"He's
holdin' back the burnin' wall to keep the way clear, damn him!"
Indeed, the tottering wall, not having leaned to a great angle, was now
pushed back by some power from the inside of the barn and kept erect.
Though now and again it swayed in, as though the strength which held it
was faltering under the strain.
Now the eyes of the watchers were called to the other end of the barn by
a tremendous crashing. The entire section of that part of the roof fell
in, and a shower of sparks leaped up into the heart of the sky, lighting
the distant hills and drawing them near like watchers of the horror of
the night.
"That's the end," said Mac Strann. "Haw-Haw, they wasn't any good in
your prayer."
"I ain't a professional prayin' man," answered Haw-Haw defensively, "but
I done my best. If----" He was cut short by a chorused cry from the
watchers near the door of the barn, and then, through the vomitted smoke
and the fire, leaped the unsaddled body of Satan bearing on his back the
crouched figure of Dan Barry, and in the arms of Barry, limp, his head
hanging down loosely, was the body of the great black dog, Bart.
A fearful picture. The smoke swept following around the black stallion,
and a great tongue of flame licked hungrily after the trio. But the
stallion stood with head erect, and ears flattened, pawing the ground.
With that cloud of destruction blowing him he stood like the charger
which the last survivor might ride through the ruin of the universe in
the Twilight of the Gods.
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