Year: 1876

1IoSCS, anu tHo top OF the grass was
getting brown and shrunken. The
leaves we're growing dry and rustling,
so that the clear, deep blue of the sky
showed through their yellow and brown
foliage. And day by day the grass grew
dryer and the trees thinner. The bright
blue lakes and sloughs, with their fringe
OF tall reeds and grasses, were occupied
by the ducks that were focking togeth-
er before their migration. And in vari-
GUS direction the glow by night and
smoke by day told that the prairies were
burning. So one morning John yoked
up Buck and Dick to plow some fur
rows for fire-break round the home
stead. His house was within few
rods of little lake; so he commenced
his burrows at the lake on one side
of the house and run them to slough
that was near, and then to some break
ing that he had, and then down to the
lake again on the other side, so max
ing a line all round the house and stable
and stacks of hay that he had, First
two burrows, then skipping about a rod,
and then couple more; and he meant
to burn the grass between them HIM
self, and so make an impossible fire.
break around his house, and, indeed,
pretty much all he possessed was within
that circle of burrows. Itwas too late
to burn the day of the plowing; and the
next day there was no wind and the
grass wouldn't burn; and the next day
John had an errand to the nearest neigh
boris, three miles of, and, though there
was some wind and some smoke in the
air, yet there did not seem to be any fire
near; and he thought at any rate
tho burrows would probably turn the
flames, if they should come And he
would not be gone very long, SO he
went. His errand to his neighbours
took him longer than he expected, as is
apt to be the case; and when he started
back the wind was harder and the smoke
thicker than when he started. So he
looked somewhat anxiously toward
home, and kept his horse going at
good pace, for he thought that Mary
might be frightened, though he didn't
feel as though such thing could hap
pen as the burning of their snug little
home. But when he got within about a
mile of it, and came round q little hill,
where he could see the roof of the house,
he started with almost cry, for there
was the dense rolling smoke-cloud, that
half concealed the leaping flames be-
low it, rushing straight on toward his
home, and nearer to it than he was,
too.


He struck the horse once; but there
was no need of q second blow, for he
knew the prairie fire, too, and home had
always meant shelter and safety to him.
He would do his best to reach it now.
So the horse ran, and John steadied
himself with one hand on the dashboard
and watched. The fire ran in lines
points of fire running ahead for some
distance, with unburned spaces between.
John watched it. In the long grass be-
tween the little hills it cracked and
roared and leaped ahead with fearful
fury, while where the grass was thin or
more sheltered from the wind it came
much slower. Now it would run quick
ly up the side of some little knoll;
while going down the slope it would
almost stop, and sometimes go out,
and leave unburned places. Half a
mile from home, and line of fire.
reached the trail. He drove around it
and kept on. A little further and the trail
crossed cooley, where the grass was
high. The fire got there just ahead of
him; but the trail checked it an instant,
so he turned short for couple of rods
and ran across ahead of it. A quarter
of mile more and the fire was up to
the trail all along, and he had to aban-
don it. The fire, however, had only
crossed the trail in a few places yet,
and he was getting nearly home. Then
he ran through one line of FIRE, where
the grass was light, hoping that beyond
it he should find an open track home.
But q moment showed him that the
slough between him and the house had
caught, and that he was
cut off from going on in, that
way-the straight way. How should
he turnr To the right, and he must ran
line of Ere, which perhaps he could
do, to the ground that had been burned
over. But then he could not get to the
house till the fire had passed it, and
Mary there alone. He could not do
that. To the left. Could the horse beat
the flames and run across ahead cf them
before they reached the lake, and so cut
him off in that directionp He would try
it. He turned short again. The horse
was excited, but manageable. The
smoke and heat were terrible, but he
kept as near the line Of leaping flames
as possible, When he got oppo-
site the end of the line he could
Just see through the smoke
the trees on the lake-shore, three orr four
rods off. If the fire was running ahead


here in narrow line, he could cross


before it; if it VIZ coming with broad
sweep, he couldn't. He could not see