A blight, grim and sickening, lay upon the earth that had been paradise.
Peter heard the choking sound in his master's throat and chest.

He, too, sensed the black shadow of tragedy and cautiously he sniffed the air, knowing that at last they were home--and yet it was not home.
Instinctively he had faced Cragg's Ridge and Jolly Roger, seeing the dog's stiffened body pointing toward the break beyond which lay Nada's old home, felt a thrill of hope leap up within him.

Possibly the farther plain had escaped the scourge of fire.

If so, Nada would be there, and the Missioner-- He started for the break, a mile away.

As he came nearer to it his hope grew less for he could see where the flames had swept in an inundating sea along Cragg's Ridge.