“The wind is increasing,” said Fred a minute later. “Hark to that, will you?”
All listened, and from a distance heard the wind stirring through the woods bordering the lake in that vicinity. Then the wind bore down upon them, and with it came a heavier fall of snow.
“Say, this is going to be some snowstorm!”
“Yes, and some blow too!”
“I wish it wasn’t so dark!”
“Uncle Barney, are you sure you know the way?” questioned Randy, as all came to a halt for a moment to turn their backs to the wind and catch their breath.
“Oh, yes, my lad! I know the way well enough,” was the old lumberman’s reply. “But, believe me, I didn’t expect any such snowstorm as this when I went after you. I thought it would be just an ordinary fall.”
“It seems to be getting heavier every minute,” declared Jack, as he sheltered his eyes with his hand and tried to peer forth into the darkness. “Why, the snow is coming down in regular chunks!”
The flakes were indeed both heavy and thick, and the wind sent the snow sweeping across the ice, forming new ridges in every direction.
“The first thing you know, we’ll be blocked completely,” declared Randy, after they had progressed another quarter of a mile. “Just look at that wall of snow, will you?” and he pointed ahead, where a snowdrift was all of five feet high and rapidly growing higher.
The Rovers could see by his manner that the old lumberman was growing much disturbed. He led the way first in one direction and then in another. Then presently he called a halt.
“It ain’t no use,” he declared flatly. “I thought I could work my way around these snowdrifts, the same as I did when I came over to town after you. But the darkness and this heavy fall of snow is bothering me tremendously.”
“What do you think we ought to do?” questioned Fred anxiously. The situation was making the youngest Rover boy a little fearful.
“I guess about the best thing we can do is to strike a bee-line for the island,” answered Uncle Barney. “It won’t be much harder to break through these snowdrifts than it is to try to find our way around them in this wind and darkness.”
“Are you sure you know the way to the island?” questioned Jack, who knew only too well that it was the easiest thing in the world to get turned around in such a situation as this.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I haven’t lost my bearings,” answered the old lumberman. “However, to make sure, maybe I had better have a squint at my compass.”
“Oh, say! that puts me in mind!” burst out Randy. “What’s the matter with using one of our flashlights?” for the boys had brought along two of those useful articles, which were now packed in the baggage on the bobsled.
“Yes, let’s get out both of the flashlights,” returned Fred. “In this darkness we’ll want all the light we can get.”
Sheltering themselves as best they could from the wind, which seemed every minute to be increasing in violence, the boys unstrapped part of their load and managed to bring forth the two flashlights. While this was being done, Uncle Barney brought from his pocket a small compass.
“Now, I think north is in that direction,” he said, pointing with his hand. With the aid of one of the lights, the compass was inspected, and it was found that the old lumberman was almost right, he having pointed a little to the northwest.
“If we’d gone on the way I expected to go, we’d have struck the lower end of the island instead of the upper,” he explained. “It wouldn’t have made a great deal of difference, but we might as well take the straightest line we know how. Come on! Follow me, and I’ll break the way for you.”
Once more they started forward, and in a minute more the boys found themselves struggling through snow which was several feet deep.
“Gee! a fellow ought to have snowshoes instead of skates!” panted Fred, when in the midst of the drift. “This is the worst ever!”
“The drift isn’t very wide, Fred,” announced Jack, who was ahead of his cousin, flashing one of the lights around. “Here we come to the clear ice again,” and a few seconds later they found themselves skating along as easily as before.
But this open patch did not last long. Soon they came to several more snowdrifts. The first was barely a foot high, but the second was almost up to their arm-pits. The old lumberman was still ahead, breaking a path for them as well as he was able. Hampered with the load of the bobsled, the boys made slow progress.
“It’s no use!” groaned Andy at last. “I’m all out of breath. I’ve got to stop and rest.”
“We had better not stop to rest here, Andy,” answered Jack quickly. “We must reach some sort of shelter from this wind.”
“I’m all out of breath myself,” came from Fred. The exertion of plowing through the snowdrifts had tired him dreadfully, and he was trembling in the legs so that he could scarcely stand.
“Come on, boys! Don’t stay here!” called back Uncle Barney to them. “This snowstorm is getting worse every minute!”
The old lumberman had scarcely spoken when all the boys heard a strange whistling in the air. Then the wind tore down upon them harder than ever, sending the snowy particles in all directions, so that to make out what was ahead, even with the flashlights, was out of the question.
CHAPTER XXI
AN ASTONISHING REVELATION
The situation was certainly a disheartening one, and the boys huddled close together around the bobsled, both for protection and to talk the matter over.
“Can you tell us at all how far we really are from some sort of shelter—I mean the nearest shelter at hand?” questioned Jack of Uncle Barney, as the old lumberman came back to see what had happened.
“It’s about a mile to my cabin,” was the reply.
“And is that the nearest place?” asked Fred, who had sat down on the bobsled load to rest.
“No. The nearest place is a little hut that I put up at this end of the island several years ago. It isn’t very much of a shelter, but it might do.”
“Do you mean we could stay there all night?” queried Randy.
