He wriggled up against one of the packs that the men had opened earlier and from which they had imbibed freely. He could barely see, but his probing hands found several jugs. They seemed to be of clay. He got his arms around three of them and carefully crawled back, setting them on the ground within reach of the fire. He returned for more. Before carrying three additional jugs away he uncorked those that remained. The whiskey softly gurgled out onto the canvas.

He waited, listening for an indication that he had disturbed anyone. Then he placed the jugs in the fire and crawied back to the blanket. He pulled the edge of it up and over himself and Billy as a shield against flying pieces of clay in event the jugs reacted as the bottle had.

A cork blew free with a sound like a small-caliber gunshot. Enough whiskey spouted out behind it to ignite a large bluish flame. The jug exploded with a loud pop, the flames blazing high. One by one the other jugs began to blow.

The camp came awake as if a thunderbolt had struck. Confused men shouted and cursed, trying to scramble away from flames that lighted up the night. Coals and firebrands flew in all directions. One landed on the canvas where Andy had spilled several jugs of whiskey. A second blaze flared up, almost as large as the first.

Andy grabbed Billy, who seemed too groggy to grasp what was happening. For the moment the traders were too involved in trying to escape the fires to pay any attention. He ran for the picket line. There the horses and mules reared and kicked, panicked by the noise and the flashes of fire.

Andy plopped Billy up on top of his horse and freed the reins from the picket rope. He untied his own reins and swung up onto Long Red. He wished he could cut the picket line and free the rest of the horses to run away, but Jake had confiscated his knife as well as his rifle. He had neither the time nor the inclination to try to retrieve them.

“Let’s see how fast these horses can run,” he said.

Billy was still bewildered. He had no inkling of the danger they had been in. But he followed Andy’s lead.

“What started all the fire back there?” he wanted to know.

Andy said, “Maybe lightnin’.”

“Shouldn’t we ought to stay and help put it out?”

“They got all the help they need.” Andy looked at the sky to be sure he was traveling in the right direction. He made a little correction and said, “You’re doin’ just fine, Billy. First thing you know, you’ll be home.”

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN