Page 32 of Heart of Stone
A strong whiff of smoke brought Luke out of his thoughts, and he frowned as he peered around for the source of it. It wasn’t trash-burning day yet, and anyway, that was done well away from the buildings in case a stray spark got caught in the wind. His heart sank when he saw a plume of black smoke rising over the barn and the telltale flicker of flames, and before his mind could recover from the shock, his body was in motion. He ran to the bunkhouse and began banging on the iron triangle Charlie used to summon the hands for a meal.
“Fire!” he cried out desperately. “Fire in the barn! Get water! Get the horses out!”
There was a moment of silence as the triangle’s sound died away, and then chaos erupted as the hands came pouring out of the bunkhouse, some without shoes or shirts on yet, caught in the middle of dressing. As he pointed desperately toward the stables, they rushed in that direction, most of them looking grim and determined; the horses were the most important thing to every cowboy on the place.
The back door of the main house opened then, and Stone came running out, his shirt unbuttoned and his feet still bare. He glanced at Luke, and there was no mistaking the despair in his eyes; without the water tank, they had only what water they could get from the troughs and the output of the windmill, which wouldn’t be enough to halt a big blaze. Then Stone was past him, running for the stables as well, with Luke right behind him.
Men were already leading horses out, the animals wide-eyed with panic from the smoke and flames. Through the door, they could see the rear of the building seemed to be engulfed, and Stone grabbed Shorty as he started past with his own horse by the reins. “Get the men on a bucket brigade from the troughs! We’ll try to save it!”
Shorty nodded, handing off his mount to another hand and shouting for others to follow. Then Stone looked at Luke, and Luke knew they were thinking the same thing: Raider and Mist were in the very last stalls, closest to the flames. For all they knew, the horses could already be goners. But Stone set his jaw, nodded to Luke, and then bolted toward the stables, appearing determined to save them.
Luke ran to catch up, and Stone forged grimly ahead as Luke recoiled from the shock of heat when they reached the stable door. Luke paused just long enough to pull his kerchief up to cover his nose before following Stone inside, squinting to see through the thick smoke; he could hear panicked whinnying from the rear of the building, and he hoped none of the horses still trapped inside were suffering the pain of severe burns.
The smoke was far thicker and the heat was far more intense near the back, but Luke could see Mist was still alive, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he hurried to reach the terrified mare. The iron latch on the stall was hot and burned his fingers when he touched it; he hissed with pain, but he didn’t hesitate to unlock the stall and grab Mist’s bridle, speaking soothingly to her as he led her out.
“It’s okay, girl.” He tried to reassure himself as much as her. “I’ve got you. You’re goin’ to be okay.”
“Damn it!” He heard Stone curse, and when he glanced over at Raider’s stall, he saw that a beam of wood had fallen from the loft overhead, one end ablaze and blocking the stall door. Stone whipped off his shirt and wrapped it around the unburned part of the wood, using it to pull the beam away from the door.
Luke wavered, but only for a moment. He steered Mist toward the door and slapped her rump; she whinnied loudly and sped out of the stables as fast as she could. Luke watched long enough to make sure she’d made it out safely before turning back, intending to help Stone rescue Raider. But he saw a shadowy form moving off to one side, and he peered through the smoke, wondering if one of the hands had gotten pinned or had been overcome by the smoke. Quickly, he headed toward the movement, but he stopped short when he got close enough to see the man wasn’t caught or injured.
No, the damned fool was dragging lumberto the flames! Luke was about to run over and demand to know what the hell he was doing, but then the pieces fell into place in his head. That lumber was from the water tank, and if someone wanted to see it burn, that probably meant they were trying to cover up something.
He edged closer, wanting to get a look at the man’s face, and somehow, he wasn’t surprised to discover it was that bastard, Hendry, who’d been bad-mouthing Stone to the other hands and trying to stir up trouble by telling them how wrong it was for honest white men to work for a red-skinned savage. Luke had threatened to fire Hendry over it, and Shorty had been helping him keep an ear out in case Hendry started up again. But Hendry hadn’t uttered a peep since, not seeming eager to lose his job, and now Luke had a damned good suspicion as to why.
