dog's demeanour that set Allan a-thinking.Could the animal really be right and he wrong? He examined the belt ofred light more carefully now. Was that the east? Was that indeed thecrimson clad vanguard that heralds the coming day? Nay, it could notbe, the red was a more lurid red, the light was a fitful light, and ashe gazed he could distinctly make out a confused rolling of great cloudsover it. Then all at once the truth flashed across his mind.
_The forest was on fire_!
How this happened the reader may at once be told: sparks from McBain'scamp fire had towards morning ignited the withered needles that hadfallen from the pine-trees, the brushwood had caught, and next theunderwood of the spruce-trees, and at the very moment that Allan wasgazing skywards his friends were rushing headlong through the woods,pursued by the devouring element.
Would they ever meet Allan again?
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
NARROW ESCAPE--A TERRIBLE SCENE--ALLAN AND OSCAR--A GLOOMY EVENING--REUNION--SETH'S ADVENTURE--A WELCOME BACK.
For a minute or more escape from the terrible fire seemed to our heroesan utter impossibility. The smoke that curled and swirled around themwas blinding, the roar of the flames was deafening. No wonder theyhesitated what to do or which way to flee. Their camp fire had been litnot far from the river's brink, but the stream at this part ran deep,and dark, and sullen; to plunge into it was only to court death in adifferent form. But all at once the wind seemed to increase to almost agale; it blew in their faces cold and fierce, the smoke lifted off, andsuddenly their senses and presence of mind were restored; and whilebehind them the flames mounted higher and higher, and seemed to ragemore fiercely every moment, they dashed off and away against that wind.It was terribly strong now; they felt as if they were breasting thewaves against the tide, but it was their only chance. Farther down thestream they would doubtless find a ford, and once across the river theywere safe.
It was indeed a race for life, and for fully half-an-hour it wasdoubtful if they would win it. The withered heath and grass, and thestunted shrubs which grew next to the banks of the stream, caught fireeven against the wind, and this communicated with the forest, so thatthe flames seemed to chase them, and to keep alongside of them, at oneand the same time. But at last they reach a spot where the river widensout, and they know by the ripple on it that it cannot be deep, so inthey plunge and begin to ford, and they have not gone ten yards ere thefire has taken possession of the bank they left. There can be no goingback now, but the current is strong, and deeper in some places thantheir waists, yet they stem it manfully, holding their rifles high, andsupporting each other whenever a slip is made. They reach the oppositebank at last, and Seth is the first to clamber out and to help theothers up. They climb to the top of the ravine, ere ever they pause togaze behind them.
The scene they looked upon was awful in its sublimity.
The flames were doing their work with fearful speed. The fire hadrolled backwards and appeared embracing all the wooded country. Thespruce thickets seemed to suffer the worst; from them the flames rosethe highest, shooting hundreds of feet into the air in great gleamingtongues of fire, that fed upon and licked up the very clouds of smokethemselves. The air, for miles to leeward, was filled with sparks asdense as snowflakes. But strangest sight of all was to see the tallalpine pines. Other trees tottered and crashed and fell as the fierceheat attacked them; not so they, they seemed to defy the flames, and asthe fire rolled back seeking for more pliant material on which to ventits fury, and the wind blew round their stems, their bark caught fireand they stood forth against the blackness like trees of molten gold.
There were here and there in the forest bold rocky bluffs, risinghundreds of feet above the trees. These were lighted up as the fireswept past them, as with the brightness of the noontide sun, and ontheir summits our heroes could distinctly perceive flocks of tallantlered deer, and near them frightened cowering wolves and even bears;all alike had taken refuge on these heights from the fury of the flamesthat held sway beneath them.
For a short time only the scene held the little party spellbound. Ralphwas the first to speak.
"Alas! poor Oscar!" he said in a mournful tone, "he must have perishedin the flames."
It was only natural they should come to this conclusion, but at thatmoment Oscar and Allan too were safe enough, and journeying onwards inhopes of finding them.
