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of the forest a great bank of black smoke curled 

 forward and then appeared to fall into the grassy 

 open. I had just a glimpse of a few fleeing ani- 

 mals, then all became hot, fiery, and dark. Red 

 flames darted through swirling black smoke. 

 It was stifling. Leaping into a beaver pond, I 

 lowered my own sizzling temperature and that 

 of my smoking clothes. The air was too hot and 

 black for breathing; so I fled, floundering 

 through the water, down Grand River. 



A quarter of a mile took me beyond danger- 

 line and gave me fresh air. Here the smoke 

 ceased to settle to the earth, but extended in 

 a light upcurling stratum a few yards above 

 it. Through this smoke the sunlight came so 

 changed that everything around was magically 

 covered with a canvas of sepia or rich golden 

 brown. I touched the burned spots on hands 

 and face with real, though raw, balsam and then 

 plunged into the burned-over district to explore 

 the extensive ruins of the fire. 



A prairie fire commonly consumes everything 

 to the earth-line and leaves behind it only a 

 black field. Rarely does a forest fire make so 



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