“For a while I thought that they did,” confessed Kent. “But evidently they didn’t know anything about it. Somebody keeps mighty close tabs on the lodge and even objects when anybody sits on the front porch.”
“What will they do when we go to live in the place?” Barry asked.
“They may make it warm for us,” Tim suggested. “So far we have been living in the Bronson cabin, and they haven’t done any more than steal our sled and throw it into a ravine. But now we are moving up on the ghost, and maybe things will get lively.”
“Scared?” Mac asked.
“No, but I believe we ought to be prepared for action.”
“We will be,” Barry agreed. “Perhaps we ought to take turns staying up at night and keeping a strict watch. I have an idea that some dangerous criminal is operating around that lodge.”
“I wonder if there are any counterfeiters making money anywhere in the neighborhood,” Mac mused.
“It may be,” Barry admitted. “Whatever they are, someone doesn’t want anybody to hang around the lodge. We’ll just have to show them that we intend to stay there.”
“That’s the talk!” Kent approved.
Still discussing the things nearest their minds, the boys arrived at the cabin close to dinner time. After some thought they decided to postpone their moving until the afternoon.
“Tim and I can move the things over, if you and Kent want to go to Fox Point,” Mac told Barry.
“I ought to go mail my letter,” Barry said. “And we need some things from the store there, kerosene in particular. Our lantern is about empty, and we’ll want some oil for the lamps in the lodge.”
“Not to forget Mac’s sausage,” smiled Kent.
“It won’t take us any time to move our few things over there,” Tim said. “You boys go ahead, and we’ll manage the domestic affairs.”
This was agreed to, and after the midday meal Kent and Barry prepared to start out. They took the sled with them, but decided not to skate.
“That would be a couple of miles up the lake and then down the river,” Kent argued. “We can cut our distance by going through the woods.”
“The ice is almost covered with snow anyway,” observed Barry. “We can hike it as quickly as we could skate.”
Strapping the long kerosene oil container to the sled, they were ready to start out. The twins watched them from the door.
“If you come to a good hill, you can sit on the sled and coast down,” Mac grinned.
“That will be all right if you don’t run up against a stump,” Tim added.
Barry slipped the sled rope through his belt and they were off. “See you in our new quarters before long,” he called back.
“Have a warm fire by the time we get there,” Kent requested.
“Don’t forget coffee and butter!” Tim yelled.
“And sausage!” Mac whooped.
With a laugh and a reassuring wave the two boys with the sled entered the woods and were lost to sight.
Barry and Kent struck off in a southeasterly direction through the woods. They knew that Fox Point lay in that direction and were interested to see how near they would come to it. There was no definite path to follow, and so they wound around bluffs and between the trees, checking their course by a pocket compass. The forest was a fairly open one, and the trees stood well apart, making it easy to draw the sled. Underfoot the snow made a soft carpet.
The entire day had been a gloomy one, and the sky was gray and heavy, with a strong hint of snow in it. Darkness would come quickly, and the two boys were aware of the fact and determined to lose no time in making the trip.
“If we push on at a fast pace, we should be back at the lodge before it gets dark,” Kent said, as they crossed a brook and started up a hill slope.
“We won’t linger in the store,” Barry promised. “It will be dark earlier than usual tonight, and we’ll have to make a flying trip of it. I suppose we should have started out this morning.”
“I guess so, if we had wanted to take our time about it. Oh, well, I’m sure that we’ll make it all right. Beginning to snow, isn’t it?”
Kent was right. Lazy flakes of snow began to drift down through the trees, and when they reached the top of the hill they could see for some distance. In every direction the air was filled with softly falling flakes.
“If it doesn’t come down any harder than that, it won’t bother us any,” Kent remarked.
“Hard to tell about that,” his companion said. “Some pretty hard storms start out mildly. Those clouds above look to be full. However, we won’t borrow trouble until we have to.”
They crossed a somewhat thicker section of timber and came to the top of another rise of ground. Barry pointed ahead of them.
