Nick of Time

By Eleanor Ward

“Ready?” Kid Curry mounted his horse and turned to look at his partner who was just hefting two sacks across his saddle.

“Yep. That’s the lot.” Hannibal Heyes nodded as he secured the sacks before turning to cast a final glance around to be sure they hadn’t left anything behind.

They’d spent the last couple of months up here in the mountains in northern New Mexico, panning for gold, after an almost too close a call in escaping from a posse that had left them feeling somewhat jittery.  In the town they’d arrived in, after finally losing the posse, they had heard talk of gold being there for the taking, up here, for those with strong backs and the will to spend hours and hours swirling water around in pans. While Heyes and Curry weren’t particularly keen on hard labour, when gold was involved they were willing to give it a go.

Heyes reckoned they’d panned around five thousand dollars-worth of dust in their time here, and they had decided that was payment enough for the work they’d put in and planned to head to town to Taos, cash it in, and live it up in style for a while.

Turning their horses, they left their camp and set off in a south westerly direction, towards Taos, a journey of some fifty miles through heavily forested peaks and valleys.

The weather was hot and humid and before long they’d removed their jackets.

“I can’t remember the last time it rained, can you?” Curry asked, as they trotted along.

Heyes shook his head.  “Certainly not during the time we’ve been up here.”

“Good job we stocked up with water before we left.” said Curry.  “Any we might have come across’ll probably be long gone after such a dry spell.”

Heyes nodded. “At least we had the lake to keep us cool up there.” he said, taking off his hat and wiping his brow on his sleeve before putting it back on.

As they cleared a ridge, Curry said, “I wonder what that is?” pointing off to his right.

Heyes turned to look, seeing a thin column of smoke rising up on the air some miles away. “Maybe some prospector, cooking a meal.” he suggested.

“We wouldn’t see camp fire smoke from this far away.” Curry pointed out.

They descended into the next valley and the next time they topped a ridge, a couple of hours later, giving them a clearer view of the area, the smoke was denser and spread over a wider area.

“Must be a forest fire.” said Curry.

Heyes nodded. “Yeah.”  He looked around him.  “The wind’s blowing back the way we came so, if it is, hopefully it won’t get over this way.”

They continued on down into the next valley where they stopped to have lunch.

When they reached the top of the next peak, a couple of hours later, they pulled up their horses in dismay when they spotted a wall of smoke ahead of them.

“Wow, that’s some fire.” said Curry. “Must be a few miles across.”

Heyes nodded.  “Yeah, and it’s going right in the direction we’re headed. The wind must have changed.”

“I can’t believe it’s spread so far so quickly.” said Curry, eyeing the smoke field anxiously.

“Don’t forget, there’s been no rain up here for weeks, everything’s tinder dry and will burn real quick.” said Heyes.  “We’d better turn east and try and circle round it.”

Curry nodded, and they turned their horses to the south east, hoping to skirt the fire line before heading back westwards towards Taos.

Once down in the next valley, they were out of sight of the fire and so had no way of knowing which way it was spreading, or how fast, and so were shocked, when they reached the next peak, to see the fire closer than before and surrounding them on three sides, the flames having been fanned by a strong breeze that had sprung up.

“What are we gonna do, Heyes?”  asked Curry.  They could almost taste the smoke in the air now, and their horses were becoming skittish, sensing danger and wanting to run.

“Only one thing we can do.” said Heyes.  “Make a run for that gap and hope we can get past the fire line before it joins up and cuts us off.”

Curry looked around him, nervously.  “The speed it’s spreading, that’s a big ask.”

Heyes nodded.  “Better get moving then.”  he said, spurring his horse forward. 

Curry followed suit.

They rode as fast as they could, given the heavily forested terrain, struggling to control their horses who, in fear of their lives, wanted to run full pelt.

They headed down into the next valley, casting anxious glances around them as they rode.  While they couldn’t see the fire from down here, the sky above them was dark with smoke.

