A FRUITLESS SEARCH.
Many conflagrations, caused by the lightning striking an oil-tank, have
been known since the discovery of petroleum; but none had ever been so
disastrous as the one of which the reader has had but an imperfect
account.
Forty-five thousand barrels of oil had been consumed or wasted up to the
time as narrated in the previous chapter, and fully as much more was now
threatened by the overflow, which had taken fire, and was shooting forth
flames most dangerously near the other two large tanks.
At the first alarm the entire force present left whatever they were
working at to combat the new danger, when George and several of those
who, with him, were directing the work, saw at once the peril to which
the town was exposed by this sudden abandonment of the labor which had
been performed for the purpose of presenting an impassable barrier to
the angry flames.
It was impossible that the now nearly exhausted workers could prevent
the flames from attacking the two tanks upon which they were sweeping,
and if vain labor was spent upon that quarter, the enemy would, beyond
a doubt, gain possession of the town.
To keep the men from neglecting the safety of their homes to try
uselessly to save property which could easily be replaced, was
absolutely necessary, and the length of time required to persuade them
to return to the work they had first been engaged in would decide the
fate of the village.
Leaping directly in front of what had almost become an unreasoning mob,
George and Ralph tried by their strength to resist the impulsive dash
forward, at the same time that they shouted at the full strength of
their lungs the reason why the work nearer the town should not be
neglected.
For some moments it seemed as if they would be trampled under the feet
of the frightened multitude, and then their coolness won the victory
over unreasoning fear, as it always will whenever displayed.
The people returned to the more important labor the moment they
understood how fruitless would have been their work in the other
direction, and George aided them by his efforts and advice, while Ralph,
with a dozen assistants, began a cannonading of the other two tanks that
were just beginning to add their fuel to the fearful blaze.
The breeze, which, caused by the heated air, always springs up during a
conflagration, now rolled the thick, black smoke first in one direction
and then in another, until those who had not already succumbed to the
heat were nearly suffocated, and it seemed impossible that any one could
continue at his work.
The sun had set, although that fact was hardly noticed, since for
several hours the heavy smoke had veiled the scene as with the mantle of
night, through which the flames glowed and flashed luridly.
In the struggle between the men and the flames, first one and then the
other gained a victory; but neither had made any progress.
Ralph and his assistants had opened vent-holes for the oil in the
last-attacked tanks, thereby preventing fully half the oil from
combustion, although it was entirely lost.
The female portion of the workers had long since desisted from any
effort to check the flames, and had continued their work by preparing
food for the laborers, carrying it to them that they might not be
obliged to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary in getting
it.
During all that long night the people worked in relays, that each might
have an opportunity for rest, and when morning came the flames were
well-nigh subdued--not so much through the exertions of those who fought
against them, as because of the fact that there was nothing more
remaining for them to feed upon.
By that time a small body of watchers, in order to see that the
remaining flames did not overleap the boundaries set, was all that was
necessary at the place where ninety thousand barrels of oil had been
consumed or wasted, and for the first time since the thunderstorm had
cleared away, Ralph and George felt that they were at liberty to go
where they chose. Both were begrimed by the smoke until it would have
puzzled their best friends to tell whether they were white men or
negroes, and both were in a very dilapidated condition, so far as
clothing was concerned.
The garments they had cast off when the work of fighting fire was begun,
had been tossed about, trampled on, or scorched until they could no
longer be called serviceable, and, half-clothed, dirty and
disreputable-looking generally as they were, they started wearily for
the town in search of rest, and, what was quite as important, a bath.
Many times during the night had George thought about his missing horses;
but it was not until he was relieved from all care which the
conflagration had caused, that he began to grow seriously alarmed. It
did not seem possible that any one could have stolen them, and he
cheered himself with the thought that they had simply broken loose and
run away, or that some one living near by had cared for them.
A visit to the shed where the team had been left dissipated this first
supposition, for there was every indication that the horses had been
taken by some one, since no broken harness was there to tell of flight,
and the door was carefully closed behind them, showing an excess of
precaution on the part of some one, since both doors had been left wide
open when George drove in.
"Some one must have recognized them as yours, and taken them away
thinking they were not safe while the fire was raging so furiously,"
said Ralph, after the survey of the shed was completed, and George
believed such was the case.
"At all events, we will get a bath and borrow some clothes first; then
we can soon find out where they are," said George.