“See that church steeple? I believe that is Fox Point.”
“If it is, we’ve hit it pretty well. It won’t be long before we know for certain.”
They set off once more and before long came to the edge of the woods and saw the little crossroads village of Fox Point before them. A few houses, a general store, and a church and school building made up the tiny country village. The boys went at once to the store and, leaving the sled outside, were soon warming their hands at the big iron stove in the center of the store.
Then Barry began to order supplies, and Kent wandered to the window, looking down into the road. Presently he called to his companion.
“I wonder if that is the French couple that Mac and Tim saw?”
Barry joined him at the window and looked down. Two horses were tied to a railing at a water trough which was empty, and as the boys looked out at the scene, a man and woman got on the horses. Barry recognized the man at once.
“Yes, that is the fellow who came into our camp that morning,” he said.
Filled with curiosity, the storekeeper came over and joined them at the window. The boys watched the French couple ride off and enter a path that led into the woods below the town.
“Those people been around these parts a few days,” the owner of the store confided. “You acquainted with them?”
“No, but early one morning the man was standing looking over our camp,” Barry told him. “Two of our friends visited them in their camp once, but we don’t know anything about them. Do you?”
The storekeeper went around the counter and began to tie up packages. “I know they are mighty mysterious people. Won’t say who they are or what they want. The other night they come in the store and I asked them what I could do for them. Said they didn’t want nothin’ but to wait for somebody. Pretty soon a car come along and blowed the horn outside and they went out to it, and that was the last I see of them until today. Nobody knows anything about ’em.”
“They didn’t have any rifles today,” Barry said to Kent, when the storekeeper had moved off.
“I noticed that. They must have settled somewhere to stay.” Kent chuckled. “I’ll bet it hurts these people not to know what they are doing here.”
The packages were soon ready, and the boys took them out and tied them in place. Over the top they spread the canvas to keep the snow out, and then they were ready. Barry looked around and then shook his head.
“It is beginning to snow harder and faster,” he said. “We’ll have to step right along.”
Leaving Fox Point behind them, the two boys started off through the woods toward Bluff Lodge, striding along as fast as they could. The snow was coming down hard, and before they had gone two miles it was blinding. The two chums said very little, but both of them were apprehensive as the sky grew darker and the whirling flakes more bewildering. Their clothing became white.
“We got into a good one this time,” Barry called to Kent, as they rounded a high rocky ledge.
“You’re right! Say, did we pass that ledge on the way to Fox Point?”
“I think so. Hang it all, I can hardly see anything.”
They pressed on, picturing the twins in the lodge with a warm and glowing fire to welcome them. The loaded sled was a trifle heavy owing to the opposition of the increasing depth of snow, and they relieved each other frequently.
They had traveled on for over a half-hour, peering through the storm and almost feeling their way, when Kent stopped and pointed.
“Look! There is that same ledge. We’ve come around in a complete circle!”
Barry nodded bitterly. “We have. I hate to admit it, but we’re just lost! And if you ask me, we’ve managed to get lost at a mighty serious time!”
The twins watched the departure of their chums and then turned back into the house. Mac closed the door and walked over to the fire, rubbing his hands.
“It doesn’t do to get far away from the fire these days,” he grinned.
“Not for long,” his brother admitted. “We had better get over to the lodge and start a fire there. That place is going to be cold.”
“Yes, and it will take some time to warm it up, too. Did Barry leave the key?”
Tim took it from his pocket. “Here it is. Let’s take some of the stuff and go on over there.”
They put on coats and hats and, taking a few things with them, left the Bronson cabin and crossed to the lodge. Tim unlocked the front door of Bluff Lodge, and they went in. The interior of the lodge was cold, and their breath stood out in dense white clouds. Without lingering in the hall they went directly to the big living room and put their equipment on the window seats.
“The first thing we had better do,” Mac suggested, “is to get the fire going. This fireplace looks like a good one, and it shouldn’t take long. Want to put paper in while I go haul a load of wood on the sled?”
“We haven’t got the sled,” Tim reminded him. “Barry and Kent have it, so you’ll have to carry some over.”
“That’s so, I had forgotten. They took the sled to bring home the well-known bacon.”
“Or your sausage,” Tim grinned.
“It won’t be mine alone. You know that you like it yourself and so do the other boys. Well, I’ll be back in a few seconds with some wood.”
“We haven’t got much of it,” Tim said. “We’ll have to cut some more.”
“I know it. That is the biggest job we have.”
Mac left the lodge, and Tim busied himself piling some newspaper which he had brought in the fireplace. There were some ashes left from a previous fire, and he cleaned them out and carried them in a pail to the kitchen, where he unlocked the back door and took the pail out to where the bushes grew in a wild tangle. Here he dumped the ashes and then looked around. The door of the Bronson cabin was open, and he could see Mac inside.
Returning to the lodge, his eyes lighted on a small shed joined to the kitchen. It was one part of the lodge that they had not inspected, and his curiosity was aroused.
“Wonder what that place is. But I suppose it is locked up.”
He tried the knob on the door that led to the small shed and found that it was locked. The key ring for the lodge was still in his pocket, and he took it out, examining the keys closely.
“The key to this shed may be on the ring. Nothing like trying.”
He fitted two keys to the lock on the shed, and the second one fitted. One turn and the lock slipped back. He pulled the door open and peered inside. Then he gave a whistle of surprise and pleasure.
“Coal, by ginger! Half a shed full of coal. I must tell Mac about this.”
He did not linger long out in the crisp air, but returned to the living room of the hunting lodge. Just as he reached the fireplace, Mac came in with a load of wood.
“This is the last of it,” he announced. “We’ll have to cut some more before it gets dark, and we’ll have to hustle to it because it is getting darker all the time. We’re in for a storm.”
“We’ll have to cut some wood,” Tim told him. “But I made a great discovery, Mac. There is a shed joined to the kitchen, and it is half filled with coal. That means an end to our wood-chopping.”
“It doesn’t belong to us,” Mac interposed, practically.
“I know, but if we pay for what we use, it ought to be all right. In the little time left for us to stay here we won’t use much. Come on and look at it.”
He led his brother to the coal shed, and Mac inspected it. “I suppose it will be all right,” the sandy-haired twin nodded. “If it isn’t, Barry will tell us when he gets back here. At any rate, we can use it to warm up the room in there, and it will do the job quicker than wood will. Let’s take a bucket of it in the house.”
“This coal explains why they use grates in the hall and the living room,” Tim said, as they filled a coal pail that hung close by.
Returning to the living room of the lodge, they quickly built the fire. The flames licked their way up through the paper and over the wood, and when this had caught fire in good style they put some coal on. As the fire blazed out in a comforting manner, the brothers stood and watched it with satisfaction.
“The first fire in this room for many a day,” remarked Tim.
Mac grinned. “That ghost or spook must be a cold-blooded fellow, prowling around here in rooms as cold as these are.”
Tim glanced out of the window. “Mac, it is snowing again, and I have a hunch that it is going to snow hard. Let’s get some more wood in before things close down.”
“I guess we had better. Some of that limb over at the cabin is left, and we can get our supply off of that.”
The twins took their axes and hastened to the limb before the cabin. Falling to with a will, they soon had the wood supply mounting. The storm increased as they worked, until they could scarcely see for the whirling flakes. For some time they were silent, saving their energy for the task before them, but their minds were on the same subject. Mac leaned on his ax for a breathing spell.
“I’m afraid that the boys will have a hard time finding their way through this storm,” he said.
Tim stopped chopping and looked anxiously toward the forest, which could barely be seen. Both boys had a goodly quantity of snow on their shoulders and hats.
“I have been thinking the same thing,” he admitted. “You can hardly see the woods from here. And they don’t know the way very well.”