There was an ominous groaning creak from overhead, audible even over the flames and the shouts of the hands who were getting the last horses out of the stalls closer to the doors. He whirled to shout a warning to Stone, just in time to see him slap Raider on the rump, sending the big stallion thundering out of the stable like the hounds of hell were chasing him. Stone started to move out of the stall as well, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. The hayloft overhead collapsed, sending burning hay and pieces of wood crashing onto the stalls below. A broken piece of timber caught Stone across the shoulder and head, knocking him to the ground as smoke and flames engulfed the entire side of the stable.
All thoughts of the traitorous man fled Luke’s mind, washed away on a wave of sheer panic as he bolted toward Stone and dropped to his knees, reaching out to shake Stone’s shoulders. But even though the timber wasn’t that large, it had hit Stone with enough force to knock him out, and Luke struggled to lift Stone enough to drag him out. His eyes were stinging, and his throat was burning, but he ignored the dangerous creaking that was getting louder and coming from everywhere, focusing on getting Stone out as quickly as possible.
When they were finally clear of the stables, Luke lowered Stone to the ground carefully and yanked off his kerchief to get a lungful of air. Coughing, he dropped down beside Stone, his legs giving out now that the rush of fear and panic was subsiding, and it was only a matter of moments later that the roof collapsed with a resounding crash that echoed in Luke’s ears like a harbinger of doom.
The other hands were busy trying to keep the horses calm, and Luke could see they had abandoned the attempt to put out the fire. Not that he could blame them, since it was obviously a fruitless effort. If the water tank hadn’t collapsed, they might have stood a chance, but without it, they couldn’t fight a fire of that magnitude, which Hendry had probably been counting on.
Groaning and coughing, Luke tore his gaze away from the ruins of the barn and turned back to Stone only to feel a fresh surge of panic when he realized Stone wasn’t breathing. It was the smoke. It had to be! He didn’t think the timber had hit Stone hard enough to kill him with a single blow, but he had no idea what to do to get Stone breathing again. Desperately, he slapped Stone’s cheeks and then hauled Stone upright and pounded on his back, as if he could force air back into Stone’s lungs that way.
He wasn’t sure if it was the pounding that did it, but after few moments, Stone suddenly began coughing, leaning heavily against Luke as he struggled to draw breath. After a couple of minutes, the coughing eased up, and Stone wheezed and shuddered, and then he turned his head to look at Luke, his eyes dark and pained.
“Raider?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “The men?”
“Raider got out,” Luke assured him, trying to keep his hold on Stone impersonal until Stone could sit up on his own. “I haven’t had a chance to do a headcount yet, but I think everyone got out okay, and we didn’t lose any of the horses. We were damned lucky.”
Stone nodded and looked off at the remains of the stables. Without water, there was no choice but to let it burn itself out and try to keep the embers from igniting anything else nearby. Stone had to know that, but Luke had no doubt it didn’t sit well with him.
“Damn.” Stone’s eyes were bleak. “I’m glad everyone’s safe, but damn it, Luke, this is gettin’ to be more than I can handle.”
“Yeah, I know,” Luke murmured, watching one of the stable walls start to collapse. “But I think we can put an end to it. We need to have a talk with Hendry.”
Stone coughed into his hand, and then he gave Luke a puzzled frown. “Why? What’s goin’ on?”
“I saw him in the stables, draggin’ that leftover lumber from the water tank toward the fire.” Luke kept his voice low, not wanting anyone else to overhear, not only to avoid alarming any of the hands, but also to avoid alerting anyone who might be working with Hendry. “He was tryin’ to hide something, and I’ll bet my last dollar he’s the one who started the fire.”
“Damn.” Stone shook his head. “We’d better catch him before he runs off. I knew he hated me, but I never thought he’d stoop so low.” He suddenly seemed to realize he was leaning against Luke, and he straightened, his face and neck flushing. “Sorry. It looks like I owe you for savin’ my life. Miserable as it is at the moment, I reckon I ain’t ready to give it up yet. Thanks.”
“I reckon now we’re even.” Luke was relieved when Stone moved away. It would have been too much like torture to sit there with Stone practically in his arms for much longer.
Stone staggered to his feet. “I reckon we are. Let’s go get Hendry. But first, I’m gettin’ my gun.”
“Are you sure you’re up for that?” Luke asked as he climbed to his feet, watching Stone with concern. “Hendry didn’t see me. He was too busy coverin’ his own tracks. Maybe we should wait until he can’t knock you on your ass just by blowin’ on you.”