly growing louder.
"Halt!" roared Mr Raydon. "It is death to go on. Back at once."
"But the sides," cried Barker; "can't we all climb up here?"
"The fire would be on us before we were half-way up, even if we could
climb, man," said Mr Raydon, "which I doubt. Back at once!"
"Yes; quick! quick!" shouted one of the men. "Look, look!"
It did not need his shouts, for we could see the flames rushing up the
higher trees, which seemed to flash with light, as if they had been
strewn with powder; the heat was growing unbearable, and already I felt
faint and giddy.
It was quite time we were in full retreat, for there above our heads was
a pall of black smoke, dotted with flakes of flame, and a horrible panic
now smote the men as they hurried on.
"Keep close to me, Gordon," said Mr Raydon, glancing back. "Why, it is
coming on like a hurricane of fire."
It was too true, for the hot wind rushed up between the towering walls
of the valley as if through a funnel, and before many minutes had passed
we knew that the forest was on fire where we so lately stood, and that
it was rapidly growing into a race between man's endurance and the wild
rush of the flames.
I looked back twice, to feel the hot glow of the fire on my face, and to
see the lurid glare coming on with the black smoke-clouds wreathing up
at terrific speed. Then as we tramped on with the roar behind us as of
some vast furnace, there came explosions like the firing of guns; the
crashes of small arms; and from time to time the fall of some tree
sounded like thunder.
The men needed no spurring to get on out of the dense labyrinth of
trees, through which we toiled on hot to suffocation, breathless, and in
mortal dread of being overtaken by the fearful enemy roaring in our
rear. For, so rapid was the advance of the fire, that for a certainty a
ten minutes' halt would have been enough to have brought the line of
fire up to us.
"Don't stop to look back," cried Mr Raydon. "Press on, men; press on.
Keep together."
I thought of the consequences of one of our party losing his way ever so
little, and the men knew it only too well as they kept together in a
little crowd which was constantly being broken up and separated by the
trees round which they threaded their way.
"Is there much more of this?" said Barker, suddenly appearing close to
us.
"Yes," replied Mr Raydon; "miles."
"Shall we do it?" he panted.
"With God's help," was Raydon's quiet reply; and I saw Barker set his
teeth hard, and throw his gun further over his shoulder as he bent down
to his task.
The narrow gate of the valley at last; and as we filed through the
opening I wondered whether it would tend to check the advance of the
fire, and began to wonder whether the trees were much thinner on the
higher side. But I felt that they were not, and that it would be long
enough before we struggled on to a place where we could be in safety;
while what seemed directly after, there was a deafening roar which I
knew to be that of the flames closed up by the narrow way, and leaping
after us now, as if in dread that we should escape.
"Man down!" shouted a voice; and in the horrible selfishness of their
fear the rest were passing on, but at a word from Mr Raydon four of his
men seized the poor exhausted fellow, each taking an arm or leg, and
bearing him on, while a few drops were trickled from a flask between his
lips.
"Man down!" was shouted again; and this time the retreating party seized
the poor fellow, following the example of our men, and bore him on,
while he was submitted to the same treatment.
Ten minutes after the poor fellows were on their feet again, struggling
on with the support of the arms of two of their fellows.
A dozen times over I felt that all was over, and that we might as well
accept our fate. For we could hardly breathe, and now the sparks and
flakes of fire and burning twigs came showering down upon us, as if sent
forward by the main body of the flame to check us till the advance came
on.
The latter part of that retreat before our merciless enemy became to me
at last like a dream, during which I have some recollection of
staggering along with my arm in Mr Raydon's, and the people about us
tottering and blundering along as if drunk with horror and exhaustion.
Every now and then men went down, but they struggled up again, and
staggered on, a crew of wild, bloodshot-eyed creatures, whose lips were
parched, and white with foam; and then something cool was being splashed
on my face.
"Coming round, sir?" said a familiar voice.
"Yes; he'll be better soon. A terrible experience, Mr Barker."
"Terrible isn't the word for it, sir. I gave up a dozen times or so,
and thought the end had come. Why, it was almost like a horse
galloping. I never saw anything like it."
"Nor wish to see anything like it again," said Mr Raydon.
By this time I was looking round, to find that we were seated by the
stream, where the water came bubbling and splashing down, while far
below us the smoke and flame went up whirling into the sky.
"Better, my lad?" said Mr Raydon.
"Yes, only giddy," I said; and after drinking heartily and washing my
face in the fresh, cool water, I was ready to continue our journey.