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incidentally almost choked, I ignored the falling 

 bodies and kept going. 



Several times I rushed blindly against limb- 

 points and was rudely thrust aside; and finally 

 I came near walking off into space from the edge 

 of a crag. After this I sought temporary refuge to 

 the leeward of a boulder, with the hope that the 

 weakened trees would speedily fall and end the 

 danger from that source. The ash flew thicker 

 than ever did gale-blown desert dust; it was im- 

 possible to see and so nearly impossible to breathe 

 that I was quickly driven forth. I have been in 

 many dangers, but this is the only instance in 

 which I was ever irritated by Nature's blind 

 forces. At last I made my escape from them. 



From clear though wind-swept heights I long 

 watched the burned area surrender its slowly 

 accumulated, rich store of plant-food to the in- 

 satiable and all-sweeping wind. By morning, 

 when the wind abated, the garnered fertility 

 and phosphates of generations were gone, and 

 the sun cast the shadows of millions of leafless 

 trees upon rock bones and barren earth. And 

 the waters were still to take their toll. 



