“That’s true,” Nan agreed.
“Just the same,” Bert said, “I have a hunch there is a connection between the Black Monster warning and the strange story about Snow Lodge. I just can’t wait to get there to find out.”
All the children were eager to arrive at the locked-up house in the woods. “We’re making good time,” Harry remarked.
Nan, who was at the tiller, looked a little worried. “A little too fast,” she said. “The wind’s getting strong and sort of tricky. Maybe you’d better do the steering for a while, Bert.”
She turned the rudder over to her twin and looked anxiously at the sky. The wind was freshening fast. Then it began to come in sudden gusts, shrieking in the bellying sail. Harry joined Bert at the rudder. The girls clung to the mast as the Icebird veered crazily from side to side.
“Hold on tight, everybody!” Bert shouted over the roar of the gale. “We’ll try to ride it out!”
At that moment there was a sharp crack !The mainsheet snapped. The sail whipped wildly for a moment, then swung about.
Completely out of control, the iceboat tipped over, scattering the four youngsters in every direction over the windswept ice of Lake Metoka!
CHAPTER XI
THE “ICEBIRD” IN TROUBLE
THE cries of the children, as they slid over the ice, were lost in the howling wind.
Suddenly Nan felt a thud through her whole body and found she had been slammed against a dock. She got up cautiously, still clinging to one of the pilings, and was glad to find she had not been injured.
“Bert! Harry! Dorothy!” she called. There was no answer. Nan’s heart sank.
As she looked around fearfully, Nan noticed that the gale had died as suddenly as it had come up. The slate-gray clouds had passed over and a feeble ray of sunlight shone on the ice.
“Nan! Nan!” Bert called as he struggled toward the overturned iceboat. Where are you?”
“Over here,” his twin answered and waved from the dock.
Turning around, she was surprised to see Dorothy clinging to another piling at the far end. “Are you all right?” she called to her cousin.
“Just a little battered,” the girl answered cheerfully. “How are the others?”
In reply Nan pointed toward the Icebird. Harry and Bert were struggling to right it. The two girls made their way over to the boat, and in a few minutes the four children had pulled it to the dock.
“Whew!” Bert gasped. “That was some experience. It’s a lucky thing none of us was hurt!”
“What happened?” Harry asked.
“I don’t know,” Bert admitted. “Let’s see if we can find out.”
Carefully the two boys examined the mainsheet which had snapped in the gale, causing the craft to tip over.
Suddenly Bert exclaimed, “This line was cut! Sliced almost halfway through ! See?” He held up both ends of the rope, pointing out that only half the strands had frayed apart. The others had obviously been cut. “I can’t understand why I didn’t notice it before we started!”
“Somebody did this deliberately,” Harry said grimly. “But who?”
Bert dropped the rope and looked up. “Good night!” he exclaimed. “It must have been the guy I saw getting off the boat!”
“What do you mean, Bert?” Nan asked. “When did you see anybody?”
Her brother told them about the figure he had seen running from the iceboat as they drove up.
“What did he look like?” Dorothy asked.
“We were too far away for me to see that,” Bert explained. “He was medium height and had on a black coat and cap.”
“Perhaps it was the Black Monster!” Nan exclaimed.
“Well, he really is a monster to cut that rope on the Icebird,” Dorothy remarked indignantly.
“Of course having the line break wouldn’t have been too dangerous if it hadn’t been for that heavy wind,” Bert countered. “Why do you suppose he did it?”
“To keep us from going to Snow Lodge!” Dorothy exclaimed.
“He can’t do that,” Bert replied determinedly. “Come on, Harry, let’s splice the mainsheet right now. The Icebird seems perfectly all right otherwise.”
With fingers stiff from the cold, the boys took more than fifteen minutes to repair the line. Nan and Dorothy chased one another around the dock to keep warm.
When the splicing job was finally completed, Nan made a suggestion. “Why don’t we see if we can make a fire, then have the sandwiches and doughnuts and hot chocolate that Dinah gave us?”
“Great,” Harry agreed. “I’m about frozen!”
