The distance to the first tree-covered hill was about five miles, and I saw through my glass at the elevations behind a great number of buffaloes, which, however, seemed to be in a strange state of excitement. My horse found it hard walking owing to the dry grass, in which Czar was compelled to part the sharp tangled stalks at every step. I looked constantly toward the highland, and remarked, while the storm howled past my ears, that the sky was growing obscured and that the sunshine was not so bright as it had been a few moments previously. I looked around me, the heavens appeared to be veiled by a grey mist, and grew darker behind me, and on the edge of the prairie were perfectly black. I felt a cold shudder, for I knew the fearful element which had become allied with the storm, and would roar over the plain scattering ruin around. The prairie was on fire. It is true that I could not yet see the fire, but the black smoke clouds rose higher and higher on the horizon, and the storm soon bore them past me over the last blue patch of sky. Only one chance of escape remained. I must reach a knoll where the grass was shorter, and without reflecting I gave Czar the spurs and his head, and flew in rivalry of the storm-wind over the grassy plains before me. I looked round; the whole black expanse behind me was gloomy and obscure as if night were setting in, and beneath the dark rising smoke-clouds the deep red glowing flames stretched out their long forks and cast their fearful light over the outlines of the cloudy columns of smoke. The whole plain seemed to grow alive. Far as eye could see, it was covered with flying herds of the denizens of the desert, whose black forms were surrounded by a fiery halo as they pressed over the plain. It was like the picture of the last judgment, which my fancy had frequently depicted. Czar ran with long leaps through the tall grass, looking neither to the right nor left. With every moment it grew darker around me, and the reflection of the spreading sea of flame more and more tinged my horse's snow-white neck. It was not his ordinary strength that urged the horse to reach the knoll, but the force which desperation imparts to men and animals, but soon wears them out and ends in utter exhaustion. The sharp spurs and the thunder behind him urged my horse constantly on at a mad speed, but I felt his bound gradually lose its lightness and force.