As they cleared the next ridge, they saw that the fire free gap they were aiming for had shrunk even more, the fire now almost surrounding them.

They exchanged fearful glances.

“We aint gonna make it, Heyes.”  said Curry. “It’s travelling too fast.”

“We’ve got to try.” said Heyes, looking around feverishly. The fire had reached the top of the last ridge they’d crossed, so there was no going back that way.  Their only choice was to keep moving forward and hope that, by some miracle, they could get past the fire before it cut them off completely.

They raced towards the rapidly narrowing gap, praying they would make it in time.

Ten minutes later, Heyes pulled up, holding up his hand to signal Curry to stop too.

“It’s almost joined up. There’s no way through.” he said, pointing to where the gap had now diminished to almost nothing.

“We’ve got to do something.” said Curry, anxiously scanning around him.  “It’s not that far now, there might still be a chance to get through.”

Heyes looked doubtful, but followed as Curry spurred his horse and headed on towards the rapidly disappearing gap.

“Stop, Kid.” Heyes shouted, a short time later, seeing that the narrow gap was now close to being consumed by the flames.  “We’re not going to make it.”

“We can’t just sit here and wait to burn.” Curry’s voice was desperate.  “Come on, we’ve got to try.”

Heyes eyed him.  He knew that Curry knew, just as well as he did, that their chances of reaching the gap before they were cut off were pretty much non-existent. He also knew that, having accepted there was little chance of survival, his friend would rather die in the trying than wait around for the inevitable and, although Heyes was afraid, if he was honest with himself, he couldn’t deny his logic. Better to die doing something than to just give up and wait for it to come to them.

He held Curry’s gaze, all the things they wanted to say to each other, before death caught up with them, but didn’t have the words, or the time to express, passing between them in an unspoken conversation.

“O.K.” Heyes said, finally, before turning his gaze towards the rapidly diminishing gap ahead of them.

They raced on, their throats stinging from the acrid smoke.

Suddenly, Heyes’ eyes were caught by a flash of something between the trees.   At first he thought he’d imagined it, but then, in a break in the vegetation, he saw it again.

“Kid!” He yelled.  “Look!”  He pulled his horse to a halt and pointed.

Curry turned his horse around and rode back to him.

“What?” he said, anxiously.

“Look! Down there, at the bottom of the valley… Water!”

Curry looked, and then looked back at Heyes.

“Worth a shot.” said Heyes.

Curry nodded, and they turned their horses to head down to the base of the valley.

As they cleared the tree line they found a small lake. It was only a couple of hundred feet wide but at least it would give them a chance.

They dismounted and led their horses into the water as far out as they could go while still keeping their feet on the ground.  The horses were panicking and it took all their strength to hold onto them as the fire spread down the ridge towards them.

They waited, watching fearfully as the flames crept nearer.

“Do you think this is gonna work?” Curry asked, worriedly, as he watched the relentless progress of the flames.

“I’ve heard of people doing it before and surviving.” replied Heyes.

Curry turned to look at him now, fear evident in his eyes. As a gunfighter, death was something he’d had to prepare himself for. But dying by a bullet was a very different thing to dying by fire.

Heyes was equally as afraid as his partner, but summoned up a smile as he met his gaze. “It’ll work.” he said, with more conviction than he felt.

Curry swallowed, nervously. “I hope you’re right.” he muttered, his gaze returning to the fire.  To be this close to such a spectacle was both awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

The air was thick with smoke that caused their eyes to stream and their throats to burn.  As the flames neared the water’s edge they moved further out towards the centre of the lake, towing their horses with them.  The air was filled with burning embers and the noise of the fire was deafening. The heat was unbearable and Heyes and Curry ducked under the water for as long as they could hold their breaths before coming up to snatch a breath and going down again.

They lost count of the number of times they repeated this and, each time, the air they sucked in became more and more acrid. But, eventually, they surfaced to find that the fire had moved on past, leaving behind smoking stumps where before tall trees had stood.

