The Gold Hunters' Adventures Part 55

"I came to you the instant a torch was applied to the dry leaves and branches, but before I was twenty rods from the flames I could hardly have returned without danger of being burned."

"Well, gentlemen, what is to be done?" asked Murden; "shall we stay here and be singed like dead rabbits, or shall we push through the forest and endeavor to escape the ambush?"

"In either case I don't see but that our prospects of escape are hopeless," said Fred, quite calmly.

"Hark!" cried the stockman, starting to his feet; "do you not hear the flames?"

We all listened, and a noise like the roaring of the surf on a beach could be heard, but apparently at a distance.

"That does not sound encouraging, I confess," remarked Fred; "but I think that we can yet circ.u.mvent the devils."

"How?" cried Murden, eagerly.

"Will you be governed by me, for a few hours?" Fred asked.

"Yes, and my men also," answered Murden, heartily.

"Then let us commence work, for we have no time to lose. In the first place, collect all the powder that your men have, and cover it with dirt, a foot high, we want no explosion to dishearten the men, and encourage the enemy."

"Do you hear, men?" cried Murden; "bring to me your flasks without a moment's delay."

The policemen hastened to obey the order, and a few shovels full of earth secured our safety in that respect.

"Now, then, as many of you as can use shovels and pickaxes, dig away at that hole, which Steel Spring commenced. Do not spare your labor, for a gang will relieve you, when tired. Dig deep and wide."

"But I don't see of what use that is to be," remonstrated Murden.

"Remember that you have promised to be guided by me. Don't stop to question, but see that the men work with a will, while I attend to other important duties."

Murden no longer sought to fathom Fred's motives, but grasped a shovel, and set an example of energy which his men were not slow to follow.

"Now, Smith, you and the stockman and Jack help me. Rekindle the fire, which has almost died out, and burn every stick of timber within reach on the left side of us. We will catch the bushrangers in their own trap, if they are not quick."

"But vot is to 'come of me? Vho's to take care of me? Vhere's my friends?" yelled Steel Spring, making desperate efforts to break the bonds which confined him.

We were all too busy to attend to the wretch, and merely glanced towards him occasionally, to see if his bonds held; but Steel Spring was a man not easily discouraged, and every few minutes we were addressed with prayers and oaths, to make provision for his safety.

The fire, which Murden had given orders to extinguish, was easily rekindled, and then burning brands were thrown upon the dry bushes and leaves, raising flames that roared aloft and caught at the branches of the gum trees, and then spread to the trunks, and leaped from bough to bough, driving parrots and gaudy-plumed birds from their nests, that vented their displeasure at being disturbed by uttering hoa.r.s.e croaks of rage.

"You will burn down the whole of the forest," cried Murden, alarmed at the rapidity with which the flames were spreading.

"I had rather see it down, than a man in this company should be injured," was the brief reply.

"Amen to that. But, Fred, it's growing warm here. Is not the hole which we have dug large enough?" asked the lieutenant, wiping his brow.

"Not half," replied Fred. "Do you see that long line of fire, which, urged by a strong wind, is rus.h.i.+ng towards us like a furious wave of the ocean?"

"Well, a man can't very well keep his eyes off of it when he knows that it is to crisp him up like a baked pig," Murden answered, with a rueful look.

"We have hardly begun to experience the heat from that line of flames yet, and our only chance of escape is by entering the excavation which your men are making." "I see, I see!" cried Murden, a new light breaking in upon him. "It is our only chance, sure enough."

The officer spoke to the policemen, who, with coats off, were working like heroes, and they redoubled their exertions.

"The next question is, what shall we do with these wounded men?" Fred inquired. "We can hardly hope to save them all."

"There is but one of my force wounded, and if it is possible to save him, I will; but as for these cutthroats, I see no chance for them."

We looked into Murden's face to see if there was any show of pity for the bushrangers, but there was none. He had already calculated in his mind that the robbers deserved death, and the sooner they died, the better for the county.

"Let us speak to your wounded policeman, and see if he can bear removal," Fred said.

We pa.s.sed over to the side of the clearing, where he was lying at the root of a tree which had as yet escaped the flames.

"Well, Sam, do you still feel like having another battle with bushrangers?" asked the officer.

There was no response. I stooped down and carefully removed the corner of a blanket from his face, and the open, staring eyes met my view. In the midst of the bustle and confusion, the spirit of Sam had taken its flight without uttering a groan, or one repining word. We gazed upon his face again, and left the corpse where we found it, to be licked by the greedy flames which were now roaring around on every side.

"We must burrow like rabbits," cried Murden, "or we shall be burned to death. It seems already as though I could hardly breathe. A breath of fresh air would now be worth all the gold of Australia."

"Don't talk of feeling suffocated yet," Fred replied, stripping off all of his surplus clothing--an example which the rest of us were glad to follow; and to prevent it from being burned, we rolled it into one pile, and covered it deep with dirt.

"When the fire reaches the edge of the clearing, and the wind blows the flames within a few inches of our heads, and the earth blisters the skin at a touch, then I shall not blame you for asking for fresh air," Fred continued.

"I certainly am obliged to you," Murden said, with a rueful look; "but if you will explain how we are to keep those same flames from melting our brains while we are huddled in that hole, like sheep in a pen, I shall feel gratified."

"Then I will explain immediately, for I see that only a few minutes will be allotted us by that moving circle of fire to make our preparations.

Let the place which your men have excavated be covered over, with the exception of a hole to crawl into, with the pieces of half-burned timber which you see lying around."

"For what purpose?" asked Murden.

"To save our heads from being burned, as they otherwise would, unless protected," Fred replied.

"But the logs will get on fire."

"Not if they are protected by a heavy covering of dirt," answered Fred, composedly.

"An idea that I should not have entertained," muttered Murden, in astonishment.

"But now that you understand me, hasten the men in their work, for already our clothes give tokens of singeing."

Our situation was one which might well make a timid man fear for his life; for on each side of us the flames were roaring and surging like the gra.s.s of a prairie on fire, and over our heads the heavens were concealed by the black clouds of smoke which, urged by the wind, were traversing the sky at a rapid rate; and on that same night an alarm was entertained at Ballarat, ninety miles distant, that Melbourne had burned to the ground. So dense was the smoke occasioned by the consuming of hundreds of acres of trees in the black forest of Australia.

The five on the left of the clearing, which we had kindled to prevent the bushrangers from approaching us and thinning our numbers at leisure, had already a.s.sumed a fearful aspect, and was running along the ground rapidly. I hardly dared to stop my work and watch the scene, so fearful was it. I had serious doubts as to the practicability of the plan which Fred proposed, yet I gave no evidence of my want of faith, and encouraged the men with example and words, and when a number of the trees began swaying to and fro, as the fire consumed their trunks, I remonstrated against their seeking shelter until the work was entirely finished.

During our struggle to secure a place of safety, we had forgotten entirely the wounded bushrangers, who were stretched out, side by side, at the farther end of the clearing. Their cries for a.s.sistance, however, soon called our attention to the fact that we had made no provision for their safety, and while the policemen were hurriedly placing a roof upon our den, Murden and the rest of us held a brief consultation as to what we should do with the poor wretches.

"Speak quick," exclaimed Fred, as a burning tree fell with a tremendous crash into the clearing, sending the sparks high into the air, and causing the atmosphere to seem like the breath of a furnace.

"Speak quick," he continued. "We can endure the heat but a few minutes longer, and our lives are endangered by the falling of trees. Shall we save the bushrangers and perish ourselves, or shall we abandon them to their fate?"