He saw only a little sparkling point of light that would hardly have burned a baby’s finger.
But the scout stared in horror for an instant, then bounded over the rocks like a madman.
He tore at the spluttering spark with his bare hands, but it was already beyond the grasp of his fingers under the rock pile.
It was crawling away rapidly, its single baleful eye snapping defiantly at its pursuer.
Buffalo Bill plunged his hands among the rocks and tore them away with insane fury.
He hurled them right and left, at the same time shouting:
“Turn out, boys! Get behind the rocks! A blast!”
Then he came to the powder can. He felt its rim, and he saw the fatal spark, but where the fuse was attached he could not see.
He grasped the can with both hands and ripped it from its surroundings.
The sputtering light clung to it.