The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-01-24

was interrupted by seeing my horse plnng.
ing about and trying 10 break loose. bad
tied him lnlly three hundred feet from the
fire. l ran TO him and tried 10 unite the
stake rope. The heat was ecorching me,
and he Was rearing and plunging so that ]
could no! unite the rope. He might have
broken away and saved himself, but his
chances we're poor. had pocket knite
with me, which was something unusual,
for | seldom carry one, and I cut tho tope
and lot him go.
then ran toa clump OF willow trees,
end for the third time turned and looked
at the fire. I had read Croly'a description
Of the burning Of Rome, and how Nero
played on bis harp while tho pillows Of
fame were sweeping over the doomed City
OF the Seven uills-Thas WAS tho first
thing l thought Of when the surgipg whirl.
winds Of tire met my gaze. The
whole space between the two lakes
was blazing as ono mighty furnace. At
first tho mind failed to take In the magni.
tude OF the cortlagfstion. In tact, could
not Tell how high the flames were, nor can
1tell now. Their tops, ifindeed they were
not infinite upward, which seemsd proba.
bic at tho time, were lest in the black uni
verse Of smoke. From the ground upward,
come thirty or forty feet, was one white,
lieid tnaes OF solid fire, with no rift, or
cleft or crevice. Above that tho fi.mes
were more shattered, and Tapped and inter-
wove In and out among each other.
Above that was the smoke, which went
up as though from the crater Of S!romboIi.
It Was not III drifts aud clouds, like smoke
usually is, but arose Ike solid wall OF
blackness whose summit was lost in the
sky. Vision could no more penetrate this
battlemeut oil smoke than 1t could wal!
Of granite. The flames thnt entered 1t were
loBi-at least, as long rs they remained III
II. But they were curbleas, and could not
be held 10 bounds. They were ever and
anon bursting out along up thcsi1es Of the
smoke column, and when they did 81 they
looked more terrible than ever. 1t seemed
that the interior OF this black mountain
was 80 OVERLOOKING with rebeilious f.mrs
that some could only exis: by escaping
from the aides OF the prison OF darkness.
The dragons and ilends which. Tasse's
Imagination copjured up ior bis internal
regions inhabitants were forms Of beauty
compared with the shapes and sinilitudes
ss,umed by the fragments OF fro that dart.
ed from that mountain OF smoke, aud hiss.
ed and twined among one a1othor, like 30
many fighting snakes, High up, it looked
like a thousand feet, where one would think
no blszs OF material fire could ever reach,
the pent up flame would burst out and roll
up the side OF tho smoke.
The fire WAS OF short duration. It was
all over In lew minnses. It flushed up
like guu cotton, and buint nearly rs saon.
But, tho masa OF FIRE WAS tremendous
while it did last. Il is said that the burn.
ing OF Moscow heated window panes three
miles away, aud that, in Mexico, Humboldt
found red hot rock that was heated by a
fire that had not burnt for joriy-lye years.
l presume that those We're far greater tirts
thaa mine, in the tule swamp. But minu
was the greatest one ever saw.
l had ret the swamp Oh fire to drive ont
the quai!s aud rabbits. II is needless to
add that l did not get any. A boy, who
came up while the Ere wns burning, caught
a singed rabbit, aud l saw flock Oi quai!s |
filing; and found an owl, badly siug.d,
lying on the ground CONS distance from
the swamp. No wild hogs came out. Ii
there we're any in the swamp, they we're
too stubborn to come out. They had been |
80 much by dogs and hunters
that they were reluctant TO leave their
lene, and probably they pos!poacd getting
out until too late. I'm.