The children scurried about accumulating stray sticks of dry wood and in a short while had a small fire going. “Boy! This feels good,” Bert commented as he stretched his cold hands toward the blaze.
Nan opened the box of sandwiches and passed it around while Dorothy poured the steaming cocoa into paper cups.
“Mm yum,” Harry remarked as he bit into a cheese sandwich. “Now I’ll be able to make it to Snow Lodge!”
When they had finished the doughnuts and the last drop of cocoa, Nan stood up. “How about skating, Dorothy?” she suggested. “We ought to be able to keep up with the boat for a while. We can climb aboard again when we get tired.”
Dorothy nodded enthusiastically, and the girls laced on their skates. Bert and Harry shoved the boat off and hopped aboard.
“Let’s see if we can make the Icebird outrun them,” Bert whispered to Harry.
Grinning, Harry nodded and took over the tiller. Soon the little craft began to pick up speed. Nan and Dorothy skated faster and faster trying to keep up. But little by little they fell behind.
Finally Nan called. “You win! Slow down so we can come aboard!”
The boys hove to, and the girls climbed onto the deck. “Wow!” Dorothy cried. “I think I’d just as soon ride the rest of the way!”
A short while later Bert glanced uneasily at the western horizon where dark, menacing clouds were gathering rapidly. “Looks like another storm,” he remarked. “I hope we can make Snow Lodge before it breaks. The house can’t be too far from here.”
For a few minutes it looked as if they might be able to reach the lodge ahead of the storm. The rising wind bellied the Icebird’s sail and sent the craft whizzing over the ice much faster than before. But the skies continued to darken, and soon Nan felt a snowflake on her cheek.
With astonishing speed, the snowfall thickened until the shoreline was only a hazy line seen through the wind-driven flakes. Desperately Bert and Harry peered ahead, straining their eyes to keep the shore in view so the craft could hold on course.
Huddled together with their backs to the wind, Nan and Dorothy were too cold and worried to say a word. Soon the snow was like a thick cotton veil, covering the boat and shutting out all sound. Gradually the wind slackened and the Icebird slowed to a turtle’s pace.
“I can’t see the shore!” Bert shouted. “But I guess it doesn’t matter. The snow’s so thick on the ice that the runners are beginning to get bogged down.”
“And now the wind’s almost gone,” Harry added. “Looks as if we’re marooned, kids.”
Nan tried to remain calm. “Can’t we go the rest of the way to Snow Lodge on foot, Bert?” she asked. “We must be almost there.”
“We’ll have to try,” Bert agreed in a grim voice. “Everybody over the side. We’ll haul the Icebird to shore and tie her up.”
The children pulled on the boat’s mooring line steadily, knowing the shore could not be far away. Soon they spotted a stump and lashed the craft fast, then furled the sail.
“Now,” Bert said encouragingly, stamping his cold feet, “if we hug the shoreline and just keep going, we’re bound to find Snow Lodge.”
Nan and Dorothy nodded gamely, suppressing shivers. The air had grown bitter during the past half-hour and seemed chillier with every passing moment.
“Bert, you lead the way, then Nan and Dorothy follow,” Harry directed. “I’ll br
ing up the rear. Let’s go—one, two, three, march!” he shouted cheerfully, trying to sound like an army sergeant.
A few minutes later the wind picked up again, hurling its cargo of snow at the struggling children. They had to bend almost double to keep their balance, and progress seemed impossible at times.
“Any sign of the lodge, Bert?” Harry shouted. But the howling wind swept away his words, and they all plodded along silently.
Finally, blinded by the stinging flakes and half frozen, the children huddled together behind a fallen tree trunk away from the wind. “We’ll rest here a minute, then go on,” Bert gasped.
Nan’s fingers and feet were numb, and she knew the others were equally miserable. The snow was like a heavy white blanket which seemed to smother them.
“Will we ever find Snow Lodge in this storm?” Dorothy murmured.
“We’ll freeze if we stay here,” Harry said after a few minutes. “We’ll have to start on if we’re ever going to find Snow Lodge.”
