Had there been leisure to view it as a spectacle, the sight would have been a magnificent one, but the Overlanders had other things to occupy their attention.

While in no way to blame for the fire, they felt that this was their responsibility, theirs the duty to stop it, and so they worked and fought, gasping for breath, now and then retreating for fresh air.
"Lie down every little while!" shouted Tom.

"The air is better near the ground.

Pass the word along." His orders were shouted from one to the other and so reached the extreme end of the fighting front.
What at first had seemed an easy task had grown to an almost insurmountable one.

Now they would check the fire at one point, only to discover that it had leaped over the line at another.