As the fire gained strength and heat, it began to spread on three sides, dying of itself on the fourth, for want of aliment.

As it increased, and the sullen roaring announced its power, it cleared every thing before it, leaving the black and smoking soil far more naked than if the scythe had swept the place.
The situation of the fugitives would have still been hazardous had not the area enlarged as the flame encircled them.

But by advancing to the spot where the trapper had kindled the grass, they avoided the heat, and in a very few moments the flames began to recede in every quarter, leaving them enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but perfectly safe from the torrent of fire that was still furiously rolling onward.
The spectators regarded the simple expedient of the trapper with that species of wonder, with which the courtiers of Ferdinand are said to have viewed the manner in which Columbus made his egg stand on its end, though with feelings that were filled with gratitude instead of envy.
"Most wonderful!" said Middleton, when he saw the complete success of the means by which they had been rescued from a danger that he had conceived to be unavoidable.

"The thought was a gift from Heaven, and the hand that executed it should be immortal!" "Old trapper," cried Paul, thrusting his fingers through his shaggy locks, "I have lined many a loaded bee into his hole, and know something of the nature of the woods, but this is robbing a hornet of his sting without touching the insect!" "It will do--it will do," returned the old man, who after the first moment of his success seemed to think no more of the exploit; "now get the horses in readiness.

Let the flames do their work for a short half hour, and then we will mount.