“Maybe they can see better in the woods than we can out here in the open,” said Mac hopefully. He began to chop again with vigor. “Let’s get through here and get back in the lodge. By golly, we can hardly see anything ourselves, and we might get lost without much trouble!”
They carried their wood into the lodge and then returned to the cabin for a final load of their camping equipment. Satisfied that they now had everything, Tim locked the door and trotted across the open space to the hunting lodge. He paused at the door for a final look at the white, storm-tossed world about him, and an anxious frown gathered on his forehead.
“How I wish Kent and Barry were back here! I don’t see how they can possibly find their way in a storm like this one.”
More troubled than he cared to admit, Tim joined his twin before the fire in the large grate. “Might as well take off our coats and make ourselves at home, hadn’t we?” he asked.
“I was just thinking about priming that pump on the back porch. I’m tired of snow water.”
“So am I. But I’m afraid that pump is frozen solid.”
“No doubt of it, but some good hot water poured in it ought to break it loose. It is warmer today than it has been most of the time. Want to try it?”
“I guess so. How will we heat water? There is nothing to hang a kettle on.”
Mac examined the fireplace closely. “No, there isn’t. But we could set the kettle right on the coals. Wouldn’t hurt the kettle any.”
“Let’s look in the kitchen and see what we can find there,” Tim proposed. “We could start a fire in the stove and heat our water there.”
“I guess we had better not use up our wood on a kitchen fire,” Mac shook his head. “For tonight we can get along with this grate fire. We don’t know how long this storm will last, so we will have to be careful.”
They traversed the long hall to the kitchen and examined the pots and pans that hung on hooks under the shelves. From the closet beside the cook range Mac brought out a curiously shaped pan. It was flat on one side and had a long handle to it. A hook curved out from the flat side, and there was a hinged cover for it.
“What the dickens kind of a pot is this, Tim? I never saw one like it before.”
Tim looked it over with interest. “Hanged if I know,” he began, then suddenly his face lighted up. “Why, Mac, this must be a pan to hang on the grate. This hook goes over the top grate bar, and you can heat water in it. Just the thing we need!”
“That’s just exactly what it is,” Mac nodded. “I’ll get some snow, and we can melt it down and then try our luck on that pump.”
They filled the grate pan with snow and then took it in and hooked it on the top bar of the grate. There was now no doubt in their minds that the utensil was meant for its present use.
“While that is melting and heating, let’s get the lamps in here,” Tim suggested, and they brought the oil lamps in from the bedrooms. There was very little oil left in them, and the boys had only a scanty supply in their lanterns.
“We’ll have plenty when Barry and Kent get here,” Mac remarked, looking out at the storm. But the scene that met his eye was not a reassuring one. If anything, the storm was increasing.
“That snow has melted down and will soon be hot water,” Tim said, after a glance into the grate pan. “Guess we’d better get another pan of snow and keep melting it, because that pump will have to be primed more than once.”
This was done, and as the water became hot the boys kept adding snow. At last the pan was filled with boiling water, and they poured it into the tea kettle, and after refilling the grate pan with snow they set off for the back porch to try their luck with the pump. Tim carefully poured the boiling fluid down the neck of the rusty iron pump shaft. Steam arose as the hot water came in contact with the ice.
“If we do get this thing going, we’ll have to prime it every morning,” Mac predicted, standing first on one foot and then on the other and moving about to keep warm.
“Yes, no doubt of that. Gosh, it is getting colder. Good thing this porch shelters us from some of the wind.”
They poured pan after pan of boiling water down the pump shaft without attaining the end they were seeking, and were about to give it up as a bad job, when Mac felt the pump handle move with a sucking sound. He pressed harder.
“I think she’s coming!” he cried. “Put another dose in.”
Tim did so, and the water came pouring up, bringing with it a mixture of ice and rust flakes. The brothers worked the handle vigorously, and soon a stream of clear water flowed out.
