fearfully on the fugitives, growing louder and louder, while volumes of
dense smoke were driven over their heads, and darkened the sky that had
so lately shone in all its summer brightness.

Headlong the party dashed along the winding path, and sometimes the
terrified horses leaped into the tall grass, seeking a straighter
course, or eager to pass by those who had fled before them. But this
was a vain attempt. The wild pea-vines, and other creeping plants that
stretched among the grass, offered such impediments to rapid flight, as
forced them again into the path.

And now the wild inhabitants of the broad savanna came rushing on, and
joined the furious flight, adding difficulty and confusion to the
horror of the scene. Buffaloes, elks, and antelopes, tore madly through
the grass, jostling the horses and their riders, and leaving them far
in the rear. The screaming eagle rode high above among the clouds of
smoke, and many smaller birds fell suffocated to the ground; while all
the insect tribe took wing, and everything that had life strove to
escape the dread pursuer.

It was a desperate race! The strength of the fugitives began to fail,
and no refuge, no hope, seemed near. Alas! to some the race was lost.
The blinding effect of the dense smoke that filled the atmosphere, the
suffocating smell of the burning mass of vegetable matter, and the
lurid glare of the red flames that came on so rapidly, overpowered
alike the horses and their riders: while the roaring of the fire--which
sounded like a mighty rushing cataract--and the oppressive heat, seemed
to confuse the senses, and destroy the vital powers of the more feeble
and ill-mounted of the fugitives. Several of the horses fell, and
their devoted riders sank to the ground, unable any longer to sustain
the effort for life; and Henrich had the agony of passing by the
wretched victims, and leaving them to their fate, for he knew that he
had no power to save them.

Many miles were traversed--and still the unbroken level of the prairie
spread out before them--and still the roaring and destructive flames
came borne on the mighty winds behind them. A few scattered trees were
the only objects that broke the monotony of the plains; and the hills,
at the foot of which they had traveled that morning, and where alone
they could lock for safety, were still at a great distance. At length,
the aged Tisquantum's powers of endurance began to give way. The reins
almost fell from h