“Oh, yes. It’s plenty large enough for all of us, and there is a rough fireplace where we could start a blaze and cook something.”
“Then let’s head for that place, by all means!” cried Jack. “This storm is getting worse every minute.”
With the wind whistling keenly in their ears and blowing the snow across the ice and into numerous high drifts, the little party moved on once more, the boys doing their best to keep up with the old lumberman. This was comparatively easy, for even Uncle Barney was well-nigh exhausted by his exertions.
“If this snow keeps on, it will be one of the worst storms we ever had up here,” he announced. “But, somehow, I don’t think it will last; the sky didn’t look heavy enough this afternoon.”
“I hope it doesn’t last,” returned Jack.
“We don’t want to be snowed in while we are up here,” added Randy. “We want to have a chance to hunt.”
To make progress against the fury of the elements was not easy, but presently the boys heard Uncle Barney give a cry of satisfaction.
“Here we are, lads, in sight of the island!” exclaimed the old lumberman. “Now it won’t be long before we reach that shelter I mentioned.”
By the aid of the two flashlights, the boys made out a number of trees and bushes ahead. The bushes were covered thickly with snow, and behind them were sharp rocks, also outlined in white.
“This is what I call Squirrel Point,” explained the old lumberman. “It used to be a great place for squirrels.”
“How much further to that shelter?” queried Fred. Just then he took no interest whatever in game. He was so tired he could scarcely place one foot in front of the other; and, to tell the truth, his cousins were little better off.
“We’ve got only a co
uple of hundred feet to go,” was the reply. “Come ahead. I’ll help you pull that bobsled,” and now Uncle Barney took hold, and once again they started forward, this time skirting the lower extremity of Snowshoe Island. Here there were a great number of pines and hemlocks growing amid a perfect wilderness of rocks, now all thickly covered with snow.
“Now you’ll have a little climbing to do,” announced the old lumberman a few minutes later. “You might as well take off your skates, and I’ll do the same. And we’ll have to hoist that bobsled up the best we know how.”
He had turned toward the island, and soon they were climbing up over the rough rocks and pulling the bobsled after them. In one spot they had to raise the sled up over their heads. The old lumberman assisted them in this task, and then pointed to a small, cleared space between a number of pines.
“Hurrah! I see the hut!” cried Jack in delight, and ran forward, followed by his cousins. Uncle Barney came with them, and an instant later had forced open a rude door. Then one of the lights was flashed inside.
The boys and Uncle Barney had expected to find the little cabin vacant. Consequently they were much surprised when they heard a queer little noise, not unlike the snarl of a dog.
“By gum! it’s a wolf!” ejaculated the old lumberman in amazement.
Scarcely had he spoken when there leaped into view a full-grown wolf. As he confronted the boys and the old man, he snarled viciously, and his eyes appeared to gleam like two balls of fire.
“It’s a wolf, sure enough!”
“Shoot him, somebody! Shoot him!”
“Where’s my gun?”
“The guns are all strapped down on the bobsled!”
Such were some of the cries which came from the Rover boys when they found themselves confronted by the wolf. They fell back several paces, and Uncle Barney did likewise. The old lumberman had gone to Rockville armed, but he too had strapped his weapon fast on the bobsled, so that he might assist the boys in hauling the load.
As the little party fell back wondering what was best to do, the wolf gave another leap, thereby reaching the doorway of the little cabin. Then, with a snarl, he whirled around, leaped into the snow behind some hemlocks, and in a moment more had disappeared from view.
“Well, what do you know about that!” cried Fred faintly.
“And to think we weren’t ready to shoot!” groaned Randy.
“We’re a fine bunch of hunters, we are!” scoffed Andy.
“Well, we didn’t expect to find a wolf in possession of this hut,” remarked Jack. “Just the same, I wish we had been able to get a shot at him,” he added wistfully.
“I should have carried my gun,” remarked Uncle Barney. “It was a mistake to put it on the sled. That’s just my luck, confound it! Whenever I go out free-handed, I’m almost certain to see something worth shooting,” and he shook his head grimly.
“You didn’t say anything about wolves being on the island,” said Fred, while the old man was looking around inside the cabin with both flashlights.
“There are very few wolves in this neighborhood,” was the reply. “The last wolf I saw on the island, outside of this one, was two years ago.”
As the door to the cabin had been closed, the boys wondered how the wolf had gotten into the place, but Uncle Barney showed them a small, broken-out window in the rear of the shelter. This window was now partly covered with snow.
“I suppose the wolf thought he couldn’t get out that way on account of the snow, and consequently he had to come by way of the door,” explained the old lumberman. “Well, I’m mighty glad he didn’t go any damage.”
An examination revealed the fact that no other living thing was in or around the cabin, and as soon as they were satisfied of this, the boys brought in the bobsled. In the meantime, Uncle Barney stirred around outside and managed to find some firewood which was fairly dry. Then a blaze was started in the rude fireplace, the door was shut, and a blanket was nailed up over the broken-out window.
“Now this is something like!” remarked Jack, when the cabin began to grow warm. The boys had unpacked the contents of the bobsled and brought forth a candle, which was lighted and placed in a rude holder on the wall.
