Wildfire, now sinking to his knees, worked steadily upward till he had reached a point halfway up the slope, at the head of a long, yellow bank of treacherous-looking sand.

Here he was halted by a low bulge, which he might have surmounted had his feet been free.

But he stood deep in the sand.

For the first time he looked down at the sweeping fire, and then at Slone.
Suddenly the bank of sand began to slide with him.

He snorted in fright.