Free Pack Trip by Bonnie Bryant Page A

because Lisa, after all, was one of her best friends. Kate and Christine helped her. Nobody touched Amy’s clothes or belongings.
    All the while they were working at top speed, the wind kept bringing reminders of what they were working against. Each gust carried a stronger smell of smoke. Then small animals started overrunning the campsite. When the first squirrel zipped across Stevie’s feet, she jumped with surprise. She soon found, however, that it was followed by many more, plus rabbits and a lot of other small animals, including some she didn’t even recognize.
    “If they’re running, we should be, too,” Eli said. “I don’t want to scare you guys unnecessarily, but I think we should be scared. Anything that’s not on a horse’s back now, stays. We are out of here.”
    Eli began jogging, leading one of the packhorses. The others followed, bringing the rest of the horses with them.
    “Seth, Amy, Lisa!” Eli called. “Get to your horses. We have to get away from here!
Now!
” He added the last word when he saw how slowly Amy was standing up.
    It pained Stevie to see Lisa and Seth each holding oneof Amy’s arms across their shoulders. She was sure, beyond any doubt, that Amy was more than capable of walking, even jogging, over to the temporary corral. She was just slowing everybody down with her phony ankle act. Stevie knew enough about fires to know that sometimes seconds counted—and Amy was costing them a lot more than seconds.
    “My clothes!” Lisa cried out.
    “We got them for you!” Kate assured her. “Get to your horse!”
    “Hurry!” Jeannie cried out. “There’s no time to waste!”
    Stevie had a sickening feeling in her stomach when Jeannie said those words. She knew what Amy’s reaction would be. To confirm her suspicions she turned to look just in time to see Amy stumble. Seth and Lisa held her firmly, but it made them lag even farther behind.
    “Slow down!” Lisa called. “Wait for us!”
    “Meet us at the corral,” Christine said. “Your horses are all tacked up there.”
    Stevie couldn’t believe the changes she saw when she reached the corral and the saddled horses. The fire, which had been small and distant the last time she’d seen it, had grown to enormous proportions in less than half an hour. It was now visibly raging on the hillside no morethan a mile away. The field that served as their temporary corral buzzed with activity as the small animals continued their flight from the impending fire.
    “If these guys are out of here, so am I!” declared Stevie. She mounted Stewball, took the lead rope of one of the packhorses, and began the trail ride of a lifetime.

“H URRY , L ISA !” C AROLE called to her friend. Lisa was still supporting Amy, who now seemed to be favoring the wrong ankle. Carole had mounted Berry and, like Stevie, held the lead rope of one of the packhorses. Lisa, Seth, and Amy hadn’t even reached the corral yet.
    “I don’t want to leave Seth—he needs my help with Amy!” Lisa protested.
    Carole was about to give Lisa a list of twenty reasons why she had to leave Amy and Seth, when the fire did her convincing for her. A flaming ball flew over their heads and into the forest, less than fifteen feet from where Amy was standing. As soon as it landed, the ground cover began smoldering.
    Amy screamed. Lisa dropped her arm of support from around the limping girl and ran to her horse. Even Amy started moving a little faster.
    “Head along the edge of the meadow there,” Eli directed them. The open area skirted the mountain, leading toward the valley. They could move quickly through it, and it would take them away from the fire.
    Stevie paused in the meadow and turned back to make sure everybody was safe. She also wanted to wait for Lisa. Jeannie had gone on ahead, followed by Carole, Kate, Christine, and John. Eli had told the riders to drop the lead lines of all the packhorses. Mel would take care of seeing that they followed. Since all the horses