Could not
have seen our way through the dense canopy of smoke; and, buried
as we were in the heart of the forest, no one could discover our
situation till we were beyond the reach of help.
I closed the door, and went back to the parlour. Fear was knocking
loudly at my heart, for our utter helplessness annihilated all hope
of being able to effect our escape - I felt stupefied. The girl sat
upon the floor by the children, who, unconscious of the peril that
hung over them, had both fallen asleep. She was silently weeping;
while the fool who had caused the mischief was crying aloud.
A strange calm succeeded my first alarm; tears and lamentations were
useless; a horrible death was impending over us, and yet I could not
believe that we were to die. I sat down upon the step of the door,
and watched the awful scene in silence. The fire was raging in the
cedar-swamp immediately below the ridge on which the house stood,
and it presented a spectacle truly appalling. From out the dense
folds of a canopy of black smoke, the blackest I ever saw, leaped
up continually red forks of lurid flame as high as the tree tops,
igniting the branches of a group of tall pines that had been left
standing for saw-logs.
A deep gloom blotted out the heavens from our sight. The air
was filled with fiery particles, which floated even to the
door-step - while the crackling and roaring of the flames might
have been heard at a great distance. Could we have reached the
lake shore, where several canoes were moored at the landing,
by launching out into the water we should have been in perfect
safety; but, to attain this object, it was necessary to pass
through this mimic hell; and not a bird could have flown over it
with unscorched wings. There was no hope in that quarter, for,
could we have escaped the flames, we should have been blinded and
choked by the thick, black, resinous smoke.
The fierce wind drove the flames at the sides and back of the house
up the clearing; and our passage to the road, or to the forest, on
the right and left, was entirely obstructed by a sea of flames. Our
only ark of safety was the house, so long as it remained untouched
by the consuming element. I turned to young Thomas, and asked him,
how long he thought that would be.
"When the fire clears this little ridge in front, ma'am. The Lord
have mercy upon us, then, or we must all go!"
"Cannot you, John, try and make your escape, and see what can be
done for us and the poor children?"
My eye fell upon the sleeping angels, locked peacefully in each
other's arms, and my tears flowed for the first time.
