Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/136

 no room for her now, so she stood upon the step as she drove, and lashed the horse forward. On! on! We were drawing very near.

"So near that our hands could reach them. One spark darted upon the clothing: it smouldered, then flamed. The children screamed; but the mother seized the garment and threw it from the wagon, where it blazed harmlessly. And still the horse galloped, and still the race continued.

"At last they could go no farther. The fire had outrun them: it was before, beside, behind,—it left no pathway anywhere. The mother did not give up. She stopped the horse, crowded the little ones under the wagon, hung blankets over the sides to keep off the heat, and sitting in the midst, the baby in her lap, waited her fate.

"The courage of that woman," said August, clearing his throat, "I never saw equalled. It wasn't in my power to help her much. Fire is a bad master, people say; and I was beginning to find it true. It mastered me. But one thing I did: I stood by the horse's head, and held him tight so that he could not stir, even when the