Allan could now understand perfectly and clearly every phase of thesituation. His friends if alive were some miles, many miles in allprobability, up-stream, the dog had escaped from their camp fire, thefire had originated at their camp, and to escape destruction they musthave crossed the stream. Allan had never seen a forest on fire before,but he had seen the heather, and he knew something about the dangerousrapidity with which flames can spread along in the open. As soon,therefore, as there was a glimmering of daylight, he stripped at theriver's brink, tied his clothes into a bundle with his plaid, and swamto the other side, the dog following as if he understood the moveentirely and quite approved of it.
It was well he had done so, for another hour's journey along thatwinding river's banks brought him face to face with the raging fire.But wind as it might, Allan determined not to lose sight of it again; hemade all speed nevertheless. He knew his friends must wait now untilthe charred and blackened ground cooled down before they re-crossed theriver and recommenced the search.
Yet, reader, we who know that Allan is safe cannot fully sympathise withhis friends in the gloom and anxiety that settled down on their hearts.When the excitement caused by the fire and their narrow escape fromdestruction wore off, it left behind it an utter hopelessness anddespair, which it is difficult to describe. When they had lain down tosleep on the previous evening, they were full of confidence that theywould soon come up with Allan. Seth had pronounced the trail a freshone, and assured them he would find the lost boy before another sunset.Rory was full of fun, even pronouncing Allan a "rogue of a runaway," andsaying that "sure the search for him was only a wild-goose chase afterall said and done, and Allan the goose."
But now where was that confidence? Where was hope? Dead. Dead, justas they had not a single doubt Allan and his poor dog were at thatmoment. And oh! to think that it was their own carelessness that hadcaused that dreadful fire, which they felt sure must have cost Allan hisprecious life. They would, however, so they determined, resume thesearch; but what an aimless one it would be now, with track and trailgone for ever!
Seth lit a fire; he even cooked food, but no one cared to speak, muchless to eat! and so the day wore gloomily away. The wind, which hadgone down at noon, began to rise again and moan mournfully among theswaying branches, and a few drops of rain fell. There would be neithermoon nor stars to-night. The sky was overcast with grey and leadencumulus drifting before the restless wind, and night was coming on agood hour before its time.
They crept closer together. They gathered more closely to the log fire.
"Boys," said McBain, and he spoke with some difficulty, as if his heartwere very full indeed--"boys, the shieling [Highland cot] where I livedwhen a child on the braes of Arrandoon was a very humble one indeed; myfather was a poor man, but a brave and pious one; not that I mean toboast of that, but there wasn't a morning passed without a prayer beingsaid, and a song being sung in praise of Him we children were all taughtto fear, and reverence, and trust. He taught us to say those belovedwords, `Thy will be done.' Oh! boys, it is easy to breathe that prayerwhen everything is going well with us, but in gloom and trouble like thepresent, it is true courage and true worship if we can speak the wordsnot with lips but with hearts."
After a pause,--
"I think," McBain continued, "if anything has happened to poor Allan, itwill be our duty to get back as speedily as may be to Scotland, andforego our voyage farther north."
Now, at that very moment Allan and his dog were within sight of the campfire; he was holding Oscar by the collar, and meditating what would bethe best and least startling way to make known his presence.
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Should he fire his rifle in the air? That would be better than suddenlyappearing like a ghost among them.
But Oscar settled the difficulty in a way of his own. He bounded awayfrom his master's grasp with a joyful bark, and next moment wascareering like a mad thing round and round the group at the fire.
This way of breaking the intelligence of Allan's safety was very abrupt,but it was very satisfactory.
When the surprised greetings with which Allan was hailed had in somemeasure subsided--when he had explained the part that Oscar had played,and told them that but for the great fire he never would have believedthat he had been going eastwards instead of west--then McBain said, inhis old quiet manner,--
"You see, boys, there is a Providence in all things, and, on the whole,I'm not sorry that this should have happened."
But twenty years at the very least seemed to have fallen off the load ofthe