e local'll be along in about half an hour," said the little girl,
speaking for the first time since their dread discovery. "Do you think
the fire'll hurt it?"

The biggest brother laughed uneasily. "No," he replied, "it'll go right
through the fire; but the cattle'll pitch it off the track if they get
in front of it."

The little girl faced around to watch the oncoming rout, and the biggest
brother renewed his thrashing of the blue mare. But he was not satisfied
with the horse's speed. She was acting strangely, wavering from side to
side as if she were anxious to turn, at the same time keeping her head
high and whinnying nervously.

_"You_ know what's comin'," the biggest brother said to her between his
teeth; "and you'd go back if I'd let you."

The little girl called his attention from the mare with a shout. He
turned to look in the direction of her shaking finger. What he saw
blanched his dripping face. From a point on the prairie where he knew
the farm-house stood were ascending several dense, black funnels!

The line of flying animals had now crossed the farm. The blaze seemed to
be at the very flanks of the herd, licking up the dry weeds and grass
from under their speeding feet. The biggest brother groaned as his eye
swept the oncoming panic. He forgot for a moment the danger to those at
home and the terrible loss that, doubtless, had been visited upon them,
in the thought of the impending fate of himself and the little girl.
"They'll be plump on us in no time," he muttered, and, kneeling at the
dashboard, he renewed his beating.

A bare three miles ahead lay the meadow beyond which was the town and
safety. The thundering host behind, at the rate it was coming, would
catch them while they were crossing the wide basin, where the
dropseed-grass and blue-joint were higher than the wild hay on the
prairie about. There the herd would have to increase its running to
escape the swifter-going fire; hence, there lay the greatest peril to
the biggest brother and the little girl.

In a few moments the animals heading the rout were out of sight in the
draw crossed a little while before by the buckboard. The fire followed
them, creeping slowly down the farther hillside, where the growth was
poor; but when it, as well as the stock, disappeared in the bottom,
where the grass stood thick and tall, the narrow ravine top vomited
smoke and flame like the mouth of a crater.

In a terribly short space the stampede rushed up t