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A cold and raging anger had Quint skidding to a stop, snapping the shotgun to his shoulder, and squeezing both triggers, even though he knew his target was out of range But he had the satisfaction of seeing the figure crouch low before the night’s darkness sed him

Quint was half tenited a fresh panic a the trapped horses He had no choice but to rescue them before they injured themselves

By the ti the crazed and wild-eyed horses through it to safety, E a hose to pour water on the corral’s round bale and Dallas was stabbing a pitchfork into the burning edges of the tightly rolled hay in an attempt to separate it from the unburned portions

All Quint saw in the roll of s of her coppery hair when she turned her face away from the fire’s heat He jerked the pitchfork out of her hands and shoved her aside

“Get out of here and get that hair under a hat,” he ordered and attacked the bale, resuht be successful To her credit, Dallas hesitated only an instant before she sprinted for the house Quint spared a glance at Eet the fire department called?”

Empty responded with a curt nod and aimed the hose at the top of the bale “They’re supposed to be on their way Not that it’s going to dothe fence line that were now a solid wall of flaot the bastard that started this”

“He was too far away”

“I was afraid of that,” Empty muttered, then added bitterly, “Wanna bet the fire trucks will take their ti here?”

“No, thanks”

When Dallas ca back to join them, Quint was quick to note the feed store cap on her head and the absence of hair falling loose about her shoulders Half out of breath, she pointed to burning bales along the fence row

“The grass caught fire” The alarency to her words

Quint threw a quick look in that direction, his gaze scouring the area beyond the billowing s flarass was tinder dry

“Forget this,” he told E the plow hitched to the tractor” As he turned for the barn, he pushed Dallas toward the house “Get any blankets you can f

ind, throw the with some shovels and all the buckets of water you can haul”

No ti his instructions All knew tiet the blankets, Quint vaulted the corral fence and shoved open the double doors to the barn where the tractor was housed Empty hauled hiine Quint cliht to the seat as the tractor lurched out of the barn and roared over to the plow that sat next to the building With an expert swing of the wheel, Empty backed the tractor up to the plow and Quint hopped down to secure the ball hitch The instant he was back on board, Empty took off