"
So soon as they could feel anything like relief from watching the
passenger, the brother and sister looked at the scene around them, which
was enough to strike any one with awe.
The murky vapor was pouring across the water; burning leaves, sticks,
and large branches of wood seemed to be carried almost horizontally on
the wind, while the blazing forest roared like the ocean when swept by
the monsoon.
Whether the memorable dark day of 1881 still overspread the earth
beyond, the two had no means of knowing; but they did know and feel that
they were enveloped in an awful night, illumined only by the burning
forests about them.
Should the bear fail to harm them, they might well ask themselves the
question, when would they be able to leave the water, in which they had
taken refuge. It was not likely they would be forced to keep to the raft
itself very long, but, after stepping foot on shore, they would be
surrounded, if not by the burning forest itself, by its embers, which
would render traveling perilous for days to come.
Altogether, it will be seen that the situation of the two was as
unpleasant--if, not absolutely dangerous--as it could well be.
Nick was on the point, more than once, of following the advice of his
sister,--to allow the raft to be carried by the wind against the shore,
with the hope that the bear, when his hind legs should touch bottom,
would take himself off; but he was afraid to do so, for it seemed to him
that when the brute should be relieved of the necessity of looking after
himself, he would turn and look after the boy and girl too closely for
their safety.
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