262 



THE ADIRONDACK. 



bustible matter, they raged with a strength and fury 

 to which all their former madness seemed placidity. 

 Have you ever in a still summer day heard the roar of 

 a coming hurricane ? if so, you have a faint conception 

 of the terrific rushing sound of the fire as it wrapped 

 those mountains. It was near midnight, and that 

 rocky ridge became in the gloom a vast elevation of 

 fire — laced with lines of fire of brighter hue, and 

 shooting up jets of flame against the murky sky, as if 

 resolved to assail the heavens also. As I stood gazing 

 on this wild spectacle, and listening to its wilder up- 

 roar, suddenly a shrill and distant scream cleaved the 

 flames, and was borne with startling clearness through 

 the air. Some wild animal, probably a panther, had 

 been roused from his sleep by the heat, but awoke 

 only to find himself hemmed in on every side by a 

 burning wall. Bounding madly from side to side, he 

 ha,d at last sprang into the fire, and that last cry was 

 his death shriek. 



This morning, a black and smouldering mass alone 

 remains of last night's wild work. Trees half burnt 

 in two, others broken off at the middle, and all 

 smoking amidst the devastation, present a most for- 

 lorn aspect in the bright morning air. 



