No rain yet. and we were in the end of January; the foun- tains of heaven were dried up. But now all round the northern horizon the bush fires burnt continually, a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Nearer by night, like an enemy creeping up to a belea- guered town. The weather had been very still for some time. and we took the precaution to burn great strips of grass all round the paddocks to the north; but, in spite of all our precautions, I knew that should a strong wind come on from that quarter nothing short of a miracle would save us.
On the third of February the heat was worse than ever, but there was no wind; and as the sun went down among the lurid smoke, red as blood, I thought I made out a few white, brush-shaped clouds rising in the north.
Jim and I sat very late, not talking much. We knew that if we were to be burnt out our loss would be very heavy; but we thanked God that even were we to lose everything it would not be irreparable, and that we should still be wealthy. Our brood mares and racing stock wereour greatest anxiety. We had a good stack of hay, by which we might keep them alive for another month, supposing all the grass was burnt; but, if we lost that, our horses would probably die. I said at last-"Jim, we may make up our minds to have the run swept.
The fire is burning up now."
"Yes, it is brightening," said he; "but it must be twenty miles off still, and if it comes down with a gentle wind we shall save the paddocks and hay. There is a good deal of grass in the lower paddock. I am glad we had the forethought not to feed it down. Well, fire or no fire, I shall go to bed."We went to bed, and, in spite of anxiety, mosquitoes, and heat, I fell asleep. In the grey morning I was awakened, nearly suffocated, by a dull, continuous roar. It was the wind in the chimney. The north wind, so long imprisoned, had broken loose, and the boughs were crashing, and the trees were falling before the majesty of his wrath.
I ran out and met Jim on the veranda. "It"s all up," I said. " Get the women and children into the river, and let the men go up to windward with the sheepskins to beat out the fire in the short grass. I"ll get on horseback and go out and see how the Morgans get on. That obstinate fellow will wish he had come in now."Morgan was a stockman of ours, who lived, with a wife and two children, about eight miles to the northward. We always thought it would have been better for him to movein; but he had put it off, and now the fire had taken us by surprise.
I rode away, dead up-wind. Our station had a few large trees about it, and then all was clear plain and short grass for two miles. I feared from the density of the smoke that the fire had reached them already; but I thought it my duty to go and see, for I might meet them fleeing, and help them with the children.
I have seen many bush fires, but never such a one as this. The wind was blowing a hurricane, and when I had ridden about two miles into high scrub I began to get frightened. Still I persevered, against hope; the heat grew more fearful every moment. But I reflected that I had often ridden up close to a bush fire, turned when I began to see the flame through the smoke, and cantered away from it easily.
Then it struck me that I had never yet seen a bush fire in such a hurricane as this. I remembered stories of men riding for their lives, and others of burnt horses and men found in the bush, And now I saw a sight which made me turn in good earnest.
I was in lofty timber, and, as I paused, I heard the mighty crackling of fire coming through the wood. At the same instant the blinding smoke burst into a million tongues of flickering flame, and I saw the fire-not where I had seen it before, not creeping along among the scrub, but up aloft, a hundred and fifty feet overhead. It hadcaught the dry tops of the higher boughs, and was flying along from tree-top to tree-top like lightning. Below, the wind was comparatively moderate; but, up there, it was travelling twenty miles an hour. I saw one tree ignite like gun-cotton, and then my heart grew small, and I turned and fled.
I rode as I never rode before. There were three miles to go ere I cleared the forest and got among the short grass, where I could save myself-three miles! Ten minutes nearly of intolerable heat. blinding smoke, and mortal terror. Any death but this! Drowning were pleasant; glorious to sink down into the cool, sparkling water! But to be burnt alive! I would give all my money now to be naked and penniless, rolling about in a cool, pleasant river.
The maddened, terrified horse went like the wind, but not like the hurricane-that was too swift for us. The fire had outstripped us overhead, and I could see it dimly through the choking reek, leaping and blazing a hundred yards before us among the feathery foliage, devouring it as the south wind devours the thunder-clouds. Then I could see nothing. Was I clear of the forest? Yes-I was riding over grass.
I managed to pull up the horse; and as I did so a mob of kangaroos blundered by, blinded, almost against me, noticing me no more in their terror than if I had been a stump or a stone. Soon the fire came hissing along through the grassscarcely six inches high, and I walked my horse through it; then I tumbled off on the blackened ground, and felt as if I should die.
I lay there on the hot, black ground. My head felt like a block of stone, and my neck was stiff, so that I could not move my head. My throat was swelled and dry as a sand- hill, and there was a roaring in my ears like a cataract. I thought of the cool waterfalls among the rocks far away in Devon. I thought of everything that was cold and pleasant; and then came into my head about Dives praying for a drop of water. I tried to get up, but could not, so lay down again with my head upon my arm.
It grew cooler, and the atmosphere was clearer. I got up, and, mounting my horse. turned homeward, Now I began to think about the station Could it have escaped! Impossible ! The fire would fly a hundred yards or more on such a day as this, even in a low plain. No, it must be gone! There was a great roll in the plain between me and home, so that I could see nothing of our place-all round the country was black, without a trace of vegetation. Behind me were the smoking ruins of the forest I had escaped from, where now the burnt-out trees began to thunder down rapidly, and before, to the south, I could see the fire raging miles away.
So the station is burnt, then? No! For, as I top the ridge, there it is before me, standing as of old-a bright oasis inthe desert of burnt country round. Ay! the very haystack is safe! And the paddocks? -all right!
I got home, and Jim came running to meet me.
"I was getting terribly frightened, old man," said he. "I thought you were caught. You look ten years older than you did this morning!"I tried to answer, but could not speak for drought. He ran and got me a great tumbler of water; and in the evening, having drunk about a gallon, I felt pretty well revived.
Men were sent out at once to see after the Morgans, and found them perfectly safe, but very much frightened; they had, however, saved their hut, for the fire had passed before the wind had got to its full strength.
Henry Kingsley
Author.-Henry Kingsley (1830-1876), brother of the more famous Charles Kingsley, author of Westward Ho! Henry wrote Geoffrey Hamlyn and Ravenshoe, the former of which is, by some critics, considered to be one of the best Australian novels.
General Notes.-This excerpt may tempt you to read the whole book Geoffrey Hamlyn, the latter part of which deals with life in South-eastern Australia. Why is February a likely month for bush fires? What tells you that the station was a large one? Was it a sheep or a cattle station? Where would the fire travel quickest-in forest, scrub, or grass? Devon is a country in the south-west of England; find it on the map. Discuss the causes of bush fires. Are bush fires always harmful? What are thebest preventives? Recall any poems or stories connected with bush fires. Write a real or an imaginary account of heroism in this connexion. "Dives praying for a drop of water." Dives (dy"-veez) is a Latin word meaning rich. It is used to indicate the rich man mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of Luke.