an!" bellowed Dick, running down the
line formed by his chums. "Now, get back out of this roasting
furnace."

Close to the edge of the burning strip of grass the six high school
boys now stood side by side gazing at their work.

"We'd better scoot!" counseled Danny Grin.

"Where can we go?" Dick shouted, in order to make himself heard
over the crackling flames and the greater noise of the pounding
hoofs. "If we're not safe behind a curtain of flame, there is
no other place near where we'd be safer."

Danny Grin turned to bolt, but Darry reached out, catching him
by the collar and throwing him to the ground.

"Don't be a fool, Danny, and don't be panic stricken," Darrin
advised. "We're safer here, at least, than we can be anywhere
else within a quarter of a mile."

The bellow of a bull through the forest---a bellow taken up by
other bulls---made all of the boys quake in their shoes. But
none of the lads ran away.

Gazing between the trees they soon made out a stirring sight.

On came the stampede, cattle packed so tightly that any animal
falling could only be trampled to death by those behind.

"My, but that's a grand sight!" cried Tom Reade.

Not one of the six boys but longed to take to his heels. To them
it seemed absolutely impossible for the cattle to turn aside as
they must dash on through the blazing grass, such was the pressure
from behind. Yet not one of Dick & Co. turned to run.

Suddenly three of the bulls went down to their knees, snorting
and bellowing furiously. Half a dozen cows held back from the
flames, only to be trampled and killed.

Somehow, the powerful bulls staggered to their feet, then broke
to one side.

A dozen more cows plunged on into the blazing grass, then sank,
overcome by the heat.

It seemed like a miracle as, following the bulls, the herd split,
some going east, others west, and carrying the swerving cattle
after them in two frantic streams.

In some way that the boys could not understand, the pressure of
cattle from the rear accommodated itself to the movement of the
forepart of the herd. The herd divided now swept on rapidly,
going nearly east and west in two sections.

Not until some six hundred crazy cattle had passed out of view
did the boys feel like speaking. Indeed, they felt weak from
the realization of the peril they had so narrowly escaped.

"I think, fellows," proposed Dave Darrin huskily at last, "that
we owe a whopping big vote of thanks to