“Hurrah, we made it,” Tim exulted. “Thought we weren’t going to, though.”
“So did I. That water looks good. Wait until I get a glass from the kitchen, and we can have a good drink of it.”
They filled some pails with the water and then returned to the house. Darkness was beginning to settle, and their spirits became more and more depressed. It was close to five o’clock, and the blackness of night soon closed entirely over the lodge. Tim lighted a lamp, and they were comfortable as far as light and warmth were concerned. But their minds were far from easy.
“No use talking, the boys have either stayed at Fox Point or they are lost,” Mac sighed, as they looked out of the window into the thick blackness.
“I don’t believe they stayed,” Tim shook his head. “I’m afraid that they started on the return trip and got caught. The tough part is that if we go out to look for them, we would probably be lost in a short time, too!”
For a moment after Tim’s discouraging words the twins stood and stared helplessly out at the darkness of the night. From every angle the situation was a serious one. If the country had been familiar to them, they would have attempted to go out and look for Barry and Kent, but they had only a sketchy notion of the hills and valleys. The wind was blowing the snow around in such a way that even the stoutest woodsmen might have been confused and lost on such a day. To the Ford boys it seemed anything but cheering that their chums were somewhere abroad in the storm and darkness.
“I wish I knew what to do,” Mac confessed, after they had stared out into the night for some time.
Tim turned from the window and took off his hat and coat. “The first thing we had better do is to get our things off,” he recommended. “It is getting mighty warm in here now. Then we had better get supper ready. They might come in yet, Mac. Maybe we’re only borrowing trouble.”
“It may be,” his brother agreed, brightening up. “They may have waited at Fox Point until it blew over and will be here later. But if this keeps up, they’ll have to come here on snowshoes.”
“Yes, it is getting deep. Well, what shall we do about supper? We aren’t going to build a kitchen fire, and we won’t eat in that big dining room.”
“No, we can make this room our headquarters for about everything,” Mac nodded. “Let’s bring in that table from the kitchen and set it right here by the fire. It will just fit our needs.”
Willing to occupy their minds with something besides worry, the two boys went to the kitchen and carried out the small table that Mac had spoken about. It was just large enough for the four of them, and they found clean knives and forks in the drawer, but Tim washed them for the sake of safety. After this was done he put them around the table.
“I’ll set four places,” he said.
Mac glanced at the clock and noted that it was close to six. “Sure, set four places, they’ll be along soon,” he said, but his voice lacked conviction, and both of them were more alarmed than they would care to admit.
“What shall we have for supper?” Tim inquired, beginning to dig among the stores that they had brought over from the cabin.
“I was hoping to have sausage,” Mac smiled. “But I guess we had better not count on it. Open a can of pork and beans. I’ll fix the coffee.”
For a while they worked silently. The fire was a mass of glowing red coals, and the room was lighted by one lamp. They could see well enough by this light and did not intend to light another one, because they thought it best to save for an emergency. Tim put the beans on to warm, and Mac made coffee. While these things were coming along, the brothers sat on the wicker couch and stared into the fire.
“I hope the other boys aren’t cold while we are enjoying this fine fire,” Mac murmured.
“They may be around the stove at Fox Point,” Tim hoped.
“Sure. On the other hand, we can’t help but realize that they may be out in the woods, wandering around. Hang it all, I hate waiting worse than anything else on earth!”
Tim sprang up and went to the window, peering out. “So do I. I wonder——No, the storm is pretty bad, and we had better not get away from the lodge. Listen to that old wind!”
Mac couldn’t help listening to it. With a shrill, whistling sound it tore around the lodge and made some of the windows rattle. The fire in the grate was vigorous and glowing because of it. Already the coffee was bubbling, and a tempting odor came from the pot on the coals. Had the other boys been there with them, they would have thoroughly enjoyed it all, but just now its attraction was lost in the air of uncertainty that surrounded them.
