He had scarcely set his feet upon the ground, when he took them off
again. The earth was baking hot to the water's edge, and a live ember,
which the ashes concealed from sight, was revealed when the bare foot
was placed upon it.
Nick cooled his blistering toes, and then, as quick as possible, drew on
his wet shoes and stockings.
"I would be in a pretty fix if barefoot," said he, "I wouldn't have been
able to walk home through these woods for a week or less."
It was plain to be seen that the fury of the conflagration had spent
itself, so far as it affected this portion of the wood. That tornado of
the flame, which swept everything before it, had leaped across the pond,
and was speeding onward until it should die out from want of fuel.
In its path was the blackness of desolation. The trees were still
burning, but it was in a smoldering, smoking way, with blazing branches
here and there, dropping piecemeal to the ground. The flames, which
charged forward as they do through the dry prairie grass, had passed by,
and the brother and sister had now the opportunity to attempt to reach
home.
But it would be hard to overestimate the distress caused by the
atmosphere which the forest fires left behind them. There are many gases
and vapors which we cannot breathe; but the trouble about smoke is that
although we can manage to get along with it when it is not too dense, it
is excessively irritating to the lungs.
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