It seemed at times as though the whole world were aflame, and the earth seemed to shake and roll under the crashes of the thunder.

He ceased his crying and made himself as small as he could under the root, which protected him partly from the terrific beat of the rain which came down through the treetops in a flood.

It was now so black that except when the lightning ripped great holes in the gloom he could not see the spruce trunks twenty feet away.

Twice that distance from Baree there was a huge dead stub that stood out like a ghost each time the fires swept the sky, as if defying the flaming hands up there to strike--and strike, at last, one of them did! A bluish tongue of snapping flame ran down the old stub; and as it touched the earth, there came a tremendous explosion above the treetops.

The massive stub shivered, and then it broke asunder as if cloven by a gigantic ax.