CHAPTER XXV
AMONG THE SNOWDRIFTS
"This is hard work after all, let me own up!" announced Jud Elderkin,after they had been pushing on for nearly half an hour.
"To tell you the truth," admitted Tom Betts, "we've turned this wayand that so often now I don't know whether we're heading straight."
"Trust Tolly Tip for that," urged Paul. "And besides, if you'd takenyour bearings as you should have done when starting, you could tellfrom the position of the sun that right now we're going straighttoward that far-off hill."
"Good for ye, Paul!" commented the guide, who was deeply interested infinding out just how much woods lore these scouts had picked up duringtheir many camp experiences.
"Well, here's where we're up against it good and hard," observedBobolink.
The clear space they had been following came to an abrupt end, andbefore them lay a great drift of snow, at least five or six feetdeep.
"Do we try to flounder through this, or turn around and try anotherway?" asked Jud, looking as though, if the decision rested with him,he would only too gladly attack the heap of snow.
Before deciding, Tolly Tip climbed into the fork of a tree. From thispoint of vantage he was able to see beyond the drift. He dropped downpresently with a grin on his face.
"It's clear ag'in beyant the hape av snow; so we'd better try to buttthrough the same," he told them. "Let me go first, and start a path.Whin I play out one av the rist av ye may take the lead. Come along,boys."
The relief party plunged into the great drift with merry shouts, beingfilled with the enthusiasm of abounding youth. The big woodsman kepton until even he began to tire of the work; or else guessed that Judwas eager to take his place.
In time they had passed beyond the obstacle, and again foundthemselves traversing a windswept avenue that led in the generaldirection they wished to go.
A short time afterwards Jud uttered a shout.
"Hold on a minute, fellows!" he called out.
"What ails you now, Jud--got a cramp in your leg, or do you think it'stime we stopped for a bite of lunch?" demanded Bobolink.
"Here's the plain track of a deer," answered Jud, pointing down as hespoke. "And it was made only a short time ago you can see, becausewhile the wind blows the snow some every little while, it hasn'tfilled the track."
"That's good scout logic, Jud," affirmed Paul; and even the oldwoodsman nodded his head as though he liked to hear the boy thinkthings out so cleverly.
"Here it turns into this blind path," continued Jud, "which I'd liketo wager ends before long in a big drift. Like as not if we chose tofollow, we'd find Mr. Stag wallowing in the deepest kind of snow, andmaking an easy mark."
"Well, we can't turn aside just now, to hunt a poor deer that ishaving a hard enough time of it keeping life in his body," said TomBetts, aggressively.
"No, we'll let the poor beast have his chance to get away," said thescout-master. "We've started out on a definite errand, and mustn'tallow ourselves to be drawn aside. So put your best foot forwardagain, Jud."
Jud looked a little loth to give up the chance to get the deer, athing he had really set his mind on. However, there would still beplenty of time to accomplish this, and equal Bobolink's feat, wherebythe other had been able to procure fresh venison for the camp.
"How far along do you think we are, Tolly Tip?" asked Tom Betts, aftermore time had passed, and they began to feel the result of theirstruggle.
"More'n half way there, I'd be sayin'," the other replied. "Though itdo same as if the drifts might be gittin' heavier the closer we drawto the hill. Av ye fale tired mebbe we'd better rist up a bit."
"What, me tired!" exclaimed Tom, disdainfully, at the same timeputting new life in his movements. "Why, I've hardly begun to getstarted so far. Huh! I'm good for all day at this sort of work, I'm sofond of ploughing through the snow."
The forest seemed very solemn and silent. Doubtless nearly all of thelittle woods folk found themselves buried under the heavy fall ofsnow, and it would take time for them to tunnel out.
"Listen to the crows cawing as they fly overhead," said Jud,presently.
"They're gathering in a big flock over there somewhere," remarkedPaul.
"They're having what they call a crow caucus," explained Jack. "Theydo say that the birds carry on in the queerest way, just as if theywere holding court to try one of their number that had done somethingcriminal."
"More likely they're getting together to figure it out where they canfind the next meal," suggested Bobolink, sensibly. "This snow musthave covered up pretty nearly everything. But at the worst they canemigrate to the South--can get to Virginia, where the climate isn't sosevere."
As they pushed their way onward the boys indulged in other discussionsalong such lines as this. They were wideawake, and observed everylittle thing that occurred around them, and as these often pertainedto the science of woodcraft which they delighted to study, they foundmany opportunities to give forth their opinions.
"We ought to be getting pretty near that old hill, seems to me,"observed Tom, when another hour had dragged by. Then he quickly added:"Not that I care much, you know, only the sooner we see if Hank andhis cronies are in want the better it'll be."
"There it is right now, dead ahead of us!" exclaimed Jud, who had apair of wonderfully keen eyes.
Through an opening among the trees they could all see the hill beyond,although it was so covered with snow that its outlines seemed shadowy,and it was little wonder none of them had noticed it before.
"Not more'n a quarter of a mile off, I should say," declared TomBetts, unable to hide fully the sense of pleasure the discovery gavehim.
"But all the same we'll have a pretty tough time making it," remarkedJud. "It strikes me the snow is deeper right here than in any placeyet, and the paths fewer in number."
"How is that, Tolly Tip?" asked Bobolink.
"Ye say, the hill shunted off some av the wind," explained the otherwithout any hesitation; "and so the snow could drop to the groundwithout bein' blown about so wild like. 'Tis a fine blanket lies aheadav us, and we'll have to do some harrd wadin' to make our way throughthe same."
"Hit her up!" cried Tom, valiantly. "Who cares for such a little thingas snow piles?"
They floundered along as best they could. It turned out to be anythingbut child's play, and tested their muscular abilities from time totime.
In vain they looked about them as they drew near the hill; there wasnot a single trace of any one moving around. Some of the scouts beganto feel very queerly as they stared furtively at the snow coveredelevation. It reminded them of a white tomb, for somewhere underneathit they feared the four boys from Stanhope might be buried, too weakto dig their way out.
Tolly Tip led them on with unerring fidelity.
"How does it come, Tolly Tip," asked the curious Jud as they toiledonward, "that you remember this hole in the rocks so well?"
"That's an aisy question to answer," replied the other, with one ofhis smiles. "Sure 'twas some years ago that I do be having a natelittle ruction with the only bear I iver kilt in this section. He wasa rouser in the bargain, I'd be after tillin' ye. I had crawled intothe rift in the rocks to say where it lid whin I found mesilf upaginst it."
"Oh! in that case I can see that you would be apt to remember the holein the rocks always," commented Jud. "A fellow is apt to see that kindof thing many a time in his dreams. So those fellows happened on theold bear den, did they?"
"We're clost up to the same now, I'm plazed to till ye," announced theguide. "If ye cast an eye beyont ye'll mebbe notice that spur av rockthat stands out like a ploughshare. Jist behind the same we'll strikethe crack in the rocks, and like as not find it filled to the brim widthe snow."
When the five scouts and their guide stood alongside the spur of rock,looking down into the cavity now hidden by ten feet of snow, they weresomehow forced to turn uneasy faces toward one another. It was deathlystill there, and not a sign could they see to indicate that under
theshroud of snow the four Stanhope boys might be imprisoned, almost deadwith cold and hunger.
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