Bo tore out of the ranch house. He could see the orange glow on the horizon. It was the stables…the horses...Hickory... Thoughts barreled through his head as he ran.
Nora followed Maggie out of the house. As Bo ran toward the stables, she saw the fire blazing. She saw silhouettes leading horses to safety and beating out flames.
“Oh, Maggie...What can we do?” she shouted. “How can we help?”
“Tom and Helen are on their way. Stay with Little Miss til Helen gets here,” Maggie said hurriedly, “then she can check on her if need be. I’ll find as many buckets as I can. Then, once Helen is here, you and I can pump water into the buckets. Grab some old blankets...as many as you can find…”
After forming a plan, Nora and Maggie both hurried back to the house. Maggie grabbed old buckets and anything large enough to hold a fair amount of water. Nora grabbed the blankets from the linen closets.
Once Helen arrived, Maggie and Nora set their plan into action. First they wet down the blankets with water from the pump. Nora ran the wet blankets to the men at the stables where they used them to beat out the flames. Meanwhile, Maggie pumped water into the buckets.
Neighboring ranchers, who had seen the glow of the fire, arrived to help. They hurriedly carried the buckets back and forth as Maggie and Nora filled them. Others threw saddle blankets over the horses heads and led the fearful beasts to safety. After an exhausting fight, the fire was finally out. All that was left of the stable was a blackened shell and smoldering ashes.
Maggie wiped her brow and collapsed into a patio chair to rest. Nora’s eyes sought for Bo. Finally she spied him in the distance leaning against the pasture fence. Hickory was with him. Exhausted, she made her way to him.
He was soothing the frightened Hickory as Nora approached from behind him. “Isn’t that right, Old Boy?” she heard him ask the horse.
He turned when he heard footsteps behind him. His face was blackened from soot and ashes and smeared from sweat where he had wiped his brow. Hair hung over his forehead, eyes were glazed, and his shirt was tattered and grungy.
“Hey, Red,” he said softly.
Wordlessly she went into his arms. He held her tight. So tight that she could feel his heart beating next to hers. She clung to him.
“Are you alright?” she finally uttered. “I was so scared.”
“I’m alright, Red,” he answered softly, comforting her. He pulled back to look at her. There was sweat on her brow, her hair was tangled, and unshed tears flooded her eyes. Her nightgown was wet, torn, and streaked with soot.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “You finally look like a rancher’s wife,” he said. “I thought I saw you hauling water and blankets back and forth...”
“This ranch is my home too. I’m finally feeling it. So….you’re not burned or hurt anywhere?” she asked looking him over.
“No, I’m tired, but I’m fine. And Hickory is fine.” He turned to pat him again. “He’s the first horse I brought out. We brought all but two to safety...we did our best...still, I feel terrible about the two we lost. One of them was old Tenacity, my first horse.”
She rubbed a hand across his back and let him talk.
“I just wish we knew what caused this. Horses were fed and watered before the barbecue. No one should have been near the stables tonight. It just doesn’t make sense...I don’t know... maybe we’ll find the cause tomorrow when we have some light.”
“Well, I hope daylight will turn up some answers,” she said. “Right now, though, I think you need some rest. Ready to go home?”
“Sure.” Bo gave Hickory one more rub, then he and Nora wrapped their arms around each other and made their way back to the ranch house.