Page:Edison Marshall--Shepherds of the wild.djvu/303

Rh his enemy was slain he was simply taking the same course back to his own people in the mountains.

The flame had not yet crept down its rocky, barren walls. It was such a place as the rattlesnakes love, but not a feeding ground for sheep; and the little herbage that grew between its bowlders had not offered a swift passage for the fire. The flames raged above them on each side, but the fiery walls had not yet converged and made the impassable barrier on which Fargo had counted. And Spot's whole flock sped behind him into its sheltering depths.

They were none too soon. Within a few minutes the advancing tide of flame would have covered its mouth if indeed it had not crept down over the steep walls into the canyon floor itself. But the straight road to safety was open at last. Far beyond, leading him like a star, Spot could see the glorious white peaks of his home. The domestic sheep could not follow him all the distance, yet the way was clear and safe for them completely beyond the outer reaches of the fire. And all that Hugh and Alice had to do—with Shep running and barking with joy beside them—was to follow the white flocks.

The lesser folk had shown the way,—just as many times before in the long roll of the ages. No man could have followed Spot out from the terror of the fire that night and still thought—in monstrous arrogance—that the wild things of