HEMMED IN BY A FOREST FIRE.
Which way were they to fly? The terrible roar of the burning forest
seemed to come from all directions, and the smoke seemed hardly
less dense on one side than on another. But there had been no fire
where they came from, and they must retrace their steps along the
blood-marked trail that they had followed, of course. Although the body
of the deer lay near the spot where it had ended, they were at first
too bewildered to discover it, and lost several precious minutes in
searching among the palmetto leaves for its crimson signs. At length
they found them, and started back on a run.
It was exhausting work trying to run through the thick scrub, over its
loglike roots, and among the rough rock masses strewn in the wildest
confusion between them, and their speed was quickly reduced to a walk.
Sumner went ahead, and, with arms uplifted to protect his face from the
sawlike edges of the stout leaf stems, forced a way through them, with
Worth close behind him.
They had not gone far when Sumner suddenly stopped and, with a
despairing gesture, pointed ahead. The flames were in front of them,
and could be distinctly seen licking the brown tree-trunks, and
stretching their writhing arms high aloft towards the green tops.
"We are going right into the fire!" the boy exclaimed, hoarsely. "The
deer must have seen it, and been curving away from it when we overtook
him!"
So they turned back, and rushed blindly, without trying to follow the
trail, in the opposite direction. Before they had gone half a mile
Worth's strength became exhausted, and he sank down on a palmetto root
gasping for breath.
"I can't go any farther, Sumner! Oh, I can't!" he cried, piteously.
"But you must! You can't stay here to be burned to death! We are almost
certain to find a slough with water in it, or a stream!" and grasping
his comrade by the arm, Sumner pulled him again to his feet.
As he did so, the hammers of Worth's gun became caught in something,
and the next instant both barrels were discharged with a startling
explosion.
"That's a good idea!" exclaimed Sumner. "Let's fire all our cartridges
as fast as we can. Perhaps they are out looking for us, and will hear
the shots."
So saying, he fired both barrels of his own gun into the air, and
quickly reloading, fired again. Worth followed suit; but just as
Sumner was ready to fire for the third time he was startled by a sharp
crackling sound close beside him. He turned quickly. There was a
bright blaze within ten feet of him. The first accidental discharge of
Worth's gun, as it lay pointed directly into a mass of dry grass and
dead palmetto leaves, had set this on fire. Worth instinctively sprang
towards it with the intention of trying to stamp it out, but, with a
joyful cry, Sumner restrained him.
"It's the very thing!" he shouted. "A back fire! Why didn't I think of
it before? We must set a line of it as quick as we can!"
Worth did not understand, and hesitated; but seeing Sumner, with a
bunch of lighted leaves in his hand, rush from one clump of palmetto to
another, touching his blazing torch to their dry, tinderlike stalks, he
realized that his companion knew what he was about, and began to follow
his example.
Within five minutes a wall of flame a hundred yards in length was
roaring and leaping in front of them, fanned into such fury by the high
wind that they were obliged to retreat from its blistering breath.
They could not retreat far, however, for during their delay the main
fire had gained fearfully upon them, and its awful roar seemed one of
rage that they should have attempted to escape from it. Mingled with
this was the crash of falling trees and the screams of wild animals
that now began to rush frantically past the boys. A herd of flying
deer nearly trampled them underfoot; and directly afterwards they were
confronted with the gleaming eyes of a panther. With an angry snarl he
too dashed forward. Great snakes writhed and hissed along the ground,
and Worth clutched Sumner's arm in terror.
Seizing his gun, the latter began shooting at the snakes; nor did he
stop until his last cartridge was expended.
It was horrible to stand there helplessly awaiting the result of
that life-and-death race between those mighty columns of flame; but
they knew not what else to do. Now they could no longer see in which
direction to fly. The swirling smoke-clouds were closing in on them
from all sides, and only by holding their faces close to the earth
could they catch occasional breaths of fresh air.
Sumner's plan was to remain where they were until the last moment, and
then rush out over the smouldering embers of the fire they had set.
The main body of this was now rapidly retreating from them. At the
same time a fringe of flame from it was working backward towards them.
Though they made feeble efforts to beat this out, their strength was
too nearly exhausted for them to make much headway against it. The heat
was now so intense that their skin was blistering, and their brains
seemed almost ready to burst.
