FOREST LIFE PERIL. 37 



snanty for a minute, came back hastily with news that 

 rhe fire was a bad one, and within a mile of the hut. 

 They instantly looked out, and as far as they could see, 

 there was nothing but fire, waving high above the forest, 

 and whose roar, like that of a gigantic furnace, was 

 broken in upon, from time to time, by the crash of fall- 



ing trees. 



Not a moment was to be lost. Without staying to save 

 an article, they ran to a small stream a little way off. 

 Some of them thought this would be a sufficient check to 

 the flames, and so contented themselves with crossing it, 

 and going a short distance do.wn its opposite bank, to a 

 spot which they had formerly cleared. The lumberer, 

 however, felt sure, that such a fire as that now raging 

 behind them, would soon leap the comparatively narrow 

 thread of water, and, as safety was on neither bank, he 

 adopted the bold plan of taking refuge in the stream 

 itself. Wading into it, therefore, shoulder high, he took 

 up his post underneath a hanging bank, and awaited his 

 fate. 



The flames advanced, consuming all before them, and 

 filling the sky with a lurid glare. Their hot breath was 

 almost stifling to the poor trembling wretch in the river. 

 Another minute, and the trees overhead were a-light, 

 and he, forced for safety, to plunge his head under the 

 water, holding it there as long as he could for suffoca- 

 tion, and then taking breath for a moment. When he was 

 able once more to stand erect, the flame was still raging 

 onward before him. Behind, where it had passed, black- 

 ened boles were still blazing ; mere stumps, with all their 

 branches burnt off, and soon to die out for want of fresh 



