wife and children gain the Sand
Hills in safety, and then the smoke and half consumed grass filled the
air, hiding the rescued from view as the burning wave swept toward
them, maddening the oxen and making the stout hearts of the pioneers
quail, as the burning fragments eddying through the air, fell thick and
fast among them. Prairie dogs, in droves went howling past, wolves and
panthers laying their bodies close to the ground in their rapid leaps,
heeded not each other, and even an antelope joined in the flight
unmolested, from their common foe. Innumerable prairie fowls filled the
air with their cries; but, above every other sound arose the roar and
crackling of the scorching billowy mass, as on, still on it came, now
rising until its seething flame seemed to touch the sky, then falling a
moment only to rise the next still higher.

A prairie on fire is a sublime spectacle, which those who have had the
good fortune to see, in a place of safety, will not soon forget. But a
horrible ordeal it is for those who are overtaken by the raging flame;
for, if the grass is dry, with a slight breeze to fan the flame, it
travels with the speed of a whirlwind.

Mr. Duncan could not abandon his noble beasts in the extremity, for he
knew if left to themselves, unaccustomed to the ground, they would lose
themselves, and ensure their destruction; but, in keeping by their
sides, encouraging them by his presence and urging them on, he still
hoped to save them, although half blinded with smoke and the hot air
that surrounded them. Howe had charge of one of the teams, and Sidney
the other, who, following the example of Mr. Duncan, stood their ground
bravely, resolving to share the fate of their cattle.

Mrs. Duncan and the children, from their hill of refuge, saw with
terror the fearful and unequal race on the plain below, until they were
entirely enveloped in smoke, and then their suspense was harrowing till
a puff of wind lifted the smoky cloud, which it occasionally would,
giving them for an instant a glimpse of their friends, as on they came
towards them in their headlong career. But, as nearer, still nearer
came the flames, the cloud became too dense to be lifted by the wind,
and all was one circling, eddying wave, hiding every object from view.
A few moments of suspense, during which no words were spoken, and then
bursting through the cloud came their noble oxen, their tongues dry and
blackened and hanging from their mouths, their