Page:Edison Marshall--Shepherds of the wild.djvu/249

Rh true origin. And as they listened, the first of the vanguard of fleeing wild creatures—a full-grown buck with magnificent horns and soft eyes—swept past them at top speed.

"You see, Hugh, don't you?" she said rather quietly. "The whole valley seems to be afire, and we've got to run before it. There's no way to hold it off "

"But won't the rangers see the smoke and come?"

"They couldn't come in time. Besides, the high range hides it from the settlements. Unless a gale starts up—or accidents happen—we can drive the sheep out before it. As yet there's no need to leave the sheep."

"Of course not," Hugh agreed. "We can't leave the sheep."

The girl looked up, a wonderful luster in her dark eyes. She was a mountain girl, inured to the terror of the flaming forest, and it was natural that she should retain perfect self-control. But she found herself wondering at this tenderfoot, this man of cities. There is no greater test of the spirit than that slow, remorseless advance of the wall of flame. The sight calls forth dreadful memories from the labyrinthal depths of the germ plasm; it chokes up the heart with cold blood and distills a poison in the nerves, yet he seemed as free from panic as she herself. And he was also the eternal shepherd. He would not leave the sheep.