There was a general expression of astonishment as the heads emerged from their wrappers, and the eyes recovered sufficiently from the effects of the blinding smoke to look round. Where had the fire gone? Where, indeed! The main conflagration had swept by them, had divided in two when it reached, the ground already burned, and these columns, growing further and further asunder as the newly kindled fire had widened, were already far away to the right and left, while beyond and between them was the fire that they themselves had kindled, now two miles wide, and already far in the distance. These fires in the pampas, although they frequently extend over a vast tract of country, are seldom fatal to life. The grass rarely attains a height exceeding three feet, and burns out almost like so much cotton. A man on horseback, having no other method of escape, can, by blindfolding his horse and wrapping his own face in a poncho, ride fearless through the wall of fire without damage to horse or rider. It was only, therefore, the young hands who had felt any uneasiness at the sight of the fire; for the settlers were in the habit of regularly setting fire to the grass upon their farms every year before the rains, as the grass afterward springs up fresh and green for the animals. Care has to be taken to choose a calm day, when the flames can be confined within bounds; but instances have occurred when fires so commenced have proved most disastrous, destroying many thousands of animals. "There is nothing to do but to remain where we are until morning," Mr. Hardy said. "The horses had better be picketed, and then those who can had better get a few hours' more sleep. We shall want no more watch to-night." In a few minutes most of the party were again asleep; and the young Hardys were about to follow their example, when Mr. Hardy came up to them and said quietly, "Come this way, boys; we are going to have a council." The boys followed their father to where some eight or nine men were sitting down at a short distance from the sleepers, and these the boys made out, by the glow from their pipes, to consist of Herries and Farquhar, the two Jamiesons, Mr. Percy, and the four Gauchos. "This is a terribly bad business," Mr. Hardy began, when he and his sons had taken their seats on the ground. "I expected it, but it is a heavy blow nevertheless." "Why, what is the matter, papa?" the boys exclaimed anxiously. "Have we lost anything?" "Yes, boys," Mr. Hardy said; "we have lost what is at this moment the most important thing in the world--we have lost the trail." Charley and Hubert uttered a simultaneous exclamation of dismay as the truth flashed across their minds. "The trail was lost!" They had never thought of this. In the excitement of the fire, it had never once occurred to them that the flames were wiping out every trace of the Indian track.