The wind had risen to such an extent that it rushed through the tree-tops like an express train, making a doleful sound. Nor was this all, for they could plainly hear a crackling from the rear that was gradually becoming a subdued roar.

"Oh! I saw the fire then!" called Will a minute or two later.

Looking over their shoulders as they ran, all of them had glimpses of the flames leaping hungrily upward. What Mr. Mabie had feared all along had actually come to pa.s.s. All of them were glad, however, that it had not been through any fault of theirs, since they had built no fire that day.

"Frank, it's catching up with us! Whatever shall we do?" panted Bluff, close beside the one he addressed.

Frank had been considering this same question. He at first thought they might outrun the fire, but now he changed his mind. The woods were so dense, and the vegetation so thick, that whenever they tried to make fast time they kept tripping over trailing vines, or else banging up against the trunks of the forest monarchs, sometimes damaging their noses by the contact.

"What was he telling us about fighting fire with fire?" asked Jerry, who was by this time feeling not quite so jaunty as usual, but ready to seize upon any opening that promised safety.

"That was out on the prairie. I don't think the scheme would work here in the woods. It would take too long for the second blaze to get a start, and we'd be caught between the two fires," was Frank's reply.

"But we must do something pretty soon!" cried Will.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "FRANK, IT'S CATCHING UP WITH US!"--_Page 192_.

_The Outdoor Chums After Big Game_.]

Indeed, it would appear so. They were now enveloped in a pall of smoke, that, entering their eyes, made them smart fiercely. Not only that, but the fire could be seen in a dozen places behind them, leaping up into the trees as the dried foliage offered such a splendid torch, and the wind urged the conflagration along.

"Will's right. The old thing's running us neck and crop. I believe it's gaining on us right along!" exclaimed Bluff.

"Look for a hollow tree!" cried Jerry.

"Humbug! Just because you once got in one during a storm you think a hollow tree can be used for nearly anything. Why, we'd be smothered in a jiffy, even if we didn't get burned to a crisp! Say something else!"

shouted Bluff.

"What is it, Frank--you know?" demanded Will, who, in this time of need, somehow turned to the one whose cool head had many times managed to extricate them from some impending danger.

"We've just _got_ to head another way, and try and get out of the path of the fire, if we can. Besides, the river lies to the left," he answered, as cheerily as he could.

"The river! Hurrah!" shrieked Will in sudden elation, for the very thought of water was a blessed relief when threatened by fire.

"We can duck under, and save our bacon!" cried Jerry.

"There you go, confessing to the swine again," declared Bluff.

But in spite of their light words the boys were by this time thoroughly alarmed. The appearance of the burning woods in their immediate rear was appalling, to say the least. High sprang the flames, and their crackling could now be plainly heard. Indeed, the sound began to a.s.sume the proportions of a continuous roar, such as a long freight train might make in pa.s.sing over a trestle and down a grade.

Now that they were running almost sidewise to the advancing fire, it approached much faster than before.

"I felt a spark on my face, fellows!"

Frank was not at all surprised to hear Will say this, for he, too, had experienced the same thing not half a minute before. He had not mentioned the fact, for fear of alarming his chums still more.

"Keep on, fellows!" was all he said, for he needed every bit of breath he could muster.

Desperately they tried to increase their pace, but found it hard work with so many obstacles confronting them. Will tumbled more than any of the others, somehow or other. Perhaps it was because he was carrying his camera so carefully, and thinking more about it than his own person.

Finally Frank missed him entirely.

"Where's Will gone?" he demanded.

The others, turning, were horrified to find their chum missing.

"Keep right on, you fellows! Don't you dare stop, or follow me! I'll get Will! The river's close by!" he called out, and then turned around, retracing his steps directly toward the advancing fire.

Never had Will seemed so precious in the sight of the boy who thus placed his own life in jeopardy in order to save that of his chum. In imagination Frank pictured his agony of mind if he had to tell Violet that her twin brother had perished miserably in a forest fire, while he escaped.

"Will! Will!" he was shouting frantically, as loud as he could, and this was not anything to boast of, for the smoke choked him, and he could hardly keep from coughing almost constantly.

"Hi! Here I am! Lost like the babes in the woods!" sang out a voice.

Frank pounced on his friend, who, with smarting eyes, was fairly staggering about, hardly knowing which way he was trying to go, having become more or less rattled by the impending peril and the state of his own feelings.

"Run for all you're worth, Will!" he said, as he clutched the sleeve of the other almost fiercely, for they had little chance of eluding those hungry flames now.

Together they rushed along, Frank's eyes doing double duty, for Will seemed by this time half blind, and the one free hand was constantly rubbing his smarting orbs.

"A little further, and we're safe!" he kept calling in the ear of his nearly exhausted chum.

The heat was beginning to be terrific now. Blazing branches flew through the air, and set trees on fire all around them.

"It's like the fiery furnace!" Will said three times running, and Frank really began to fear his companion's mind was getting unsettled from the fright of their desperate condition.

Oh! if the river would only show up ahead! No doubt the others had, ere now, gained the glorious haven, and were settled up to their necks in the water, ready to defy the power of the opposing element. But it was an open question whether the halting pair could ever make the shelter of the friendly stream.

"Let me go, Frank! You can make it alone!" pleaded Will.

"Shut up! Keep on running! I tell you we're going to get there, and don't you think for a minute we ain't!" replied Frank furiously, as he pulled Will along.

CHAPTER XXII

THE WAR OF THE ELEMENTS

"This way, Frank! Turn a little to the left!"

"That's Jerry shouting! Do you hear him, Will? Keep up your heart! We're going to cheat the old fire yet!" cried Frank.

His companion seemed to pluck a little new spirit from the encouraging shout, and his lagging feet began to show more animation. In this way they hurried out of the already burning forest, and found themselves on the brink of the swift current of the valley stream.

"Jump in! The water's fine!" shouted Jerry, who, with Bluff, had submerged himself up to his shoulders.

"But my camera! I can't ruin it in the water!" shouted the obstinate Will, as he looked eagerly around for some place to conceal the object which he held in so much reverence.