Part 8 (1/2)
Keeping to the windward of the smoke, she gained a rocky spot still warm and blackened by the late pa.s.sage of the flames, and pausing there, forgot her own pranks in watching those which the fire played before her eyes. Many acres were burning, the air was full of the rush and roar of the victorious element, the crash of trees that fell before it, and the shouts of men who fought it unavailingly.
”Ah, this is grand! I wish Mark and Mr. Moor were here. Aren't you glad you came, sir?”
Sylvia glanced up at her companion, as he stood regarding the scene with the intent, alert expression one often sees in a fine hound when he scents danger in the air. But Warwick did not answer, for as she spoke a long, sharp cry of human suffering rose above the tumult, terribly distinct and full of ominous suggestion.
”Someone was killed when that tree fell! Stay here till I come back;”
and Adam strode away into the wood as if his place were where the peril lay.
For ten minutes Sylvia waited, pale and anxious; then her patience gave out, and saying to herself, ”I can go where he does, and women are always more helpful than men at such times,” she followed in the direction whence came the fitful sound of voices. The ground was hot underneath her feet, red eyes winked at her from the blackened sod, and fiery tongues darted up here and there, as if the flames were lurking still, ready for another outbreak. Intent upon her charitable errand, and excited by the novel scene, she pushed recklessly on, leaping charred logs, skirting still burning stumps, and peering eagerly into the dun veil that wavered to and fro. The appearance of an impa.s.sable ditch obliged her to halt, and pausing to take breath, she became aware that she had lost her way. The echo of voices had ceased, a red glare was deepening in front, and clouds of smoke enveloped her in a stifling atmosphere. A sense of bewilderment crept over her; she knew not where she was; and after a rapid flight in what she believed a safe direction had been cut short by the fall of a blazing tree before her, she stood still, taking counsel with herself. Darkness and danger seemed to encompa.s.s her, fire flickered on every side, and suffocating vapors shrouded earth and sky. A bare rock suggested one hope of safety, and m.u.f.fling her head in her skirt, she lay down faint and blind, with a dull pain in her temples, and a fear at her heart fast deepening into terror, as her breath grew painful and her head began to swim.
”This is the last of the pleasant voyage! Oh, why does no one think of me?”
As the regret rose, a cry of suffering and entreaty broke from her. She had not called for help till now, thinking herself too remote, her voice too feeble to overpower the din about her. But some one had thought of her, for as the cry left her lips steps came cras.h.i.+ng through the wood, a pair of strong arms caught her up, and before she could collect her scattered senses she was set down beyond all danger on the green bank of a little pool.
”Well, salamander, have you had fire enough?” asked Warwick, as he dashed a handful of water in her face with such energetic goodwill that it took her breath away.
”Yes, oh yes,--and of water, too! Please stop, and let me get my breath!” gasped Sylvia, warding off a second baptism and staring dizzily about her.
”Why did you quit the place where I left you?” was the next question, somewhat sternly put.
”I wanted to know what had happened.”
”So you walked into a bonfire to satisfy your curiosity, though you had been told to keep out of it? You'd never make a Casabianca.”
”I hope not, for of all silly children, that boy was the silliest, and he deserved to be blown up for his want of common sense,” cried the girl, petulantly.
”Obedience is an old-fas.h.i.+oned virtue, which you would do well to cultivate along with your common sense, young lady.”
Sylvia changed the subject, for Warwick stood regarding her with an irate expression that was somewhat alarming. Fanning herself with the wet hat, she asked abruptly--
”Was the man hurt, sir?”
”Yes.”
”Very much?”
”Yes.”
”Can I not do something for him? He is very far from any house, and I have some experience in wounds.”
”He is past all help, above all want now.”
”Dead, Mr. Warwick?”
”Quite dead.”
Sylvia sat down as suddenly as she had risen, and covered her face with a s.h.i.+ver, remembering that her own wilfulness had tempted a like fate, and she too, might now have been 'past help, above all want.' Warwick went down to the pool to bathe his hot face and blackened hands; as he returned Sylvia met him with a submissive--
”I will go back now if you are ready, sir.”
If the way had seemed long in coming it was doubly so in returning, for neither pride nor perversity sustained her now, and every step cost an effort. ”I can rest in the boat,” was her sustaining thought; great therefore was her dismay when on reaching the river no boat was to be seen.