And in pursuance of this plan the boys started towards Sawyer, so weary
that it seemed almost impossible for them to walk.
It was not a difficult matter for two who had worked as hard and done as
much service as George and Ralph, to get all they required at the town,
once they arrived there, and the bath had revived them so much that both
were in favor of finding the team at once, in order that they might get
what else they required at the Kenniston farm.
Under ordinary circumstances they could have hired a team with which to
search for their own; but now, with every one in that state of
excitement or prostration which follows such scenes as the inhabitants
of Sawyer had just passed through, it was almost impossible to find any
one sufficiently calm to transact the most ordinary business.
Twice George made the attempt to hire a horse, and then he gave up what
promised to be a useless effort, both he and Ralph thinking it better to
pursue their inquiries on foot than waste their time by trying to hire a
team, and being obliged to walk after all.
They began the search by making inquiries in town, of any one whom they
met, and by going to each stable or even barn, looking in each place
large enough to shelter the team; but without seeing any signs of it
whatever.
Then they started up the road in the direction from which they had just
come, and at the dwelling nearest the shed where the team had been
left, they heard the first tidings.
The lady living in this house knew George's team, and said that while
the fire was at its height, when she had come to her house for the
purpose of getting food to carry to her husband, she had seen two men
drive toward Sawyer in it. The men were entire strangers to her, she
said, and they were driving at full speed, but whether that was due to
the fear the horses had of the flames, or to a liberal use of the whip,
she was unable to say. She described the men as being young and well
dressed, and was quite positive that she had never seen them before.
George's first thought was that his friends, the moonlighters, had taken
the horses away, as a favor to him, and this belief was strengthened
when, on questioning the woman closely, he learned that she did not know
either Jim or Dick even by sight.
"They probably came down when they saw the smoke," said George,
confidently, to Ralph, "and on finding the team here, knowing we were at
work, have carried it to Farmer Kenniston's."
"I should have thought they would have tried to find us first, so as to
let us know what they were going to do," said Ralph.
"In order to have found us, they would have been obliged to meet some of
the people here, and they probably did not think that safe, even though
everyone had so much to attend to."
"But they would have left word with someone," insisted Ralph.
"That would have been as bad as to show themselves. Bob probably wants
to make it appear that he hasn't even been in this section of the
country, and if any trouble comes of carrying the glycerine through the
town, he will insist that he hasn't been here."
Ralph was far from being as positive that they would find the horses at
the Kenniston farm as his friend was, but he contented himself with
waiting until it could be proven, rather than to provoke an argument
when it seemed that, under any circumstances, they had better return
there.
After some considerable difficulty, the boys found a man who, for a
generous consideration, would carry them to the farm in his wagon, drawn
by a slow, methodical-moving horse, and they set out, George's fears for
the safety of his team entirely allayed, and Ralph's increasing each
moment.
In order to make sure that the horses had been driven toward the farm,
and not in the direction of Jim's home, George made inquiries of all he
met on the road, as well as at several of the houses.
Quite a number of people had seen the team, driven along at full speed
by two young men, and had noticed it particularly because they believed
it had been sent to Bradford to get assistance in extinguishing the
fire.
This continued news caused George to be positive that his horses were
safe at the farm, and in the rapid driving he recognized, or thought he
did, Jim's presence, for that young gentleman was always anxious to get
over the road as fast as possible.
But when they had arrived within a mile of Farmer Kenniston's home,
they received information of the team which had the effect of arousing
George from his dream of fancied security, so far as his horses were
concerned.
A farmer who was well acquainted with all three of the moonlighters, had
seen the horses as they were driven past his home on the afternoon of
the previous day, and he was positive that neither Bob, Jim nor Dick was
in the carriage. The men were young, well dressed, and strangers, so far
as George's informant knew, and he was certain that they had not been in
Sawyer, nor in the vicinity, any length of time.
This aroused all of George's fears, and it was with the greatest
difficulty that he could restrain his impatience until the farm-house
was reached, when the first question asked was as to whether the horses
were there.
Farmer Kenniston was surprised that such a question should be asked, for
he had seen the team going toward Bradford the day previous, and, as it
was in advance of him at the time, he had no doubt but that it was
George who was driving.
That the horses had been stolen there could no longer be any doubt, and
how they could be recovered was just what neither of the boys could
decide.