powder.
Seems to come natural to 'em, like pawin' snow to a cayuse."

The light blinked and disappeared as Oscar descended. Followed a long
interval of silent waiting. Then across in the camp a dog began to
bark, at first uncertainly, with what was almost a note of
interrogation, and then, as the wind brought confirmation of suspicion
to his nostrils, with savage vigour. By the sound, he was apparently
approaching the dam.

Some sleeper, awakened by the noise, yelled a profane command to the
animal, which had no effect. It merely awakened another, who cursed the
first sleepily.

"Hey, Kelly," he called, "hit that dog with a rock!" A pause. "Hey,
Kelly, wake up, there!"

"I guess we've got Kelly," Casey whispered to Sandy. He called out
hoarsely: "He'll quit in a minute! G'wan to sleep. You don't know your
own luck."

But the dog continued to bark, jumping up and down frantically. A light
appeared in a window of one of the shacks.

"Blazes!" muttered McHale, "somebody's getting up."

A low whistle came from behind them. It was significant of the tension
of the moment that both McHale and McCrae jumped. But Dunne was cooler.

"That's only Wyndham with the horses," he said.

Suddenly a long aperture of light appeared in the dark wall of the
shack. For a moment it was partially obscured by a figure, and then it
vanished utterly. The door had closed. The light from the window
remained.

"Somebody's come out," said McHale. "That's about where Farwell's shack
is. What's keepin' Oscar? He's had time enough. Maybe I'd better go
across and hold up this feller? We don't want----"

The lantern bobbed into view once more. Oscar was coming at last, but
he was taking his time about it. Had he placed the powder? Had he fired
the fuses? Or had something gone wrong at the last moment? They asked
themselves these questions impatiently. It would be just like him to
have forgotten his matches. It might not occur to him to use the
lantern flame. In that case----

"Come on, hurry up there!" McCrae called softly.

Oscar clambered up beside them. "Ay tal you somet'ing----" he began.
But the dog yelped suddenly. A sharp voice cut across to them:

"Kelly! What the devil's going on here? What are you about? Who's that
with you?"

"Farwell!" Dunne whispered. "Did you light the fuses, Oscar?"

"Sure t'ing," Oscar replied. Proud of the phrase, he repeated it. "She
ban light, all right."

"When'll she fire? Quick, now?"

"Mebb