The herald., 1897-01-03

to the rIght ,~'ce, ~fisSfas ..lss. l,e-S -Ssiiav
billows of flame were not far in the rear.
A lurid glare now lit up the Whole
southern horizon, and in the smoke or
the prairie at our feet we could see the
fleet bounding antelope pass us, who
leaves but q shadow as he flies. A Few
sreaking coyotes clustered about the
base of the butte. too frightened to pro-
ceed further and too cowardly to come
nearer to us.
PANIC ON THE PLAIN.
The short buffalo grass, interspersed
with tufts of bunch grass and sage
brush offered sufficient material for a
blaze of real danger, but it was in the
valleys and the meadows that the fire
king ruled, and here, soon, we were to
see him at his best. The wind blew hard
er and the smoke became denser. and
just at night drew on small band of
Sioux Indians came dashing up out of
the bottom lands and made straight for
our place of refuge. They were excited
and talked rapidly, and from one of the
half-breeds who could speak English we
learned that the whole valley below for
miles was on fire, and that the flames
were coming directly toward us. The
Indians were a hunting party after
deer, and would have escaped sooner
from the valley were it not that the
high grass is filled with wild pea vines
and other tripping roots. which rendered
it necessary for them to follow the zig
gag paths made by buffaloes in going
down to the river for water
AS it was, they got out just In time,
for now the roar of a distant cataract
seemed advancing up the river bottom,
and with darkness the whole sky was as
| light as day.
When the smoke arose, as 1t occasion
| ally did. we could see from our lofty
station a solid wall of flame five miles
| wide and stretching from bluff to blulf,
which surged and rose and fell and
| leaped and plunged, and cracked ana
roared until the earth below us seemed
| to be a furnace of hell broken through
| from the internal regions. Great
| God." l thought 'how sublime to gaze
| into that valley, where the elements of
nature are so strangely convulsed'
| Ask not the poet or painter who sings
, and pictures burning Moscow and Chi
| cago to tell you what this is, for they
| cannot; but ask the naked savage, and
| he will say it is the spirit of fire, who, in
| anger, has drawn his bow of flame across
| the path of the red man.
A SETTLING FURNACE
We beheld beneath us an immense
| cloud of black smoke that seemed 20
! roll majestically over bed Of liquid fire,
i and above this mighty desolatOn, as IL
surged along, the whitened smoke add
| ing terror to the scene, was streaming
| and rising up in magnificent cliffs IL
! heaven. We stood secure, but frighten-
ed. We listened to the mighty wind
| which hurled this monster DER the land,
we heard the roaring thunder and saw
| it's thousand lghtnings flash; and ther
| behind. after it had passed we saw the
| black and smoking desoation left in
| the track of this storm of fire. 1t was a
strange, weird, deathly scene, and onf
that l never expect to witness on this
| earth again.
Meanwhile the blaze had been ap
preaching us on the prairie side, but II
| was as nothing compared to that val
| ley of death which now was blackenet
ruin. In places it crept along with &
feeble flame, but where there was foot
to feed upon it leaped into new energ,
and the burning grass waited ahead OF
the wind kindled up in moment {
thousand new fires. At last the billow'
of flame swept on and passed into tn,
night. AS this vast panorama retreat
ed and left us the scene became indies
cribably beautiful for there was now
no smoke to mar the view.
The fringe of red creeping over th
sides and crests of the bluffs and ele
waited lands appeared to be sparkling
1 and brilliant chains of liquid fire hangin,
suspended in graceful festoons from TIL
skies. Ali sorts of fantastic shapes wer
created-curves. ovals and loops In sue