“Yes, we must hurry,” Nan agreed. “And I’ll bet Mother and Dad will be terribly worried about us in this storm.”
The four scrambled to their feet and resumed plodding single file through the blinding snowstorm. Trying to follow the shoreline, they were forced to scramble over rocks and detour around fallen trees.
A little later Dorothy broke the silence to exclaim, “I think the snow’s letting up a little. I can make out things ahead more easily.”
Raising their heads, the others saw that Dorothy was right. Wearily they stumbled on, but now with a tiny spark of hope to warm them.
Fifteen minutes passed. Then Nan gave a sharp cry and sat down in the snow with such suddenness that Harry, walking behind her, nearly fell over her. Bert and Dorothy turned back.
“What’s the matter, sis?” Bert asked anxiously.
“I—I’ve got a Charlie horse in my leg,” Nan said with a wince. “What a time to have this happen!”
“Try to stand up,” Dorothy suggested. “Maybe it will work out.”
Nan struggled to her feet, grimacing with pain. She stamped on her foot to get rid of the cramp in her leg. But it did no good. Finally Bert and Harry, although their hands were numb with cold, massaged her leg enough to relieve the muscle tension and to stir up the circulation.
“It’s better now,” Nan said in relief. “I think I can go on all right.”
With Bert in the lead again they struggled on, each one concentrating only on putting one foot ahead of the other.
Suddenly Dorothy gave a happy cry. “A light! I see one through the trees!”
CHAPTER XII
THE TREE’S BIRTHDAY CANDLES
AT DOROTHY’S cry the others stopped and peered ahead. There was a light, dimmed considerably by the falling snow, but still easily seen. It was about twenty yards ahead and perhaps thirty to their left, back among the trees.
“That must be it!” Bert cried. “Snow Lodge!”
The children floundered through the snow toward the light. The distance seemed so great! They felt as if they had traveled miles before seeing the dim outline of a large house.
As the children reached the front door, Bert pounded on it, calling, “Mother! Dad!”
The door opened, and a broad beam of warm yellow light shone across the snow. The next moment Nan gave a sob of relief—Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were silhouetted in the doorway! She ran forward. But then, more tired than she realized, she slipped on an icy patch and crumpled in the snow.
Instantly Mr. Bobbsey rushed out and caught Nan up in his arms and hurried inside. Mrs. Bobbsey, with a fervent “Thank goodness, you are here at last!” urged the other three children to hasten indoors.
Fifteen minutes later the children, in dry clothes, were seated in front of a roaring fire in the living room, drinking hot lemonade which Mrs. Bobbsey had hurriedly prepared for them.
“Don’t try to tell us what happened,” Mrs. Bobbsey cautioned. “Just rest until I have supper ready. Then we can all hear your story together.”
“Isn’t this a lovely place!” Nan exclaimed, gazing around at the enormous living room.
A wall of fieldstone formed one long side and contained the five-foot-square fireplace opening. Above it stretched a wide walnut mantel. French doors opened onto a terrace at the far end. The high ceiling was supported by large, hand-hewn walnut beams.
“I’d love to live here,” Dorothy remarked, admiring the hand-hooked rugs, the paneled walls, and the comfortable, dark red leather furniture.
“Let’s start our search for the missing money right after supper,” Bert suggested with an eager look.
By the time Mrs. Bobbsey brought in a steaming hot supper which she set on a table in one corner of the room, the four children were feeling rested. They ate hungrily and eagerly told of their adventure in the storm.
Freddie and Flossie listened wide-eyed, and Freddie sighed as he said, “I wish I’d been there!”
“I don’t!” Flossie said energetically. “It makes me cold just to listen!”
Mr. Bobbsey said he had been getting ready to organize a search party for the missing children when he heard Bert pounding on the door.
“The rest of us arrived here in good time,” Mr. Bobbsey explained, “and were busy unpacking and looking around the lodge. We didn’t realize it was snowing so hard.”
Supper finished, the children helped Mrs. Bobbsey with the dishes. Then Bert again suggested a tour of the house and a search for the missing money.
