Amy screamed. Lisa dropped her arm of support from around the limping girl and ran to her horse. Even Amy started moving a little faster.
“Head along the edge of the meadow there,” Eli directed them. The open area skirted the mountain, leading toward the valley. They could move quickly through it, and it would take them away from the fire.
Stevie paused in the meadow and turned back to make sure everybody was safe. She also wanted to wait for Lisa. Jeannie had gone on ahead, followed by Carole, Kate, Christine, and John. Eli had told the riders to drop the lead lines of all the packhorses. Mel would take care of seeing that they followed. Since all the horses appeared very interested in getting away from the fire as quickly as possible now, it seemed that Mel would have a fairly easy job of it. She barked furiously and officiously. The horses meekly obeyed her.
Eli took charge of Seth, who was too frightened by the fire to do anything at all. He even needed help getting into his saddle. When Eli gave Seth’s pinto a smack on the rump, the horse loped off to follow the others through the field. Seth clutched the horn of his saddle like a toddler on a merry-go-round.
Lisa loped up to Stevie.
“What’s Amy’s problem now?” Stevie asked.
“It’s her ankle,” Lisa explained. “It hurts so much, she can’t kick her horse and make it lope.”
“That’s it,” Stevie said. “I’m tired of standing by on this one. It’s time for action. Come on!”
With that Stevie turned Stewball around and loped back to where Amy was holding her horse to a walk. The irony of the fact that Amy thought it was okay to lope along a rocky, hilly trail but insisted on a ladylike walk in a fiery field did not escape Stevie. Nor, it appeared, did it escape Lisa.
“Amy, we’ve had enough of this,” Lisa said. “It’s time to hurry.”
“My ankle—” Amy began.
“My—” Stevie began.
“Ahem,” Lisa cut her off, suspecting what she was going to say. “Let’s just do the job.”
Stevie and Lisa knew exactly what had to be done. They got on either side of Amy. Each reached over and took one of her reins.
“Hold on,” Stevie suggested. The two girls urged their horses to a lope. Amy’s horse followed very willingly. In fact, the horse was so glad to be moving that he quickly picked up to a gallop, trying to catch up with the rest of the group. As he passed between Chocolate and Stewball, Lisa and Stevie handed the reins back to Amy, who, not surprisingly, had had no trouble at all staying on.
“Miraculous recovery!” Stevie observed wryly.
When Lisa laughed, Stevie sighed with relief. If Lisa could find it funny, it meant the beginning of the end of Amy’s hold on her.
Stevie noticed a sudden change in Stewball’s gait. He became friskier, prancing to the side. His nostrils flared, and his ears perked up, turning every which way. Stevie looked around, trying to figure out what had changed to make Stewball so tense. The answer came in sight, and it had four feet. A bobcat raced across the field, cutting directly in front of Stewball and Chocolate. As soon as it was gone, Stewball relaxed and resumed his determined lope toward the valley and safety.
“I don’t think Stewball had much to fear from that little cat,” Stevie said.
“A predator’s a predator,” Lisa reasoned. “And if that predator is running away from something at that speed, you know it must be frightful.”
The two girls looked over to their left, where the fire was growing steadily, just in time to see a tall pine, consumed by flames, tumble onto the far side of the meadow. It ignited the dry prairie grass, and the flames began spreading wildly across the entire meadow.
“Let’s get out of here!” Stevie yowled, kicking Stewball’s belly. It wasn’t a signal she had to give twice. Stewball had eyes and ears, and a nose to smell the smoke. He fled. Chocolate followed suit. Proper riding form dictated that the riders grip with their legs and hold their reins steady, above the level of the saddles, but proper riding form went out the window with the wild gallop that Stewball and Chocolate used to escape the fire. Both girls gripped as tightly as they could with their legs, but they also held onto reins, saddle horn, and mane with all their might. They certainly couldn’t afford a fall at the moment.