Worth had flung away his gun, just after loading it, when he began to
set the back fires, and now the sound of a double report from that
direction showed that the flames had found it. The noise of these
reports was followed by a loud cry, and out of the smoke-clouds a
strange, wild figure came leaping. It was a human figure. As the boys
recognized it, they echoed its cry. Then by their frantic shouts they
guided it to where they were crouching and making ready for their
desperate rush into the hot ashes and still blazing remains of the back
fire.
The figure that sprang to their side, and, seizing Worth's arm, uttered
the single word "Come!" was that of Ul-we, the young Seminole, though
the boys, having never seen him, did not, of course, recognize him.
With thankful hearts and implicit faith they followed him as he dashed
back into the thickest of the smoke-clouds that still hung low over
the newly burnt space before them. They choked and gasped, and their
feet became blistered with the heat that penetrated through the soles
of their boots. Worth would have fallen but for the strong hand that
upheld him, and dragged him resistlessly forward. The ordeal of fire
lasted but a minute, when they emerged in a grassy glade at one end of
the burnt space, and ran to a clump of water-loving shrubs that marked
a slough beyond it.
The vanguard of the main fire raced close after them, flashing through
the brittle grass as though it were gunpowder; and as they dashed into
the bushes, and their feet sank into the mud and water of the slough,
its hot breath was mingled with theirs.
In the very centre of the thicket Ul-we threw himself down in water
that just covered his body, and held his head a little above its
surface. The boys followed his example, and experienced an instant
relief from the cool water. In this position they could breathe easily,
for the smoke-clouds seemed unable to touch the surface of the water,
but rolled two or three inches above it.
Here they lay for what seemed an eternity while the fire-fiends raged
and roared on all sides of them, and in the air above. The heat waves
scorched and withered the green thicket, the water of the little slough
grew warm and almost hot, the air that they breathed was stifling, and
for a time it almost seemed as though they had escaped a roasting only
to be boiled alive like lobsters.
After a while, that appeared to the poor boys a long, weary time,
the fiercest of the flames swept by, and their roar no longer filled
the surrounding space. There were rifts in the smoke-clouds, and
perceptible intervals of fresh air between them. Finally the boys could
sit up, and at length stand, but not until then were they certain that
the danger had passed.
Then Sumner grasped the young Indian's right hand in both of his, and
tears stood in the boy's eyes as he said: "I don't know as you can
understand me; I don't know who you are, and I don't care. I only know
that you have saved us from a horrible death, and that from this moment
I am your friend for life."
As for poor Worth, the tears fairly streamed down his smoke-begrimed,
blood-stained cheeks, as, in faltering words, he also tried to express
his gratitude.
[Illustration: "THE ORDEAL OF FIRE LASTED BUT A MINUTE."]
The Indian seemed to understand, for he smiled and said: "Me Ul-we.
Quor'm know um. You Summer. You Worf. Me heap glad find um. 'Fraid not.
Hunt um; hunt um long time, no find um. Bimeby hear gun, plenty. Hunt
um, no find um. Bimeby hear one gun, bang! bang! quick. Then come, find
um. _Hindleste._ If me no find um, fire catch um pretty quick, burn up,
go big sleep _Holewagus_! Ul-we feel bad, Quor'm feel bad, all body
feel bad. Now all body heap hap, dance, sing, eat heap, feel plenty
glad."
All of which may be translated thus: "I am very glad to have found you,
for I was afraid I shouldn't. I hunted and hunted a long time, but
couldn't find you. At last I heard guns fired many times, and hunted in
that direction, still without finding you. Finally I heard both barrels
of a gun fired at once, not far from where I was, and then I found you.
It is good. If I had not found you just when I did, the fire would have
caught you and burned you to death, which would have been terrible. I
should have felt very badly. So would Quorum and all your friends. Now
everybody will rejoice."
Ul-we had been ordered to watch the camp of the white men by the river
until they left it, but to remain unseen by them. He had noted the
departure of the hunting party, and had also been aware of the approach
of the forest fire while it was still at a great distance. When, some
hours later, the Lieutenant came back full of anxiety concerning the
boys, and immediately started off again to hunt for them, Ul-we also
started in another direction, with the happy result already described.
They remained in the slough two hours longer, before the surrounding
country was sufficiently cooled off for them to travel over it. Then
they set out under Ul-we's guidance, though where he would take them to
the boys had not the faintest idea.