“I think we moved out of the cabin just in time,” he said. “That little old place is something of an antique, and it was colder than it should have been. I’ll bet the wind is coming in under the door over there.”
Tim nodded, looking around the room they were in. “Yes, this surely is a great improvement. Wicker couch and chairs, window seats and well-filled bookcases. How shall we sleep tonight? In the bedrooms?”
“I don’t think so. Too cold. This couch will be good for one of us to sleep on, and if we lug the mattresses in here, we can make dandy beds. I have an idea that the sheets and everything else in those rooms would be as cold as ice.”
Tim took the pan of beans off of the fire. “These are ready, and the boys aren’t here yet, though it is after six. Want to eat?”
Mac shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s wait awhile. We can heat them up again when they come. I’ll go get some more coal.”
He put his coat and hat on and took the coal pail. Tim silently handed him the flashlight. Mac went out the door and down the hall, while Tim stared into the fire.
Mac did not stay out long, and when he got back he rubbed his hands. “Man alive, but it is cold! Say, the boys have no lantern with them, have they?”
“No, only a flashlight.”
“They couldn’t keep a lantern going, anyway, on a windy night like this.”
Silence again fell between them, and at last it was seven o’clock. Tim looked around the room and then got up. They had put the lamp out and had been sitting in the light of the fire.
“Mac, they aren’t coming, so you and I had better eat something. I know you don’t feel much like eating, and neither do I, but it will do us good to pack something solid away inside of us.”
“I never felt less like eating,” growled Mac.
“I know it. I realize just now how you feel. But we might need our strength later on, and we can do more for the boys on a full stomach than we ever could on an empty one.”
“You’re right,” his brother nodded. “If we only knew something! It is the uncertainty that makes it all so hard.”
Once more they warmed the beans and coffee, and when the food had been placed on their plates and the beverage in the cups, they began to eat. It was a hasty and a silent meal, for they were oppressed, and neither of them possessed any appetite to speak of. The two empty places at the table haunted them, and they found it hard to keep various alarming thoughts out of their heads.
“I think we ought to light a lamp and put it in the window, as a guide for them,” Mac proposed, when they had finished their meal.
“Sure thing,” Tim agreed. “They may come along late, and any kind of a light will be a help to them. We haven’t got much oil, but we’ll use all that we have in a lamp for them.”
Mac picked up a taboret and put it on the window seat. “Put the lamp on top of that,” he directed. “That ought to shine for quite a distance. If the oil runs out, we can go until daylight without any. We’ll get enough coal in here to last all night, and we won’t have to build a new fire in the morning. If they haven’t come in by that time we’ll have to go after them, storm or no storm.” Tim placed the lighted lamp on the taboret, and the boys felt that they had done all that could be done under the circumstances. Mac sat on the couch in a reclining position, and his brother squinted at the titles on the backs of the books in the bookcase.
“I’ll try a little reading,” he announced. “Don’t know how successful it will be.”
Mac yawned and slid a little lower. “I’m too tired and worried to read,” he said. “Better not get hold of a spook book.”
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Tim replied. “I need something exciting to keep me awake and take my mind off of things.”
He finally found a book that suited him, and, drawing a chair close to the lamp on the taboret, he started to read. Mac sank lower on the couch and soon fell asleep. Tim read on. It was a little colder over near the lamp than he wished for, but he didn’t want to take the lamp away from the window.
A sudden clear tapping on the window back of him caused Tim to start violently and almost drop his book. It came on the glass of the window at the end of the room and not where the light was. Tim jumped up joyously, sure that the boys had returned.
“Hey, Mac! Wake up! The boys are here!”
Mac bounded to his feet. “They are? Where?”
Tim was at the dark window, peering out. “They just knocked here. I can’t see them, but they just tapped on the glass while I was reading. Almost scared——There!”
“They are at the back door,” Mac whooped, seizing his flashlight. “Come on, we’re the committee of welcome.”