The field sloped down to the right. Stevie and Lisa caught up with the rest of the riders, just in time to see them reach the edge of the grassy area, where they were forced to return to the woods.
“Follow me!” Eli cried. He waved his arms to signal the beginning of the trail to Stevie and Lisa. Mel circled around the packhorses and brought them into line.
Everything slowed down when they entered the woods. For one thing, it was beginning to get dark, and that made it harder to find and follow the trail. For another thing, smoke from the approaching fire dimmed everything further. The horses went from a gallop to a walk, and events seemed to shift into slow motion—everything, that was, except the approaching fire.
All of Stevie’s senses were heightened. With every leaf that crackled under a horse’s hoof, she listened for fire. With every breath she took, she feared the smoke was thicker. She could taste it in her mouth, and when she blinked her eyes, now tearing from the discomfort of the acrid smoke, she was afraid she’d miss seeing some danger sign. She longed to feel the cool night air on the bare skin of her arms but felt only the enveloping warmth of approaching flames and the sweat of her own fear. Even a half mile or more away, the fire tingled every one of Stevie’s senses.
Carole and Jeannie were at the head of the line of riders and horses. The combination of night and smoke made it almost impossible to see where they were going. Yet the press of danger from the rear urged them on.
“Ease up on your reins,” Jeannie advised Carole. “Berry’s a smart horse with good instincts,” she went on. “He may have a better idea of a safe path than you do.”
Jeannie’s words made sense to Carole. She relaxed her hold. Berry shook his head for a second, as if to assure himself that he was now in charge. Then he lowered his head and began walking more quickly.
The woods were dark and thick and cloaked in the pitch black of night. Carole really didn’t know what direction she was going in. All she was fairly certain of was that she was going away from the fire. That was enough.
From time to time Carole could hear Mel barking. Apparently it was a language Berry understood, because the barking made him adjust his direction, and it always seemed to be for the better. It was so dark in the forest that Carole could feel Berry lowering his head to walk downhill before she could see where he was going. Step by step he made his way down, and then the ground was level. There was the vague sound of trickling water. Carole squinted. Then she understood.
“It’s a creek bed—it’s almost dry, but I think it’s a clear path!” she cried out to the riders behind her. She didn’t even stop to wonder how it was that Berry and/or Mel had found the stream. For now it was good news, and that was enough. She leaned forward and gave Berry a very grateful pat on his neck.
“Carrots’ll come later,” she assured him. “And sugar, and apples, and anything else your little tastebuds desire. Okay?”
Berry didn’t answer. He just kept going forward, now at a relaxed trot. Carole felt she had a lot of things to be grateful for right then, not the least of which was the fact that horses could see in the dark.
* * *
AS SOON AS her horse was in the creek bed, Lisa paused to let Stevie catch up to her and to let Chocolate have a little drink. In a minute they would be moving faster, but for now she had to take a few seconds to get something off her chest.
“Thank you,” she said to her friend.
“For packing up your stuff? It was nothing,” Stevie assured her.
“Thank you for that, too, but what I meant was thank you for sticking with me while I was being a jerk about Amy.”
“And Seth,” Stevie said. “You were an even bigger jerk about him.”
“I know. I was hoping you hadn’t
noticed. He and Amy are hopeless cases, and one day she’s going to do something really selfish and dangerous, and she won’t be as lucky as she has been.”
“I’m not sure I care,” Stevie said. “Do you?”
“It nearly took getting killed by a forest fire, but I’ve figured out that there are times when you can’t protect people, even from themselves.”
“Welcome back,” Stevie said.
“It’s nice to be back,” Lisa told her. “Now to see that I stay back, let’s get going and catch up with the others. I don’t think we’re out of this yet.”
Her point was emphasized by the thundering crash of a tree less than a hundred yards behind them.
The horses bolted into action, moving as quickly as they could along the stony creek bed.
“WHAT IS IT?” Kate asked Carole. There was some kind of barrier ahead of them in the creek bed.
