A dozen others saw the flash, including Dave, and many leaped back, while half a dozen other spurts of flame went up from the long grass, which was now on fire. The keg the soldier had dropped rolled into this long grass, and might have exploded had not Dave rushed forward.
“Hi! what are you up to?” roared one soldier. “Look out, or you will be killed!”
“I’ll risk it,” muttered the young soldier, and sprang beside the keg. He gave it a vigorous kick, which sent it spinning away from the dangerous spot.
The train of fire had burnt backward as well as forward, and it reached another patch of grass close to where two half-kegs of powder rested, the last taken from one of the barges. Nobody cared to go near these, and a minute later one exploded with a loud report, hurling stones, dirt, and the other half-keg into the lake.
The sound of the exploding powder caused an alarm in and around the fort, and soldiers came hurrying from all directions.
“The grass is on fire in a dozen places!”
“It is creeping up to the powder house!”
“If the house goes up we had best all take to the woods!”
He gave it a vigorous kick, which sent it spinning away
from the dangerous spot.—Page 146.