6S AN ANGLER'S REMINISCENCES. 



which the sun gleamed just now with a pallid, ominous light, as if eclipsed. The 

 presages, presumably, were akin to those which hung over Pompeii before the 

 ashes fell. Suddenly, without other premonition, the wind rose perceptibly, and 

 the tops of the pine forest abreast of the track began to sway with a whirr which 

 whispered of evil. It was the first stiff breeze that had blown for weeks, and it 

 came with a puff, hot as a simoon. Almost instantly the volume of smoke which 

 had so long hung like a pall in the west disappeared, and an intense crimson 

 flush suffused the whole quarter, visible high above the tallest trees ; and then in 

 a jiff}' the breeze freshened to a gale, and the gale developed into a hurricane, and 

 ihe whole air at once seemed serried with darts and arrows of flame. Trees 

 bowed and bent half double, and balls of fire rolled off their fronds and dropped 

 hissing hot into the lake. The whole firmament was ablaze and resonant with 

 uproar. 



Such an instantaneous change from quiescent mood to wild resorts and devasta- 

 tion was never experienced since the fateful days of Sodom. Every cheek 

 blanched, and a wail arose from a quintette of white lips : 



"Great heavens ! we are lost !" 



The anglers did not then know it, but the terrible blast which they were 

 experiencing was but the outer verge of the great cyclone which was at that 

 moment wiping out the town of Hinckley, in Minnesota, seventy miles due west. 

 Fortunately it continued but a few minutes and then lulled. The respite was 

 grateful, for the heat was insupportable, even under the blessed wind-break which 

 sheltered them. In the brief interval, however, a startling transformation was 

 wrought in the landscape, and singular results followed. It was discovered that 

 the forest was by this time ablaze on both sides of the lake, leaving the devoted 

 party literally hemmed in between the two fires. At first thought, the situation 

 seemed to augur sure death by cremation, but old Bert, the guide, who was with 

 ;hem, demonstrated quite to their comfort of mind that the main fire which had 

 been burning for weeks past just west of the lake had divided, as it is often known 

 to do in prairie and woodland conflagrations, and left a wedge-like area of 

 unburned forest, which, though not exempt from ultimate destruction, would for 

 the present burn but slowly on the lateral edges ; so that the party might eventually 

 find safety by crossing the lake after the fire had swept past, provided they could 

 only keep from being baked or roasted in the interim. Their situation was very 

 much like that of a Thanksgiving turkey in an old-fashioned tin oven. 



After a brief lull the tempest rose again as violently as before, and thereafter, 

 for two agonizing hours, there followed intermittent gusts and lulls. Great 

 surges of flame would fill the air for a time, swooping down on the lake with the 

 rush of demons, while pennants of fire streamed out from the tops of the pines 

 and masses of blazing matter hurtled like missiles over a battle field. Then all 

 would be still again, involving awful suspense, with direful explosions in the air, 

 pyrotechnics and rings of fire. Meanwhile large numbers of deer were seen to 

 emerge from the forest and plunge into the lake, single and two or three together, 

 swallowing the water in great gulps. Some bears, too, came in. Multitudes of 

 birds fluttered over its surface, and collections of small animals and myriads of 

 insects gathered on the cleared space between the forest and the shore. Occa- 

 sionally an eagle, with languid beat of wings, would come soaring before the 

 advancing flames, and once a poor, unfortunate which was just able to reach the 

 top of a tall, unscathed rampike was seen to cling to it for an instant and then 

 topple over, exhausted, into the abyss below. Least expected of all was the egress 