“I don’t know,” Carole answered, drawing Berry to a halt. “Mel?” she called out, hoping that once again the brave dog could show her the way.
Mel came instantly, appearing from the darkness. Her tail waved eagerly, and she sniffed her way toward the barrier. Carole waited for the diagnosis. Mel barked.
Berry stepped forward tentatively, and Carole squinted in the darkness. Then Carole could see that a large tree had fallen across the creek bed. It wasn’t a result of the fire, since it obviously had been there for some time. The water flowed under it easily, but the horses would have to go around it.
“Find a way, Mel!” Carole urged the dog. Mel stood her ground and barked.
Carole thought maybe Mel didn’t understand her, and she didn’t know how to make the order clearer. She also thought that since she was at the front of the line of riders, maybe this time it was her job, not Mel’s, to forge the path. She dismounted and began to explore.
The tree was enormously long. It had been rooted in a hillside to the right that was much too steep to climb, so there was no path on that side of the creek. On the other side the tree lay tangled in a dense undergrowth that would take hours to cut through. They didn’t have hours. They might not even have minutes. Carole returned to the creek bed, checked the ground on either side of the tree trunk, and made her decision.
“Over,” was all she said.
She remounted Berry and rode him back in the creek bed about ten yards. She didn’t have any idea whether Berry knew how to jump, and she could give him only one chance to learn. Jumping was a skill that English riders worked on for style and precision. Carole was a good rider; she could do this. She hoped.
She took a deep breath and nudged Berry into a canter. She directed him right toward the treek trunk. It was about three feet high and at least as wide. Carefully she took stock of the distance and height. At exactly the right moment, Carole leaned forward and rose out of the saddle, moving her hands forward to give Berry the rein he’d need. Carole felt the surge of power as Berry’s strong rear legs propelled him into the air and over the log. He landed smoothly while Carole shifted her weight back into the seat of the saddle.
“No faults!” Kate cried joyously from the far side of the log. Carole laughed, feeling giddy with her success. Competitive jumpers were charged with faults when they made mistakes going over jumps. This wasn’t exactly a competition, though. This was real life!
One by one the other riders did just what Carole had done. John’s horse refused to jump at first, but he made it over on the second try. A few of the packhorses chose to climb over the log rather than to jump it. It was slower and more cumbersome, but it worked. Seth was too frightened to jump. He dismounted, clambered over the log himself, and then let his horse jump without him. He remounted and was on his way. Not surprisingly, Amy made the jump without difficulty. Stevie and Lisa brought up the rear of the young riders, and Eli came last of all.
On the other side of the log, the creek bed began a gentle slope downward. It became both wider and smoother. The horses automatically began going faster. Stevie sniffed the air. There was a noticeable change for the better.
“There’s less smoke,” she told Eli. He sniffed and agreed.
“We’ve come all the way around the mountain, and we’re entering the valley now. There’s not so much wind here, so the fire should stay on the other side of the mountain. We’re not totally out of harm’s way yet, but we’re not far from safety.”
Suddenly a breeze hit Stevie’s face. She immediately noticed two things about the breeze. The first was that it was coming toward her face, not at her back. That meant that it also had to be pushing the fire back. The second was that it was fresh, containing no smoke. That meant there was no fire in front of them. And then a third thing came to her about the breeze—it had splattered her face with water.
“Rain!” she cried.
“A lot of it!” Lisa echoed, shielding her eyes from the brisk storm that seemed to have come very suddenly from nowhere.
“Are we safe now?” Lisa asked Eli.
“I think so,” he said. “I’ve been hoping for rain. Now that we’ve got it, I hope we get enough.”
“Yippeee!” Carole and Kate shouted almost in unison. “Doesn’t it feel wonderful?”
“Absolutely mahvellous!” Christine confirmed.
“Does somebody have a poncho I can borrow?” Amy asked.
“No,” five people answered in chorus.
