180 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

hot air and gases, rising up through the heap, had
been gradually drying it; and now the wind had
fanned the whole up into a flame. The light of
the fire grew brighter and brighter as they drew
nearer, although they could not get a distinct
view of it, on account of trees which intervened.’
At length, however, when they reached the part
of the road which was opposite to it, the whole
burst at once upon their view, blazing, crackling,
and roaring, in a manner almost terrific. Lucy’s
mother said it was quite a conflagration. The
whole heap was a burning mass from top to bot-
tom. ‘The forms of all the crooked logs and
stumps were yet preserved, but they were all of
the brightest red ; and the flames curled and flashed
above in the most furious manner. If Hero had
not been an uncommonly docile horse, he would
have fled in terror. A vast column of smoke
and sparks ascended from the heap, far up into
the dark sky.

They looked at it a few minutes, and then
drove home. When they got out of the wagon,
and were going into the house, they stopped a
moment on the door-step, to look back at Venus
and the fire. Venus was just going down, and
the bright glow of the fire was very distinctly
visible behind a hill.

THE END.