“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 chi
ldren 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.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sadie shrieked over and over, one little finger pointed at Pearl as if she was a monster.
“It’s me, Pearl, Miss Lawson. I’ll save you.” Her face felt singed, like when she’d opened the oven door and the flame leaped at the sudden influx of air.
Still Sadie shrieked.
Pearl looked down. Her skirts were on fire. She dropped to the ground and pounded her bunched skirts against the ground until she’d extinguished the flame.
Sadie sobbed, still clutching Cocoa, who clawed at her with desperation.
Pearl looked back. The flames had drawn closer. There was no way out except through the blaze. A flash of memory from long ago scorched through her mind. The heat, the smoke, the bright orange flames. She’d been in a fire before, when she was very little, almost too young to remember, younger than Sadie.
She clutched the girl close. Sadie was a tiny thing. She couldn’t weigh more than half a sack of flour. The little girl was too scared to run. Pearl must carry her—and the kitten. Sadie would never let go of the yowling, terrified Cocoa. She loved that kitten. Cocoa’s life mattered so much that she would not abandon it to save her own.
Unlike Pearl’s father and mother.
She brushed aside the bitter memory of looking out the orphanage window week after week for her parents’ return. Now was no time to dwell in the past. This girl needed her.
The flames rose in a wall between them and the schoolhouse. Perhaps they could escape through the woods. Pearl glanced back. The woods were ablaze. A burning limb dropped onto the privy. Soon it would catch on fire, too.
She must act now. She must run through the flames holding the little girl and pray that somehow she’d make it without catching fire.
Lord, cover us with Your protection.
Pearl lifted Sadie. “Hold tight to Cocoa and press your face into my shoulder.”
Sadie obeyed, and the squished kitten planted its claws into Pearl’s chest. Pearl drew a sharp breath and prepared to run.
Then she saw a man racing toward them waving his arms.
Roland! Relief coursed through her veins.
He ran to her right, where the flames were lower, and held out his arms. “Hand Sadie to me first, and then I’ll get you out of there.”
A mere three feet of burning ground separated his outstretched hands from the edge of the flames near her.
Pearl trembled as another fragment of memory returned. The flames surrounded her, and her papa took her away from her mama. Then she hadn’t seen her mama for a long time.
“Pearl!” Roland shouted. “Hand Sadie to me.”
Could she trust him to return for her? Her father and mother never came back. She shook off doubt. Sadie mattered most. She began to hand over Sadie, but girl and kitten clung to her, the latter with its claws dug into Pearl’s dress.
“Let go of Cocoa,” Pearl begged.
The little girl dug deeper into her shoulder.
Pearl could not do as Roland suggested. She must risk all to save Sadie. Lowering her head, she ran through the flames, eyes shut and covering as much of Sadie as she could. Her foot struck a root, and she stumbled, falling to her knees. The heat sizzled around her. Her lungs begged for air, and she breathed. The air scorched. The smoke choked.
Spare Sadie, Lord. Save this little girl.
Summoning her last ounce of strength, she crawled forward. Strong hands pulled her from the heat. Roland. His deep voice rumbled like thunder but she could not make out what he said. Something, a heavy cloth, smothered her, and she felt blows to her back and legs. She couldn’t stop coughing. He lifted Sadie and the kitten from her grasp.
Roland. She tried to speak his name, but nothing would come out. She tried to look, but her eyelids would not open. Each breath hurt. She struggled to her feet.
“Follow me,” he said.
She reached for him and got only air. The effort cost the last of her strength. She collapsed to the ground, unable to breathe, unable to speak. One hand reached for him.
Above the crackle of flames she felt the thud of his footsteps running away.
* * *
“Uncle, uncle,” little Sadie sobbed as Roland ran to safety.
The kitten bounced in her arms, but he would not let Sadie or her beloved Cocoa go, not until he reached Garrett. His lungs burned from the smoky air and his face felt singed. His muscles protested with every step, but he would not quit.
This time he would get everyone to safety. This time he would not fail.
The fire raced through the treetops, nearing the group huddled in wait for him. They must leave.
“Go!” he tried to shout, but the noises of wind and fire and men desperately attempting to stop the blaze prevented anyone from hearing him.
Though his legs threatened to falter, he pressed on. Only a hundred feet farther. Only fifty. Almost there.
Garrett met him and took Sadie from his arms. Roland bent over, winded, hands on his knees until he could catch his breath.
“Papa,” she sobbed, “help Teacher.”
Pearl! Roland whipped around. She wasn’t there.
“She was right behind me,” he said, but sinking dread clenched his stomach. “I’m going back.”
Garrett grabbed his arm. “It’s too late. You’ll never get through. The schoolhouse is already on fire.”
Though his brother was right, Roland couldn’t leave Pearl. “I have to go. I have to.”
He tried to shake free, but Garrett had a viselike grip on his arm.
“Let go.” Roland pounded on his brother, but Garrett would not release him. “I can’t let her die, too.”
“You didn’t let Eva die. She chose to cross the river. She knew how dangerous it
was.”
Roland stared at his brother. After all the fights these past two years, he’d never expected to hear those words from his lips. But now was no time to make amends.
“Pearl,” he choked out. “I love her.”
Garrett nodded solemnly. “I know. But these children need you. Miss Amanda can’t do this on her own. She needs our help to bring everyone to safety.”
“You can do it.”
“The little ones are too scared to move. They need to be carried.”
“But I can’t leave Pearl.” Roland started for her again.
Garrett tightened his grip. “Would she want you to help the children or go after her? You can’t do both.”
Roland knew the answer, but he couldn’t accept it. “I can’t let her die.”
“It’s too late. We only have the chance to save the children if we act now.”
Deep down Roland knew his brother was right, but he could not accept it. “Pearl.”
“We must trust God to protect her.”
“God watch over Teacher,” Sadie repeated.
From the mouth of babes?
Roland looked up at the blazing treetops and down at the men who worked to stop the fire from heading toward town. “We’ll take them west toward Goshorn and then over the dune.”
“Once we get to the dune, we’ll be safe. Go find Pearl then.”
By then Roland knew what he’d find. His heart shattered.
* * *
The fire’s heat singed, but the ground felt unnaturally cool. Pearl pressed her face against it, first one side and then the other, while she tried to summon enough strength to rise. She could not feel her legs, could barely sense her arms.
She dug her fingers into the ground and pushed up.
The effort spent the last of her strength, and she collapsed to the ground.
Around her, the fire roared. The popping of cedar trees mingled with the sizzle of pine needles. The schoolhouse must be ablaze by now. Nothing could slow this wind-driven fire. Nothing could spare her.
All those years ago she had called out for her mama when her papa carried her from the fiery room. He had given her to someone. She couldn’t recall who. Then he went away. She remembered another house, a strange place filled with people she didn’t know. A gray-haired woman would pat her head and say “poor child” over and over, but all Pearl wanted was her mother.
Mail Order Mix-Up Page 21
