An hour later Dick, wishing to find out how the wind-storm might be progressing, made his way to the opening and passed out. When he returned he reported that the stars were still shining, and it was getting very cold; as for the wind, it continued to roar across the open country furiously, now coming out of the north. "And let me tell you," he wound up by saying, "I builded better than I knew at the time I happened to notice this cave mouth. In here it is so comfortable one finds it hard to believe the cold is so intense outside." "For folks who have no blankets a cave is a very fine thing, I must say," was Roger's comment. Of course, almost all of their conversation was connected with the immediate past, and the hope they entertained concerning a successful termination of their hunt for Jasper Williams. "You did not see anything to tell you the Indians might be camped near here, I suppose, Dick?" Roger asked, as the other took his place once more near the fire. "No, although I looked in every direction," was the reply. "There is a strange light over toward the west. You can see it in the sky. I do not know how to describe it, except that once, when the forest was afire down on the Missouri, we saw the same reflection. It may be there is a prairie burning somewhere down that way. It would be a fearful sight, I should think." "And picture the buffalo, and the deer, and everything that runs, fleeing from the flames!" added Roger, who possessed a lively imagination. "I heard one of our men by the name of Fields tell about the time he was caught in such a fire when far out on the open prairie, hunting buffalo, and what a narrow escape he had." "Yes, I remember what a strange thing he did to escape being burned to death," Mayhew continued. "It seems that, as running was out of the question, and the wall of fire was rushing toward him, Fields discovered a little hollow in the surface of the prairie. Into that he crawled, first dragging the buffalo he had just slain so that it would cover his body, and serve as a shield against the passing fire." "And did he escape without being badly burned?" asked Dick, deeply interested, since it happened that he had never heard this story before. "Nothing worth mentioning, he told me," the guide continued. "Few men would have been so wise as to think of such a thing; but then Fields is as bright as a button. They say you can never catch a weasel asleep, and I expect that would apply to him just as well." This man, whom they were talking about, was one of those whose names have been inscribed in history on the roll of fame, along with those of Lewis and Clark, for he accompanied them on their wonderful journey through thousands of miles of utterly unknown country, to the far-distant Pacific, and return.