“We’ll surely welcome them,” Tim agreed, as they made their way along the hall to the kitchen. Mac quickly turned the key in that door and drew back the knob. The door opened, but no one was there. The boys looked around the porch and flashed the light into every corner, but without success.
“I was sure that knocking came from the back door,” Tim exclaimed, when they failed to find anyone.
“So was I. Maybe they are trying to put something over on us.”
“Maybe,” admitted Tim, doubtfully. “But I should think they would have had enough of being out in the cold. Well, they aren’t here. We had better go in. Your flashlight is getting weak.”
“It’s about shot.” Mac locked the door, and they walked slowly down the hall toward the living room. It had just occurred to them that they were in what was known as a haunted lodge, and various thoughts were crowding into their minds. In the living room they looked uncertainly at each other.
“I doubt if the boys would play any such foolish stunts,” Tim remarked.
“I doubt it, too. Of course, it’s a good opportunity to have a little fun with——”
“Listen!” Tim cried, holding up his hand.
There were three distinct thumps on the side of the lodge, and then all was quiet. Then a loud and insistent knocking came on the front door. The twins looked at each other with startled eyes. Then Tim took the lamp, and they started for the front door. Mac took up the poker as they passed the fireplace.
“I’ll open the door,” he said, and while Tim held the lamp he turned the key and pulled the knob. The door came open with a rush, and the wind snuffed the lamp flame out in a twinkling, and yet not so quickly that the Ford twins could make out the fact that there was no one near the front door.
Barry and Kent stood in the storm-tossed woods and gazed with sinking hearts at the ledge of rock before them. It told them in unmistakable terms that they were lost and, as Barry had truly said, at a very serious time. After all of their recent pushing on, they were right back at the place where they had been a short time before.
“I wonder how we came to go around like that?” Kent asked, as he brushed snow from the front of his coat and tried to see around him.
“Easy to do in a blinding storm like this one,” Barry replied. “Well, we’re into it for fair. Shall we try it again, or turn back to Fox Point?”
“I don’t want to turn back,” Kent protested. “Mac and Tim will be badly worried, and I’d like to make it through, if we possibly can. Which way do you think we ought to go?”
“I thought we were going right, and yet we came around in a circle. Trouble is, it is getting so confounded dark. Want to try going on again?”
“Yes, and we’ll go more west than we have been going. We can’t stand here and freeze.”
They started forward once more, striking out in a new direction which seemed to both of them to be the right way. The wind was searching and they lowered their heads, both to keep their faces out of the cutting blast and to shelter their eyes from the driving snow. The sled, dragging along back of them, made slow progress through the mounting snow, and it caught frequently on the snags and bushes. From time to time they changed and took turns pulling it, but after a time Barry halted and came close to his chum, whom he could scarcely see in the gloom.
“I think we ought to leave the sled,” he shouted.
Kent nodded, knocking snow off of his collar. “I have been thinking that, too,” he returned. “We can’t make any progress with it.”
“We’ll put it somewhere near a landmark, so that we will be able to find it again,” Barry proposed, trying to look around. “After the storm we can come back and locate it.”
“If we ever do come back alive,” said Kent.
Barry slapped him on the back. “We’ll come back, all right. We’re only temporarily bewildered in a snowstorm. Let’s find a place to leave the sled.”
Kent took his flashlight off the hook on his belt and flashed it around. The light of it revealed falling flakes and an ever-increasing depth of snow on the ground. Advancing a few yards, they came to a tall shaft of rock and earth that formed a shelter from the driving power of the New England storm. It was with relief that they got out of the direct path of the wind.
“Here is as good a place as any,” Barry proclaimed, pulling the sled in close to the foot of the small bluff. “We may have a hard time finding the spot, but at least we know the sled will be under an overhang of dirt and stone. This wouldn’t be a bad place in which to spend the night, if we had to.”
“I hate the thought of staying out in this cold all night,” Kent shook his head.