It took another hour, riding slowly in what turned out to be a drenching rain, for the riders to reach an area close to a lake in the valley where Eli felt they could be assured of safety through the night. It wasn’t an easy ride, but the Saddle Club girls and John hardly noticed the difficulty at all. They were too relieved and too tired. The only thing that really seemed to matter was that they were alive, and safe.
STEVIE OPENED ONE eye and then closed it again. It couldn’t possibly be morning already, could it? The brilliant sunshine peeking through the tent suggested that it was.
Then the whole night came back to her. She remembered the frantic ride through the pitch black, smoke-infested forest, the dramatic jump over the log, the arrival of the soothing, cooling rain, and the fresh breezes that combined with the rain to protect the riders from the onslaught of the forest fire. She remembered their arrival at the campsite, the rush to unsaddle the horses, water them, and secure them for the night in the drenching rain. She recalled helping to pitch the tents hastily and deciding to share a sleeping bag with Carole because they were both too tired to try to find another in the confused mess of camping gear that they were able to unload from the packhorses. After that she didn’t recall anything. It had been well past midnight before the riders were ready to sleep. Sleep, when it was finally allowed, came quickly.
Stevie opened both eyes. She hauled her arm out of the sleeping bag and looked at her watch. It was already nine-thirty. She crept out of the sleeping bag, being careful not to disturb Carole, and emerged from the tent into a bright, warm, and sunny day.
“Good morning!” Eli greeted her cheerfully.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, barely able to believe it.
“Just about,” he said. “One of the packhorses lost his pack somewhere along the way. We don’t have as much food as we would like, but we’re really fine, especially if we can catch a few fish from the lakes today. Also, it seems that a lot of personal belongings were abandoned at the campsite in the rush last evening, so some people—”
“Oh, there you are, Stevie,” Amy interrupted. “I’m glad you’re up, because now you can lend me a clean pair of jeans.”
Stevie recalled then that they had left Amy’s belongings at the campsite while Amy fiddled with her bandage and refused to help break camp. Although she had several perfectly good pairs of jeans, she couldn’t think of a single reason to share them with Amy.
“Sorry, this is all I’ve got,” she lied, and she didn’t feel bad about it at all.
Amy stared as if studying Stevie’s face for a hint of a lie. Stevie gave her nothing.
“Too
bad,” Amy said, and went off in search of another victim.
Eli said nothing. He just showed Stevie where she could wash up and accepted her offer to dig for worms for fishing.
Before too long Stevie had a hook baited and had found a comfortable place to sit and pass the time until she could catch some breakfast. Carole and Lisa soon joined her. They were too groggy to talk, but that didn’t seem to interfere with their fishing skills. By the time Eli had the camp fire going, they’d caught enough fish among them to make a delicious breakfast for everyone.
“The fish probably smelled the smoke last night. It must have psyched them for a camp fire!” Stevie announced, displaying their catch.
The rest of the riders were up by then, and since there hadn’t been any dinner the night before, breakfast seemed like an awfully good idea.
Jeannie asked Kate and Amy to help her clean the fish. Kate rolled up her sleeves and opened up her pocketknife. Amy just looked at the fish distastefully. Kate had the feeling she was searching for an excuse.
“Is your ankle bothering you?” she asked.
“Quite a bit,” Amy said.
“Well, then this is a perfect job because you can do it sitting down,” Jeannie said, handing her a sharp knife.
“I think I did quite enough last night,” she said. “I don’t see why I should have to do any more work today. Seth! Come give me a hand, will you?”
Seth came running. With his help Amy limped off.
“Good riddance,” Jeannie declared, picking up the first fish for cleaning.
Stevie decided later that the best part about Amy’s limp was that, even with Seth’s help, she and Seth were the last ones to arrive when breakfast was served. There were just small morsels of the fresh fish remaining for them. That was enough to put both Seth and Amy into a pout, but it didn’t upset anybody else at all.
Pack Trip Page 7