_Chapter V_ THE WHITE MENACE
Miss Bruder looked at the girls, huddled together on the seats,desperately trying to keep warm. Outside the boys were bravely attemptingto clear a path, but it was hopeless.
"Perhaps we'd better get out and try to reach the main road on foot," shesaid.
"I wouldn't advise that," replied the driver. "Some of the girls couldn'tmake it through the drifts. It must be well below zero now and the snow'sstill coming down bad."
Just then Jim and Ed led the boys back into the bus, closing the doorcarefully after them. They were covered with fine snow and frost fromtheir own breath.
"I'm going to try and break through to the road," said Jim. "The rest ofyou stay here and try to keep warm. Whatever you do, don't leave thebus."
"If anyone is going to try to make it to the paved highway, I'm going,"spoke up the driver. "I've been over this road a number of times. I'llfollow the fence line and get to a farm somehow."
In spite of the protests of the boys, the driver remained firm, insistingthat he, and he alone, could make the trip.
"Keep the door shut and don't run the motor. The heater's out of ordernow and if you run the motor, carbon monoxide fumes may creep in. They'redeadly."
But that was an unnecessary warning for all of the boys knew the dangerof the motor fumes in a closed compartment.
Bundling himself up well, the driver plunged into the storm and MissBruder and her honors English class were left alone in the middle ofLittle Deer valley with the worst storm of the winter raging around theirmarooned bus.
Jim turned off the headlights, leaving only the red and green warninglights atop the bus on. He snapped the switches for the interior lightsuntil only one was left aglow for there was no use to waste the precioussupply of electricity in the storage battery.
If anything the whine of the wind was louder and it was exceedinglylonely out there despite the presence of the others. There was somethingabout it that made Janet feel as though she were a hundred miles fromcivilization. She had not dreamed it would be possible to have such asense of loneliness and yet be in a group of schoolmates.
Jim Barron and Ed Rickey kept on the move, talking with some of the boysor attempting to cheer up the girls.
"Better get up every few minutes and swing your arms and stamp yourfeet," advised Ed. "That'll keep the circulation going; otherwise you maysuffer frostbite."
Helen squinted her eyes and looked at her watch in the dim light shed bythe single bulb. It was just after midnight.
"Wonder if we'll be home by morning," she asked, turning back to Janet.
"Let's hope so, though I'm not in the least bit hungry after the big mealwe had at Youde's."
"That seems ages away," replied Helen. "I'd almost forgotten the skatingparty."
Margie, who had taken shelter under Janet's coat, spoke up.
"It's all the bus driver's fault. We never should have left Youde's."
"But none of us wanted to spend the night there," said Janet. "Of coursewe didn't dream the snow would have drifted this much."
"The driver should have known," insisted Margie, and Janet thought hermore than a little unreasonable, but then Margie was probably thoroughlychilled and likely to disagree with everything and everyone.
The minutes passed slowly, dragging as Janet had never known they could.The cold increased in intensity and some of the other girls, not aswarmly dressed as Janet and Helen, began to complain.
"My feet are getting numb," said Bernice Grogan, a slip of a littleblack-haired Irish girl.
"Better keep them moving," said Ed Rickey. "Here, I'll move them for youuntil the circulation starts back."
Ed knelt down on the floor and took Bernice's boots in his hands,massaging her feet vigorously.
Soon Bernice began to cry.
"It's the pain. They hurt terribly."
"Just the circulation coming back," said Ed, but Janet knew from thelines on his forehead that Ed was worried.
"If any of the rest of you feel numb, just call out. We've got to keepmoving or some of us may suffer some frozen parts before morning," hewarned.
Bernice, in spite of her efforts, couldn't keep the tears back, but theyfroze on her cheeks, so bitter was the cold.
Jim Barron opened the door, and a rush of cutting air swept in. Then hewas gone into the night and Janet could hear him wielding the shoveloutside.
It was five or six minutes before Jim returned and he looked utterlyexhausted.
"I've never seen such a night," he mumbled. "I'm afraid the bus driverdidn't get very far."
"Then we'd better start out after him," said Ed, getting to his feet.
But Jim's broad shoulders barred the door.
"We're going to stay right here. You can't even find the fences now. Itwould be suicide to start in the dark. The only thing we can do is keepas warm as possible inside the bus. I started throwing snow up around thewindows. Some of you fellows give me a hand. We'll bank the bus in snowclear to the top and that will keep out some of this bitter wind."
"But if you cover the bus with snow, they'll never find us when they comehunting us," protested Cora.
"Just never mind about that," retorted Jim. "The only thing I'm worryingabout now is keeping us from freezing to death."
Jim's words shocked the girls into silence.
Janet Hardy in Hollywood Page 5