Shivering with cold, after what seemed like hours of being in the water, they waded to the edge of the lake, helping each other out, and moved to sit down shakily on some rocks along the waterline, looking around them at the devastation.

It was several minutes before either felt able to speak.

“Can you believe that?” Curry eventually managed to croak.

Heyes shook his head, coughing. “I thought we were gonners.” he admitted.

“So did I.” Curry nodded agreement. A few moments later he started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” growled Heyes, not seeing anything remotely amusing about what they’d just been through.

“I was just about to suggest we build a fire, to get dry.” sniggered Curry.

Heyes glared at him but, after a moment, his mouth twitched into a smile and then a grin, and then they were both laughing hysterically, as relief, at surviving what had seemed unsurvivable, washed over them.

Eventually, their laughter died away, to be replaced by thoughtful contemplation.

“So,” Curry said presently, “what do we do now?”

Heyes shrugged.  “I guess we’re going to have to make camp here for now.  The ground’ll be too hot for the horses to walk on for a while.”

“I guess.” Curry nodded, eyeing their horses who had now made their way back to shore.  “Hopefully our food stayed dry.”

Heyes nodded.  Then, suddenly, with an alarmed expression, he jumped up and ran across to the horses while Curry looked on puzzledly.

“What?” he questioned, as Heyes made his way back to him.

“Just checking the gold dust was still there.  I didn’t fancy the idea of diving down to the bottom of that lake to try and find the sacks if they’d fallen off.”

Curry nodded agreement.  “That really would have been a disaster.”

“True.” grinned Heyes.

Just then, a rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.

“Looks like we might finally get some rain, which will help cool the ground quicker.” said Heyes. “We’d better make camp and get something to eat before it comes.”

Sure enough, that evening a heavy thunderstorm bought a downpour of rain that cooled the ground enough for Heyes and Curry to resume their journey the next day.

As they exited the valley they were in, they were able to see the full extent of the fire damage which was all around them for as far as they could see.

They exchanged incredulous looks, realising just how lucky they had been in finding that small lake. If they hadn’t, there was no way they would have survived the fire. They had literally found it in the nick of time.

*****

They arrived in Taos two days later, where they cashed in their gold dust for a little over five thousand dollars.

That evening, dressed in their Sunday best, they dined in the best restaurant in town.

Afterwards, as they relaxed with a glass of brandy and a cigar, their thoughts returned to their narrow escape from the jaws of death.

“By rights, we shouldn’t be sitting here now, enjoying this meal.” said Curry. “How we escaped that fire is a miracle.”

Heyes nodded as he swirled his brandy around in his glass.  “Someone up there must like us.” he acknowledged, raising his eyes to the heavens.

Curry nodded.  “Well whoever it is, I wish he’d give the Governor a nudge to grant us that amnesty.”

“Maybe he will, Kid. It was a miracle we survived and there must be a reason for that.  Maybe that’s the reason. But in the meantime, I’m just happy that we’re still here to tell the tale.”

Curry nodded.  “Me too.” He held up his glass.  “Here’s to our guardian angel.”

With a smile, Heyes clinked Curry’s glass and tipped back his drink.

“Guardian angels aside,” he said, as he put down his glass, “what are we going to do with our five thousand dollars?” He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“That is a very good question, Heyes.  I’m sure you have plenty of ideas?”

“I was thinking, perhaps a trip to Santa Fe, or Alburquerque? Plenty of good saloons to play poker in.  And…better yet, they’re flat towns, with no forests, hills or valleys.” he added with a grin.

Curry nodded, thoughtfully.  “I like it.  As long as we can go by train?”  After their frantic flight from the forest fire he’d had his fill of cross country riding for a while.

“Sounds like a plan.” 

They exchanged smiles, thinking how lucky they were to still be alive, despite the precarious situation they were living under while waiting to get amnesty. Hopefully their good luck would continue and before long they would gain their freedom too.

END