“So do I. Seems like my skin is pinched hard. I wonder if we can’t start a fire going here and eat something?”
Kent again flashed the light around. “It will be a hard job, but it will be worth trying. I think we can get some dry wood out of that log over there. As long as we have the sled with us, we ought to use the food on it.”
“You’re right. We haven’t anything to make coffee in, and about the only food we can eat is the steak we bought. We can spear that on a stick and cook it. Let’s try it.”
Almost feeling their way, they began to chop into the wet log with the camp axes which they carried at their belts. The top wood was soft and pulpy, and even that which they hacked out of the heart of the log was not very dry. After the most tiresome efforts they succeeded in getting a pile of questionable wood together, and then came the task of setting it afire. Both of them huddled close to the pile and jealously guarded the tiny flame of the matches as they attempted to ignite the sticks and bits of wood. Six matches were soon wasted.
“This looks hopeless,” Barry sighed. “Even the good store paper won’t light.”
Kent jumped up. “What dummies we are! This storm has us buffaloed! We have two long containers of kerosene oil on the sled!”
“Oh, good night!” exclaimed Barry, in disgust. “Of course we have! Douse this wood with it and then we won’t have any trouble starting our fire.”
Unscrewing the top of a container, Kent poured some of the oil on the massed-up wood and then replaced the oil can on the sled. This time they had no difficulty, and when the match flame touched the oil-soaked wood, the fire ran rapidly from chip to chip until all were blazing. The cold and hungry boys stooped low and held out grateful hands to the flame.
“Doesn’t a fire feel good?” Kent exulted.
“Doesn’t it?” his companion echoed. He straightened up and began to search under the sled canvas for the steak which they had purchased at Fox Point. “We’ll have to get at our cooking right away, because when the oil burns off, this wood is going to be poor material, especially when we add more to it.”
“You’re right about that,” Kent acknowledged. “I’ll cut a couple of sharp sticks to cook the steak on.” He took out his hunting knife and hacked at some bushes that showed dimly in the shadows from the fire. Before long he had procured two fine shafts, and then he proceeded to sharpen a point on each one. In the meantime Barry cut the steak in two and then cut it again.
“Maybe some of those things on the sled ought to go with us when we leave here,” he observed, as he thrust the pointed stick through the steak. “We don’t know how long we may be on the march, and we’ll want food with us.”
“Too bad we haven’t got a knapsack along,” Kent declared.
“It is, but we have some good pockets that will take a few things. Once this storm clears, we’ll be able to see something. Unfortunately, we don’t know when it will let up.”
They became silent, holding the portions of steak over the blaze, and soon the meat was browning and the juice dripping into the fire. As Barry had said, the quality of the blaze soon became poor, and when fresh fuel was added it was uncertain and smoky. But they managed to eat their steak, and it went a long way toward giving them a better feeling.
“I missed salt and bread with it,” Kent smiled, as they finished the steak. “But it certainly was good all by itself. Well, what shall we do?”
“I believe that we ought to go on. This fire doesn’t amount to anything, and there is no use hanging around here all night. We don’t want to use up our oil on the fire, and we would have to work all night to cut wood for it.”
“Then let’s tie the canvas down tight over the sled and cover it up with some branches so that no wandering animal can get into it,” Kent proposed, and they spent some time in doing this. When this task had been attended to, they set out once more, heading into the dashing flakes once more.
“The twins will be badly worried,” Barry said, as they stumbled along, making better time now that they were no longer held back by the burden of the sled.
“Yes, they will. I hope they won’t come out and try to find us.”
“I doubt that they will. They can see how bad the storm is and that they would be lost in no time at all. Boy, that flashlight of yours is a life-saver!”
There was no question that the flashlight was tremendously valuable. Kent used it sparingly and turned it on only at intervals, but it guided them on their journey. They kept on going and at last were ready to give up in despair, as they had passed no home and even the country did not look familiar to them. At last Barry halted and looked around.