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.
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