They, too, thought only of the fire which was now rushing toward them.
The fleeing animals ran in and out among the men's feet, without
attracting attention. No one struck at the adder or tried to catch the
mother grouse as she ran back and forth with her little peeping
birdlings. They did not even bother about Thumbietot. In their hands
they held great, charred pine branches which had dropped into the brook,
and it appeared as if they intended to challenge the fire with these
weapons. There were not many men, and it was strange to see them stand
there, ready to fight, when all other living creatures were fleeing.
As the fire came roaring and rushing down the slope with its intolerable
heat and suffocating smoke, ready to hurl itself over brook and
leaf-tree wall in order to reach the opposite shore without having to
pause, the people drew back at first as if unable to withstand it; but
they did not flee far before they turned back.
The conflagration raged with savage force, sparks poured like a rain of
fire over the leaf trees, and long tongues of flame shot hissingly out
from the smoke, as if the forest on the other side were sucking them in.
But the leaf-tree wall was an obstruction behind which the men worked.
When the ground began to smoulder they brought water in their vessels
and dampened it.
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