than ever to be thankful
that we had escaped destruction. On further examination of the locality
we discovered that the proximate cause of our escape was owing to the
position of the rock near a piece of water, the extent of which we
perceived when the fire in our neighbourhood had burned itself out. A
narrow belt of grass only intervened between the rock and the water, the
rest of the ground being a marsh covered with moist rushes, which did
not burn. As the wind had for the greater part of the time blown over
the pond, we were thus saved from suffocation. Had the rock been
thickly surrounded by high grass, I think that we must have been burned
to death; for, blown by the wind, the flames would have reached the very
centre of the rock where we lay; and had we not been roasted, we should
have been suffocated by the smoke. We crouched down on the rock, and
sat for some time without speaking, watching the progress of the flames.
The ground around us was still glowing with the remains of the fire.
How long we had sat silent I do not know, when Jerry exclaimed, with
animation--

"I say, Harry, why shouldn't we have a steak off our old friend the
bull? He must be pretty well done through by this time."

"We will try him at all events," said I; and descending the rock, we
very soon had some fine slices of beef out of him. Finding that the
ground was sufficiently cooled to allow our walking on it without
burning our shoes, we advanced with our steaks stuck at the end of our
ramrods to a glowing heap of bog balsam. Kicking it up with our feet,
it soon sent forth a heat amply sufficient to cook our already
half-roasted steaks. When they were done, collecting our guns, and
bags, and game, we sat down on the lee side of the rock, and speedily
silenced the cravings of hunger. We should have been glad of something
to drink, but we were not yet sufficiently thirsty to induce us to get
water from the pond. We felt very tired after all the exercise we had
taken, and the excitement we had gone through during the day; but we
were afraid to go to sleep lest the bulls should wander back, or
something else happen we knew not what; besides, the anxiety about our
friends kept us awake. At last, however, as we sat shoulder to shoulder
under the rock, sleep stole imperceptibly on us, and I do not think that
I ever enjoyed a sounder slumber than I did that night. When we awoke
we rubbed our eyes, not knowing where we were. It was