Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-07-17

tiful lake near which my sister dwelt.
The lake, as have said, was beauti-
full thing to look upon; its shores were
bold and abrupt, in some places rocky,
and more like a precpice than the banks
of peaceful sheet of water; on the side
opposite the town, from which l desired
to make my sketch, rank dense growth
of virgin forest extended to the very
verge of the lake, forming sharp con-
trast to the scantily-woOded flat prairie,
that stretched far away behind it, and, in
fact, on every side leaving the lake and
the narrow belt of forest encircling it like
an oasis in the desert.
| 1t was long ride to the point had in
view, but finally l arrived there, and,
with gentle sigh of satisfaction, l tied
Fleet to a tree, and settled myself to the
pleasant task of transferring to paper, as
best / might some faint likeness of the
beautiful scenery.
| was an artist not only by nature but
by profession, and had come from my
PARKWAY home not only to visit my Sis
ter and her husband, but to carry back
with me materials for an ambitious land
scape painting that was to appear on the
walls of the Academy of Fine Arts.
In fit of laziness, induced by the OPP
pressive heat. l had put off my work un-
til now, and found myself nearing the
end of my visit without having taken
one step toward the chief object of my
journey.
Now, therefore, finding myself on the
spot had selected for my grand sketch,
l fell to work in all eagerness, absorbed
utterly as was my wont, so that | soon
became obllvious of everything save my
task.
l forgot poor, patient Fleet, waiting for
his dinner; forgot my own lunch, for
got that the hours were creeping on-un-
til at last | returned to earth sufficiently
to rail at the heavy fog, which had lat
terly been settling down over the lake,
obscuring my view.
Next, | became alive to the fact that
Fleet, my favorite horse and my pet, was
snorting loudly and paving the ground in
a way that plainly indicated something
amiss with him.
"Well, it is time to start for home,"
thought l, as arose and stretched my
cramped limbs "The fog is shutting out
the view. Whew! some one is burning
brushwood hereabouts; my nose shifts it,
my eyes weep at it,
turned my face away from the lake,
and, good heaven! fog, brushwood-
neither of these harmless things was it
that had gradually darkened the atmos-
phere, and was causing my eyes and nose
to smart. No wonder that poor Fleet
snorted, and paved the ground, wild
with impatience and fear.
The forest was on fre-on fire in the
most alarming sense of the word.
It was not slow, languishing fire,
creeping along the ground at moderate
rate, but fierce roaring army of fiery
demons, leaping and dancing, and rush
ing onward with almost lightning speed.
l shall never forget the feeling of utter
horror and despair that overwhelmed me,
as the imminent danger of my position
was thus suddenly revealed to me. | &C
tually believe the hairs on my head rose
up and stood on end; certainly they felt
as if they did, in the first shock of sur
prise.
But that was over in moment, and
collecting my scattered senses 1 took in
the whole situation at one rapid glance.
In front of me, bold, precipitous
J bank, totally impossible on account of
the dense underground, even if it had
: not been so steep; the glistening waters
Of the lake far below to the right, to the
left, behind me, one unbroken semi circle
of fiame-ferce, cracking, roaring-leap-
ing over the dry, parched underbrush,
with speed that even my feet-footed
: Arabian could not hope to equal. And
: if he could, what would it matter, since
the wild, fierce flames imprisoned me
, on three sides, and precipice on the
! fourth?
With sinking heart, strained my
: eyes to discover some lOOphole of escape,
some break in the advancing wall of
, fire; and an ejaculation Of thanksgiving
burst from my parched lips, as, far away
ON the left, saw little, dark spot in
) the line of fame, and remembered that
just there a beautiful spring dubbed up
in the middle of the forest, making a
pool small and shallow, yet all-sufficient
to preserve my life, could / reach it be-
fore the army of fiery demons should
flank it, and stretch an impossible bar
rier between me and this, my only hope
Of safety.
In one second was on my horses back,
and fleeing at a break-neck pace toward
that blessed spot of refuge-an oasiss,
verify, in that desert of fire. 1t was fully
half a mile distant, and though my fleet
footed animal, seemingly imbued with a
full knowledge OF all that depended on
his speed flew over the ground as even
he had never done before, soon saw that
the race was desperate one, well-nigh
hopeless.
The hungry cutlery and roar of the
flames, as they leaped, and danced, and
waltzed among the dry brush and trees
yet ever dashed forward on their irresisi-
BILE course-maddened my poor horse
with fear, and drowned my voice as l
strove to soothe him.
On and on he rushed, his eyes almost
starting from their sockets, the foam fly
ing from his mouth, and f1ecking his
sides with great white patches; seldom
horse spurned the earth as did my poor,
frightened Fleet, during that awful race
with the demons of fire.
But it was all in vain!
Before we could reach that one little
rift in the great, red wall, it was closed
up; and then the unbroken line of fire
seemed to dash onward with even greater
speed than before.
There was only one thing left for me to
do-to gain few moments respite, in
which to make my peace, as best 1 mis- ht,
with my God; and thanked Him then
that His hand had always been my guide
and support, so | had not an overpower-
full horror of death that Otherwise rnl1st