g
the reason of his doubt.

In a few minutes she was aware of it all. In a few minutes she
realized that he had well named the country through which they were
riding. In a few minutes she knew that it was a race for life, and
that their hope was in the great heart of Caesar.

Far as the eye could see in that ruddy light, tortured and distorted
by the flashes of storm above, was an ocean of fire spread out. The
crowning billows of smoke, like titanic foam-crests, rolled away
upward and onward before them. They, too, were ruddy-tinted by the
reflection from below. They crowded in every direction. They swept
along abreast of them, they rose up behind them, and the distance was
lost in their choking midst. The scorching air was laden to
suffocation by the odors of burning resin. She knew they were on a
trail, a narrow, confined trail, which was lined by unburnt woods. And
the marvel of it filled her.

"These woods are untouched," she said.

Again Buck laughed. It was a grim laugh which had no mirth, but yet
was it dashed by a wonderful recklessness.

"So far," he said. Then he added, with a quick look up at the belching
smoke, "If they weren't I don't guess we'd be here now. Say, it's
God's mercy sure this trail heads from the farm southeast. Further on
it swings away at a fork. One trail goes due east, an' the other
sou'west. One of 'em's sure cut by the fire. An' the other--wal, it's
a gamble with luck."

"It's the only way out?" The girl's eyes were wide with her question
and the knowledge of the meaning of a reply in the affirmative.

"That's so."

"We're like--rats in a trap."

A sharp oath escaped the man's lips.

"We ain't beat yet," he cried fiercely.

The reply was the heart of the man speaking. Joan understood it. And
from it she understood more. She understood the actual peril in the
midst of which they were.

There was nothing more to be said. Buck's whole attention was upon the
billows of smoke and the lurid reflections thereon. The thunders above
them, the blinding lightnings, left him undisturbed. The wind, the
smoke and the fire were his only concern now. Already, ahead, he could
see in the vague light where the trail gave to the left. Beyond that
was the fork.

Joan gave no thought to these things. She had no right understanding
of how best they could be served. She was studying the face of the
man, the dark, brave face that was now her whole world. She was aware
of the horseman behind, w