“Get the fire pump from town,” Roland ordered Evans.
The man took off at a run. It would take time to bring the steam pump up to pressure, but it was their best hope for getting a solid stream of water on the growing blaze.
“I want every bucket and shovel put to use.” Roland assigned each man, but the winds were whipping the small flames into a blaze.
One spark. That’s all it had taken. Roland had looked up from the sawing operation at the exact moment the tug’s stack spewed soot into the air. Amid the dirt had been a few sparks, embers likely. One touched the dried leaves, and a flame soon licked upward. He’d raced down the slope to beat it out, but the flame had taken off through the dried leaves and twigs. Though he’d yelled to his men to drop their saws and help out, the wind-fed fire soon gained the upper hand.
“Four buckets, Mr. Roland,” one man reported.
That wouldn’t be much help against this growing blaze.
“Dig,” he barked. “Throw dirt on the blaze.”
Maybe they could smother it before it got to the huge pile of debris. If they could turn it back on itself and force it to the river, they might extinguish the growing monster. He positioned his men with the shovels and wished he had brought the steam tractor back to the work site today, but he hadn’t wanted to upset Pearl the very first day, not after reading her gracious note that Charlie had finally given him this morning. He’d misjudged her badly and treated her worse.
He glanced to the top of the hill. The school stood in the potential path of the fire.
He grabbed Tuggman, one of the crew chiefs. “Tell Miss Lawson to take the children away from here.” He pointed to the school, and the man took off.
The fire streaked up the slope, following the piles of leaves that had been created by dragging the felled trees. Though his sweat-stained men flung shovelfuls of sand and dirt on the flames, the fire was winning. Only twenty feet of open ground stood between it and the debris pile. If that caught fire, nothing could stop the blaze from consuming the timbers and beams piled high for the construction of his glassworks.
He had to stop that blaze. It took but a moment to assess the situation. If they could clear every bit of tinder from the expanse between the fire and the debris pile, they might stand a chance of stopping the blaze’s progress. Unfortunately, his decision to keep the steam tractor off-site today left him without the one piece of equipment that he could have used to stop the fire. It could drag the entire debris pile to the river. Likewise the wooden beams. Without it, they must rely on their hands.
Roland ran toward his men, barking out orders even while he raked away debris with the only tool available to him, a crosscut saw. When one of his crew grabbed the other end, they were able to drag it along the ground and rake aside leaves and twigs. Men with shovels followed behind, scooping up what he’d missed.
The men worked as a solid unit, focused on the task at hand. Good men. Most were bachelors, but some had wives and children elsewhere. Wives. Children. Roland looked up the slope toward the school. Surely Pearl had been warned by now. Surely they were all safe. Then where was Tuggman?
“Boss?” the man on the other end of the saw called out to him.
Roland had let his attention wander at the worst possible time. The blaze was gaining on them. He grabbed his end of the saw and dragged. They scooped up another swath of debris, but the wind tugged the dry leaves from the pile and sent them swirling back onto the ground they’d just cleared.
He looked back to direct the men with the shovels when the fire found a scrub pine at the edge of the clearing. With a great sizzle and roar, the tree ignited like a torch. Now the fire moved from treetop to treetop, carried by the wind. The entire hillside to the east of the clearing was ablaze.
Seconds later, the debris pile lit.
Roland grabbed a shovel and flung dirt at it with all his strength.
“Boss.” Evans appeared at his elbow.
Roland couldn’t give up. If he could stop the fire here, they might save the schoolhouse. “Where’s that fire pump?”
“Stuck.”
Roland stopped shoveling long enough to look back toward Singapore. Sure enough the heavy pump had bogged down on the sandy road too far from the river and too far from the fire. Old Tom, the only horse in town, neighed and fought the twisted harness. Two of the men worked to get him free. Once loosed, he bolted back to the stable. Even if the men did catch him, in such an agitated state he wouldn’t be much use pulling the pump from the loose sand.
“Get the men to help you move it.”
“Tuggman said we can’t budge it with his men alone. Can we take some of Raiford’s crew?”
“Tuggman?” Roland heard nothing past that. Tuggman was supposed to tell Pearl to move the children to safety. Roland whipped his head back toward the school, his heart in this throat. “Did he warn Miss Lawson?”
“I don’t know.”
“When did he join you?” Roland grabbed Evans by the shirt collar. “This is important. Lives are at stake.”
“He came down the hill not long ago.”
Then he must have warned them. Roland looked back up the hill. Fire and smoke shrouded the scene and blocked the path. He hoped Evans was right and Tuggman had gotten everyone in the schoolhouse to safety.
* * *
The children started sobbing while Pearl and Amanda hurried to bundle each in his or her coat.
“Take your primer and slate,” Pearl instructed, mostly to take their attention off what was happening, but most of the children were too upset to obey.
The fire appeared to be down the hill. They would be able to escape toward the northwest in the direction of Goshorn Lake.
“Amanda, lead the children up the hill away from the flames.”
Her friend opened the door, and a terrifying quantity of smoke rolled into the classroom. The children began coughing, and Amanda shut the door.
“What now?” Amanda asked, her eyes wide with fear.
The youngest students clung to her. Any moment now, they’d succumb to panic if Pearl didn’t take charge. She glanced out the window. The flames had raced near, but she couldn’t give in to fear. These precious children needed Amanda and her.
Help us bring the children to safety, Lord.
The prayer calmed her enough to focus.
“Soak your handkerchiefs in the water bucket and put that to your face,” Pearl instructed.