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey looked at each other and grinned. “You children certainly have boundless energy. Go ahead,” Mrs. Bobbsey said. “But we’ll set a time limit so you can get a good night’s sleep. You may search for one hour.”
“Come on, kids, let’s get started,” Bert urged. He took a flashlight from the mantel.
The four children, followed by Flossie and Freddie, walked slowly around the spacious living room. They examined the floors for trap doors and knocked on the paneled walls for signs of secret passageways or hollow spots.
Coming to a door at the end of the fireplace wall, Dorothy asked, “Where does this lead?”
“To the den. That part of the house is only one story high,” Freddie explained, proud of his knowledge. “Go on in.”
What a fascinating room it was! Deerskins, old rifles, powder horns, mounted fish, and a huge moosehead decorated the walls. Before a hearth lay as large a bear rug as any the children had ever seen. They made a careful search of the room but found no signs of any hiding place which might contain the lost money.
“Our time is almost up,” Nan observed. “Let’s take a quick look at the kitchen.”
Almost one entire side of this room was taken up by a huge, walk-in fireplace of stone. Old iron pots hung from cranes, the same as had been used in olden days.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Nan said enthusiastically as she stepped into the fireplace and peered up the old chimney. As she turned to come back into the room an iron ring in the wall caught her eye. “I wonder—” she mused. She took hold of the rusty ring and pulled.
Slowly a door opened!
“Bert! Dorothy! Harry!” she called. “I’ve found something!”
The others came running and crowded into the fireplace. Bert beamed his flashlight carefully into the space where the door had been. It showed a flight of steps leading downward.
At this moment Mrs. Bobbsey came into the kitchen to tell the children their hour for searching was up. “Okay, Mother,” said Nan. “We’ve made a big discovery tonight and tomorrow we’ll see where this tunnel leads!”
But when they gathered for breakfast the next morning, Mr. Bobbsey thought they had better change their plans.
“How about hiking back and getting the Icebird while the weather’s good?” he proposed to the older children.
“Oh yes, we should, before somebody takes it,” Bert agreed.
He and Nan, Dorothy, and Harry donned warm coats, boots, and mittens and climbed to the summit of a
large, wooded hill not far from the lodge to see if they could spot the iceboat.
What a marvelous view stretched before them ! Fields and deep forests and a few scattered houses met their gaze. The broad, flat expanse of white in the distance must surely be Lake Metoka.
“I think I see the Icebird!” Nan exclaimed. “Over there, about a mile from the lodge.”
“A mile!” Dorothy groaned. “Last night it seemed more like a hundred miles!”
“It shouldn’t be any trouble to get the boat and moor it nearer the house,” Harry said. “Let’s go!”
When they reached the abandoned craft a quick examination revealed that it had weathered the storm very well. With no wind to help them, it took the children a long time to drag the iceboat across the snow-covered lake to the dock at the lodge. But at last they had it tied fast.
“That’s a good job done,” Bert said with satisfaction, rubbing his hands together to warm them. “What do you suppose that little building is over there?” He pointed to a small stone house about a hundred yards from the lodge.
“Let’s go and see,” Nan proposed.
As they made their way over to the dilapidated-looking structure, they speculated as to its use. Pushing open the sagging door, they saw a dirt-covered floor. The ceiling was high, with long hooks hanging from the rafters.
“A smokehouse !” Harry cried. “We used to have one like this at Meadowbrook.”
While the boys examined the hooks, Nan and Dorothy were scuffling around the floor. Suddenly Dorothy stumbled over something. It was another iron ring.
“Let’s see if we can lift it,” Nan suggested, leaning over and grasping the handle firmly. To her surprise it moved easily and a trap door raised up. A flight of steps ran down from it
“These steps have been used recently!” Bert exclaimed. “I wonder if this connects with the tunnel starting from the lodge kitchen!”
Nan’s brown eyes sparkled. “Dorothy and I will go back there and start through the tunnel. You and Harry go down these steps and we’ll see if we meet!”
“Great! We’ll give you five minutes’ start!”
The Bobbsey Twins and the Mystery at Snow Page 7