While drivin' a herd of cattle out in old Nebraska way   Headin' east at Broken Bow one hot September day   Tryin' to get to Omaha we hoped to find a buyer   We never counted in the odds of a western prairie fire      A hot south wind was blowin' and the air was gettin' dry   Somethin' far away was spellin' trouble in the sky   Comin' closer was a sound that topped the devil's choir   Then we knew we had to race a raging prairie fire      When all at once a flame is seen a lickin' at the sky   And every heart is quicker and there's fear in every eye   We'd just one chance to get away for there's no place to hide   Gotta reach the river Platte one inch deep and one mile wide      The herd is gettin' tired but we've got no time to rest   I try to clear the red dust that is gatherin' in my chest   From ridin' tail on a thousand head with the weather gettin' dry   The black cloud in the west is warning ride ride ride      The roarin' heat is closer ashes fallin' by our side   And every breeze is burnin' singin' with its warnin' cry   We've got to reach the river but it's still ten miles or more   And close behind us we can hear that wind infernal roar      But fate had other plans for we lost that fatal race   We lost for neither man nor beast could long keep up the pace   The mighty Platte subdued its rage but none were there to rest   We did our best to get away but only I am left      Now on the blackened prairie far as the eye can see   The grim remains are there to show that God rules you and me   Just one he left to tell the tale just one was his desire   We lost our herd and thirty men to a raging prairie fire