Naturally the older boys postured that they could handle a little smoke.
“Do it,” Pearl demanded. “Use your handkerchief to help the younger students.”
This time they responded to her no-nonsense tone.
She next paired up an older child with a younger one. “Miss Porter will lead, and I will follow. Hold onto each other’s hand and stay close together. We will get through this.”
She reached the end of the pairing. Twelve students should come up even, but Isaac stood alone without a partner. Who was missing? Clem Bailey had come back from the privy long ago, and no one else had asked to leave. Pearl began to count again, but Amanda had already taken off with the first students, and the remaining pairs were hurrying out behind her. Had three students gone together or had one of the little ones stuck to Amanda’s side? Like Sadie.
“Where’s your sister?” she asked Isaac.
“She went to get Cocoa.”
Pearl drew in her breath. The kitten! She’d completely forgotten about it.
“Sadie!” Pearl looked beneath the tables.
“She’s not in here.” Isaac pointed at the windows. “Clem took Cocoa with him when he went to the privy.”
Pearl reeled. That meant Sadie was outdoors in this. Most likely she’d gone to the privy to look for Cocoa. Knowing Clem, he might have closed the kitten into the structure. Fury gave way to terror.
“Follow Miss Porter.” She pushed Isaac out the door after the last pair.
“I have to get Sadie.” His thin shoulders squared and his little jaw set. For that instant he looked so much like his father and uncle that Pearl’s heart nearly broke. That poor child had taken on the responsibility for his family at too young an age. When this was over, she’d give the Decker brothers a piece of her mind, but now all that mattered was getting every last child to safety.
“I need you to take my place at the end of the line and keep the children together.”
“But Sadie,” he protested.
“I will find her and bring her to you.”
He wavered, not sure he could trust her.
“I’m counting on you,” Pearl added. “I need you to keep the other students safe and to tell Miss Amanda to go away from the fire and toward Goshorn Lake. She doesn’t know the woods around here. You have to be her guide.”
His lip trembled. “You promise to get Sadie?”
“I promise.”
He nodded solemnly and hurried after Amanda.
Pearl closed the door to the school, coughing in the heavy smoke, and then raced to the east around the building. Flames swept through the treetops and licked at the trunks, swept along by the wind. She pressed her sleeve to her face, for she’d neglected to dampen her own handkerchief, and edged along the building just out of the reach of the flames. On this side of the school stood the water pump and the privy in the far back, at the edge of the woods.
“Sadie!” she cried out.
The smoke was too thick to see, but she heard a small sob.
“Where are you?” Pearl plowed forward.
More sobs.
Panic threatened to cripple Pearl. She had to find Sadie. Why wouldn’t the little girl tell her where she was? Because she was terrified. She’d gone back into the protective shell of silence.
Lord, help us. Help me find Sadie. Save her, Lord. Take my life, if You will it, but save that precious little girl.
A gust of wind cleared the smoke, and Pearl saw Sadie. She stood in front of the privy, the kitten hugged to her chest, surrounded by flames that tore through the dry grass and leaves. Soon the fire would reach her.
Pearl looked left and right. To get to Sadie, she must cross the flames. Pearl drew in a deep breath and plunged through the fire.
* * *
Roland heard the first of the bricks crack from the heat. More followed. The wooden beams he’d stacked for the roof of his glassworks created a bank of heat so fierce that no man could get near. Flames shot thirty feet into the air. All his work, all the investor’s money, was vanishing in this fire and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“We’ve got the fire pump loose.” Garrett appeared at his side.
Roland looked back to see they had indeed moved the pump into position. Lines were being laid to the river, and the steam engine boiled. “It’s too late. The bricks are cracking. There won’t be anything left.”
“Don’t give up.” Garrett glanced up the slope. “You got the children out of the school?”
“I sent Tuggman to warn them.”
Garrett growled, “I’m going up to make sure.”
The similarities to two springs ago did not escape Roland. In a flash he saw that day again, Garrett asking about his wife while Roland raced for a boat to rescue her. They’d argued, and she’d stormed off after calling Roland selfish and inconsiderate. She’d taken the skiff they kept tied to the shore upriver. The rushing water and chunks of ice had proven too much for her. The skiff capsized and sank. He’d run back to town for another dinghy, the New Dawn, the very one that the kittens had been found underneath. Though he’d rowed with all his might, by the time he got there, she was gone. Dead. It was all his fault.
Now, Garrett’s children were on the other side of that fire.
“Wait.” Roland grabbed Tuggman while holding Garrett at bay. “Did you warn the students at the schoolhouse?”
The man went ashen, and Roland had his answer. He didn’t wait for another word but sprinted up the hill, dodging the flames. Garrett was on his heels and soon reached his side. Together they raced through the burning woods until they reached the clearing where the schoolhouse stood. Flames lapped its southern wall, but to the north the woods were as yet untouched.
“There!” Garrett pointed high on the hill, where the children huddled around the dark-haired Miss Porter.
Garrett sprinted toward them. This time Roland trailed behind.
“Papa!” Isaac separated from the huddled group.
Garrett aimed for his son, falling to his knees to envelop the boy in a bear hug.
Roland caught Amanda’s frantic gaze.
“Pearl?” he said.
She pointed toward the rear of the schoolhouse, already enveloped in flames.
This couldn’t happen again. His family would not lose someone they loved to tragedy. His niece and nephew would not sob through the nights. He could not fail them this time.
He could not lose Pearl. Not now. She didn’t even know that he loved her.