52 Australian Life 



week after week brings no rain, and the hot north 

 wind is charged with a smell of burning greenery. 

 Then, one evening, when the sun goes down a 

 fiery crimson ball, a red glare warns him of the 

 approaching danger. All the live stock, kept 

 near the house as a precaution against such an 

 emergency, is quickly driven into the bare yard, 

 and then the settler and his family cut branches 

 to beat the fire out. It comes down on them with 

 incredible rapidity, first a cloud of choking smoke 

 shot with sparks, and in a moment the dry grass 

 beneath their feet is crackling into flame. They 

 beat the fire out with their green branches, 

 scarcely glancing at the pranks it is playing all 

 around them. The flames run up the loose hang- 

 ing bark of a big gum tree, and it bursts into a 

 sheet of flame, threatening the little homestead 

 with burning branches falling from above. It 

 reaches the dry stubble and sweeps across it with 

 a glad roar. Three weeks ago, the crop would 

 have met with the same fate, but the settler and 

 his family have no time to notice these things. 

 They beat the flames down, walking among them 

 with singeing clothes and blistering hands. They 

 are fighting for their home, and the terrified ani- 

 mals that huddle around it in helpless terror. 

 Some neighbours, fortunate enough to be out of 

 the zone of fire, come riding at top speed down 

 the tracks to their assistance. Just in time, too, 

 for the dry fencing is all ablaze, and the fire 

 ring is closing in. Buckets of water are hastily 



