we stood was a sward of
short buffalo-grass; it was not likely to catch fire, and even if it
did, we could easily escape from it. There is not much danger in a
burning prairie where the grass is light and short; one can dash through
the line of flame, with no greater injury than the singeing of his hair,
or a little suffocation from the smoke; but upon a plain covered with
rank and thick vegetation, the case is very different. We therefore
felt no apprehension for ourselves, but we did for our companion; _his_
situation filled us with alarm.

Was he still where we had last seen him? This was the first question we
asked one another. If so, then his peril was great indeed; his escape
would be almost hopeless!

We had observed him a full half-mile out among the weeds, and on foot
too. To have attempted a retreat towards the opposite side of the
prairie, would have been folly: it was three miles off. Even on
horseback, the flames would have overtaken him! Mounted, or on foot, he
could not have got out of the way through those tall stalks--laced as
they were by pea-vines and other trailing plants--whose tough tangle
would have hindered the progress even of the strongest horse!

To have returned to the near side would be his only chance; but that
would be in the very face of the fire, and, unless he had started long
before the flames broke out, it was evident that his retreat in that
direction would be cut off. As already stated, the weeds were as dry as
tinder; and the flames, impelled by gusts of wind, at intervals shot out
their red tongues, licking up the withered stalks, coiling like serpents
around them, and consuming them almost instantaneously.

Filled with forebodings, my companion and I ran in the direction of the
prairie.

When first noticed by us, the fire had extended but a few yards on each
side of the locust-tree we had chosen for our camp. We were not
opposite this point at the moment, having gone a little way down the
arroyo; we ran, therefore, not towards the camp, but for the nearest
point of high ground, in order to discover the situation of our friend.

On reaching the high ground, about two hundred yards from the locust, we
saw to our astonishment that the fire had already spread, and was now
burning forward to the spot where we had climbed up!

We had only a moment to glance outward, when the conflagration, hissing
and crackling as it passed, rolled in front of us, and with its wall of