Now that they were safe from the storm, all of the Rovers felt in better humor. Uncle Barney showed them how they could obtain water by melting some snow and ice, and soon they had enough to make a pot of chocolate and another pot of coffee. In the meantime, the old lumberman, assisted by Jack, opened up a box of sardines fried some bacon, and also warmed up a can of green corn which had been among the stores. They had no bread, so they used up one of the boxes of soda crackers which they had purchased.
“It’s too bad we haven’t got some game to cook,” observed Randy.
“Let’s be thankful that we’ve got some sort of a roof over our heads, and that we can rest,” put in Fred. He had not yet gotten over the struggle to get through the snow.
With nothing else to do, the boys and the old lumberman took their time over the evening meal, and never had anything tasted better than did this first supper on Snowshoe Island to the Rovers.
Outside the wind was blowing as strongly as ever, and the snow still came down steadily. To make sure that they would not suffer from the cold, all of the lads went out with Uncle Barney and brought in a large supply of firewood. Then they built up a good blaze, around which they sat in a semicircle on the sled and the boxes brought along, and on a rude bench of which the little cabin boasted.
“When I first came to Snowshoe Island, twelve years ago, I thought I would locate at this end,” remarked Barney Stevenson during the course of the conversation. “But after staying here a short while I concluded that it was nicer at the upper end, so I went there.”
“Did you buy the island as far back as that?” queried Jack.
“Oh, no, lad. In those days I only leased the island. You see, it belonged to an old lady named Martinson. She had a son who drifted out to California, and then went to Alaska. When the old lady died, Luke Martinson came back home, and then he came to see me. He wanted to get rid of all his property around here so he could go back to Alaska, and he offered this place to me, and I bought it. That was several years ago.”
“It’s nice to own an island like this,” observed Fred. “A fellow can have a regular Robinson Crusoe time of it if he wants to.”
“When I bought the island I thought I’d have no difficulty in holding it,” continued Barney Stevenson. “But since that time I have had a whole lot of trouble. Two men claim that Luke Martinson never had any rights here—that the old Martinson claim to the island was a false one. They have tried two or three times to get me off the place, but I’ve refused to go.”
“Didn’t you get a deed to the island?” questioned Jack, who had often heard his father and his uncles speak about deeds to real estate.
“Certainly, I got a deed! But they claim that the old Martinson deed was no good. But it is good—and I know it!” grumbled Uncle Barney.
“Who are the men who want to take the island away from you?” questioned Andy. “Some hunters around here, or lumbermen?”
“Oh no! They are two men from the city—a real estate dealer and a man who used to be interested in buying and selling property, but who lost most of his fortune and then went to teaching, or something like that.”
“Teaching!” exclaimed Jack, struck by a sudden idea. “What is that man’s name, if I may ask?”
“His name is Asa Lemm, and the name of the other man is Slogwell Brown,” was the reply of the old lumberman, which filled the Rover boys with amazement.
CHAPTER XXII
THE FIRST NIGHT ON THE ISLAND
“Asa Lemm and Slogwell Brown!”
“What do you know about that, boys?”
“That’s bringing this matter pretty close to us, isn’t it?”
“I should say
so!”
Such were some of the remarks coming from the Rover boys after Barney Stevenson had made his astonishing declaration that the father of Slugger Brown and the ex-teacher of Colby Hall were the two men who were trying to dispossess him.
“Why, you speak as if you knew those two men!” exclaimed the old lumberman.
“We certainly know Asa Lemm,” answered Jack.
“And we know the son of Slogwell Brown,” added Randy.
“Yes, and if Mr. Brown is no better than his son, I wouldn’t put it past him to do something crooked,” was Andy’s comment.
“Tell me what you know,” said Uncle Barney.
Thereupon the four boys related the particulars of the trouble they had had with Professor Lemm, and of how he had left the military academy. They also told much about Slugger, and, incidentally, Nappy Martell, and of how the two cadets had been dismissed by Colonel Colby.
“This certainly is wonderful!” exclaimed the old lumberman, when they had finished. “I had no idea you boys knew anything about those men. I reckon your opinion of their honesty is just about as high as mine is,” and he smiled grimly.
“Asa Lemm claims to have lost quite a fortune,” said Jack; “but we certainly did not think that part of it was located in this island.”
“It isn’t located in this island—at least it isn’t so far as I am concerned!” cried Uncle Barney. “If those men bought what they thought were the rights to this island, they were defrauded, that’s all! And that has absolutely nothing to do with my rights to this land!”
“I should think if you got a good deed to the land from that Luke Martinson—and his folks had a good deed from somebody else—that ought to be proof enough that you own the island.”
“Well, I’ve got the deed from Martinson, and I’ve got the old deeds he used to have, too! I’ve got them placed away in a tin box and in a safe place, too!” answered the old man.
“Then, if you’ve got those deeds, why do they bother you?” questioned Fred.
“As I’ve said before, they won’t admit that the deeds old Mrs. Martinson had were any good. The fact of the matter is, Slogwell Brown wants to get those deeds away from me. He has been at me to let him look at the deeds several times, but I’ve always refused, for I was afraid that if he got the deeds away from me I would never see them again.”
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