“Look!  Look, Tad!” he whispered.

CHAPTER XIII

 Following A hot trail

“Fire!  Fire!” cried Professor Zepplin, leaping up from where he had been leaning over, watching the water bubbling in the bottom of the excavation they had made.

The guide had been hanging over the hole, dipping water to Ned, who was turning it into the water-bags.

“Where, where?” demanded Mr. Kringle explosively.  He also sprang to his feet.  “It’s a prairie fire!”

“The boys are caught.  They’ll perish!” exclaimed Professor Zepplin, with blanching face.  “Go to them, go to them, Mr. Kringle!” he begged.

“No living thing could get through that wall of fire, Professor,” announced the guide impressively.  “We’ll shout and perhaps, if alive, they’ll bear us.”

They did so, with the result already known.

“Which direction did Master Stacy take?” Mr. Kringle asked.

“I saw him riding down that way,” replied Walter, pointing excitedly.

“Then, perhaps he is safe outside of the fire zone.  Some of you hurry back to the camp, The stock may take fright and stampede.  No, we’ll all go.  The wind may shift at any moment, and while I do not think the flames could reach the camp, all our animals might be suffocated, even if they did not succeed in getting away.”

“But you’re not going to desert Tad and Chunky, are you?” demanded Walter indignantly.

“Certainly not.  What can we do here?  We must get the ponies first; then we’ll hurry to them.  I’m afraid they’ve been caught,” answered the guide.

“If there’s any way of escape you may depend upon it that Master Tad has discovered that way,” answered the Professor.  “He is a resourceful boy, and—­”

But the rest were already dashing madly toward the camp and Professor Zepplin began to do so with all speed to catch up with them.  The hot breath of the prairie fire had brought the color to his blanched cheeks.

“How—­ how do you think the fire started?” stammered the Professor, when he at last came up with the guide.

“It was set afire,” answered Kris Kringle grimly.

“Set!” shouted the Professor and the two boys all in one breath.

“Yes.”

“By whom?”

“That remains to be seen.”

“Do you mean that one of the boys was imprudent enough to build a fire in that grass?  Surely they would not have been so foolish as to do a thing like that.”

“As I said, that remains to be seen.  The first thing to be done is to get to them as quickly as possible, though I don’t know that we can do any good.  They’re either out of it, by this time, or else they’re not,” added Mr. Kringle suggestively.  “Professor, I wish you and one of the boys would get out your rifles, mount your ponies and watch the camp, while two of us go in search of the lost ones.”