Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-09-22

I exposed to the full force Vi Ine
by this time blowing an unmistaKaDle
gale. -,
at was not Whalebone's first expert
ence of a bush fire. and the moment we
reached the open ground he gave one
short. uneasy sniff to windward and IN
stantly swerved off to the left. IelU
instinctively that he was probably the
best Judge of a course under the unus-
nal circumstances in which found my
self. and let him kave his head In
moment he had quickened his pace 10
the long stretching gallop Of the race
horse and | found that we were dash
ing across the open land, with the gale
whistling shrilly in my ears, but dow
| ing rather In our favor as we went.
AWav. at racing speed, across the PLAIN,
the smoke wreaths chasing us in wild,
fantastic curls. now gray, and now
brown. but growing darker and more
dense each moment as we swept Oh DE-
fore them toward place OF safety
Away, the soft, springy mat Of grass
under foot giving back no sound OF our
hoofs. the undulations of the plain
sweeping past us with q monotonous
rise and fall, which grew less and less
distinct as the smoke wreaths crept
more thickly along the ground. tried
| to make out where we were, but the
! thickening smoke confused my senses
! and made my eyes smart and Durn SO
| that was glad to close them ana trust
| to the horse alone. We must surely De
nearing the wooded range that ran east
and west across the run, the range thal
| I had crossed little more than an hour
/ or two ago on my way out. l opened
my eyes at the thought and stralueu
them in the effort to look around. Yes
there was a shadow on the LETT, when
must be the shadow of the priest. Ihen
I tried to look the other way. Inc
smoke was rolling down upon us In
/ great dense pillows, and even IN the
momentary glance l was able to give !
/ could see that they began to be tinged
with strange crimson glow.
1T was growing hotter, too, each mo-
ment: those crimson clouds came roll
| ing on; like the blast out OF some vast
/ furnace ii scorched and burned. Sud
! denly Whalebons swerved to the left
once more, and in another moment
with a bound he had cleared the water
| course and l knew we were mounting
the range. On we went between the
tall, straight stems of the gray eucalyp-
tus trees that fitted past us in an end
less and ghostlike procession-the
| dense clouds of smoke careering in BILL
| lows overhead; the dark wreaths curl
ing and twisting snakelike along the
ground; the dull crimson glow spread
ing a Wild unearthly light on every
side. At that moment a shrill scream
reached my cart was woman's
voice. l started, and instinctively l
pulled Whalebone's bride in the direc-
ton from which it came. The good
horse obeyed the rein, and in another
moment we had reached the spot.
There, standing helplcssly beside her
fallen horse, stood Miss Morrison, vain
ly trying to raise him from where he
had fallen across a log.
In moment we were at her side.
Where's Jacky?' l shouted, as leaped
off my horse-'his horse can carry
two? She looked bravely in my face,
though she was deadly pale, as she re-
plied:-'Gone! Saved himself; poor fell
low, 1t was his only chance The bruter
l exclaimed between my teeth. Come,
then, Miss Margaret, We've not a mo-
ment to spare As l spoke | mounted
again and held out my hand; she shTank
back No, no. she cried, It's only sac
rificing you, too Come, l say! She
grasped my Outstretched hand, and
somehow had in a moment swung her
up before me. II was time.
with a roar and a sometimes
hear it now in my dreams-the tempest
of fire was upon us. Darling from tree
to tree, shriveling vast myriads Of
leaves in its fiery grasp-rolling along
the ground and licking up the dry
leaves and flowers with its thousand
crimson tongues, it came rushing on.
clasped Miss Margaret more closely
with my arm-I bent forward to ward
off the showers of falling leaves-I let
loose the rein and trusted 10 the instinct
of the horse. That instinct saved us.
BY some strange knowledge of his own.
Whalebone saw the only path to safety
and took IT, AT long angle, as we
found out afterward, he must have
crossed the line of fire, and brought us
safely out of the death trap, a little
burned, a good deal frightened, and.
thank God, with a good deal to remem-
Der in common"
Eyes" I said after a moments pause.
Yes, but you haven't told me how the
bush fire affected your success in life
yet"
Mr.. Leslie smiled quiet smile, and
at the same moment one Of the French
windows opened, and a gray haired, but
still handsome woman stepped out up
on the veranda Maggie. my dear" he
said, with a laugh, can you tell Mr..
tombstone what the bush fire had to do
with my good ?-Pittstown
Leader.