Destruction and Deterioration 107 



exhausted. The wind has risen, fanning the flames 

 on all sides, till they leap higher and higher, reach- 

 ing the lower branches of the standing timber, en- 

 veloping the mighty boles of cork pine in a sheet 

 of flame, seizing the tall poles of young trees and 

 converting them into blazing beacons that herald 

 the approach of destruction. Fiercer and fiercer 

 blows the wind, generated by the fire itself as it 

 sends currents of heated air rushing upward into 

 infinity. Louder and louder the cracking of the 

 branches as the flames seize one after the other, 

 leaping from crown to crown, rising high above the 

 tree tops in whirling wreaths of fire, and belching 

 forth clouds of smoke hundreds of feet still higher. 

 As the heated air rises more and more, rushing 

 along with a sound like that of a thousand foaming 

 mountain torrents, burning brands are carried 

 along, whirling on across the firmament like evil 

 spirits of destruction, bearing the fire miles away 

 from its origin, then falling among the dry brush- 

 heaps of windfall or slashing, and starting another 

 fire to burn as fiercely as the first. 



In the village there is a suppressed excitement. 

 Little is said by anybody. Every man and woman 

 is busy preparing for the worst. The sawmill has 

 shut down, and the hands are busy refilling the 

 water barrels on the roof ; the merchants put bar- 

 rels of water in front of their stores, and get pails 

 handy. In the dwelling-houses similar preparations 

 are made. Women pack their clothes and valua- 

 bles into trunks and boxes. The captain and 



