To The West Part 109

"Mr Raydon," I whispered, excitedly, for I had caught sight of the advancing party, "don't fire; it's Mr Barker and his men."

"What? Hi! Barker! Is that you?"

"Ay--ay!" came back. "That you, Mr Raydon?"

"Yes, man, yes; where are the enemy?"

"Why, I thought you was them," cried Barker, advancing.

"We thought the same," said Mr Raydon, as he too stepped forward, and we all stood face to face. "Then they were not here. Or have you pa.s.sed them?"

"I don't think--" began Barker.

"Why, I told you so," cried one of the men. "I felt sure I heard something out to our left among the trees hours ago."

"What?" cried Mr Raydon; "did you not open out your men in line?"

"Far as we could," said Barker, gruffly. "It's so thick down below we couldn't get along."

"Man!" cried Mr Raydon, "they've been too sharp for you, and let you pa.s.s. Why--oh, good heavens! they must have known of our plans.

They'll have stolen out at the mouth of the valley, gone up, and taken the Fort."

A dead silence reigned for a few minutes, as Mr Raydon stood thinking.

Then suddenly--

"We did not give them credit for being so sharp as they are," he continued. "Here, forward all of you, back to the river. I hope my fears are wrong."

"Hadn't we better go your way?" said Barker. "The forest is frightfully thick below, and it will take us hours."

"The way we came will take twice as long," said Mr Raydon, sternly; "and it is one fearful climb right up into the mountain. We must go this way. Follow as quickly as possible. There will be no need to keep a look-out now."

The men mustered up without a word, and with Mr Raydon and Barker leading, we tramped on as fast as we could, but making very poor progress during the next hour, for all were growing hot and exhausted, and the labour was really terrible. But they pressed on in silence, while Mr Raydon and Barker talked together rather bitterly about the ill success of the expedition.

We must have been walking about two hours when--

"It will be night before we get to the Fort," I heard the former say; "and who knows what may have happened there!"

"But your men will make a fight for it," said Barker.

"My princ.i.p.al fellow, Grey, will fight to the death," said Mr Raydon; "but there are not enough to hold the place. It is ruin and destruction. I ought not to have come."

"Hush!" I said, excitedly. "What's that?"

Mr Raydon stopped short, and held up his hand, when a low, dull, roaring sound as of a flood of water rushing up the valley was heard increasing rapidly.

"Great heavens!" cried Mr Raydon, excitedly; "they have fired the forest down below."

And as he spoke there was a faint hot puff of air borne toward us, and with it the unmistakable odour of burning wood.

A thrill of excitement ran through the men at the above words, and they looked at one another. The next moment they would have rushed back up the valley, but Mr Raydon cried sharply--

"No, no, my lads; the fire cannot be right across the valley; let's go on and try and pa.s.s it."

They seemed to be ready to obey the first who gave them orders, and Mr Raydon led on again, but in less then ten minutes, during which the hot puffs of air and the roar had increased rapidly, we were face to face with the fact that the fire was coming up like some terrible tide, evidently stretching right across from side to side, and already above our heads there were clouds of pungent smoke; and the crackle, roar, and hiss of the burning wood was rapidly growing louder.

"Halt!" roared Mr Raydon. "It is death to go on. Back at once."

"But the sides," cried Barker; "can't we all climb up here?"

"The fire would be on us before we were half-way up, even if we could climb, man," said Mr Raydon, "which I doubt. Back at once!"

"Yes; quick! quick!" shouted one of the men. "Look, look!"

It did not need his shouts, for we could see the flames rushing up the higher trees, which seemed to flash with light, as if they had been strewn with powder; the heat was growing unbearable, and already I felt faint and giddy.

It was quite time we were in full retreat, for there above our heads was a pall of black smoke, dotted with flakes of flame, and a horrible panic now smote the men as they hurried on.

"Keep close to me, Gordon," said Mr Raydon, glancing back. "Why, it is coming on like a hurricane of fire."

It was too true, for the hot wind rushed up between the towering walls of the valley as if through a funnel, and before many minutes had pa.s.sed we knew that the forest was on fire where we so lately stood, and that it was rapidly growing into a race between man's endurance and the wild rush of the flames.

I looked back twice, to feel the hot glow of the fire on my face, and to see the lurid glare coming on with the black smoke-clouds wreathing up at terrific speed. Then as we tramped on with the roar behind us as of some vast furnace, there came explosions like the firing of guns; the crashes of small arms; and from time to time the fall of some tree sounded like thunder.

The men needed no spurring to get on out of the dense labyrinth of trees, through which we toiled on hot to suffocation, breathless, and in mortal dread of being overtaken by the fearful enemy roaring in our rear. For, so rapid was the advance of the fire, that for a certainty a ten minutes' halt would have been enough to have brought the line of fire up to us.

"Don't stop to look back," cried Mr Raydon. "Press on, men; press on.

Keep together."

I thought of the consequences of one of our party losing his way ever so little, and the men knew it only too well as they kept together in a little crowd which was constantly being broken up and separated by the trees round which they threaded their way.

"Is there much more of this?" said Barker, suddenly appearing close to us.

"Yes," replied Mr Raydon; "miles."

"Shall we do it?" he panted.

"With G.o.d's help," was Raydon's quiet reply; and I saw Barker set his teeth hard, and throw his gun further over his shoulder as he bent down to his task.

The narrow gate of the valley at last; and as we filed through the opening I wondered whether it would tend to check the advance of the fire, and began to wonder whether the trees were much thinner on the higher side. But I felt that they were not, and that it would be long enough before we struggled on to a place where we could be in safety; while what seemed directly after, there was a deafening roar which I knew to be that of the flames closed up by the narrow way, and leaping after us now, as if in dread that we should escape.

"Man down!" shouted a voice; and in the horrible selfishness of their fear the rest were pa.s.sing on, but at a word from Mr Raydon four of his men seized the poor exhausted fellow, each taking an arm or leg, and bearing him on, while a few drops were trickled from a flask between his lips.

"Man down!" was shouted again; and this time the retreating party seized the poor fellow, following the example of our men, and bore him on, while he was submitted to the same treatment.

Ten minutes after the poor fellows were on their feet again, struggling on with the support of the arms of two of their fellows.

A dozen times over I felt that all was over, and that we might as well accept our fate. For we could hardly breathe, and now the sparks and flakes of fire and burning twigs came showering down upon us, as if sent forward by the main body of the flame to check us till the advance came on.