"Did you people come out to see
it?"
"No, we came to find Lenora!" Laura answered breathlessly. "That's her
horse. She started to meet you. She must be somewhere--"
"Lenora?" Quest interrupted fiercely. "What do you mean?"
"When I got back to the camp," Laura continued rapidly, "there wasn't a
soul there except the Chinaman. He told me that Lenora had ridden off a
few minutes before to find you. We came to look for her. We found her
handkerchief on the road there, and that's her horse."
Quest did not wait for another word. He jumped a rough bush of scrub on
the right-hand side, galloped over the ground, which was already hot with
the coming fire, and followed along down the road by which Lenora had
passed. When he came to the first bend, he could hear the roar of flames
in the trees. A volume of smoke almost blinded him; his horse became
wholly unmanageable. He slipped from the saddle and ran on, staggering
from right to left like a drunken man. About forty yards along the road,
Lenora was lying in the dust. A volume of smoke rushed over her. The tree
under which she had collapsed was already afire. A twig fell from it as
Quest staggered up, and her skirt began to smoulder. He tore off his coat,
wrapped it around her, beat out the fire which was already blazing at her
feet, and snatched her into his arms. She opened her eyes for a moment.
"Where are we?" she whispered. "The fire!"
"That's all right," Quest shouted. "We'll be out of it in a moment.
Pages:
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329