CHAPTER X.CLOSE QUARTERS.
Every one of the five boys on the iceboat was filled with terror over the danger which confronted them.
At the rate of speed they were going, theIciclewould soon reach the edge of the great opening before them, and they well knew that the onward rush would carry them far out into the icy waters.
“Stop her, somebody!” cried Andy. “We will all be drowned!”
“Everybody on the right side!” yelled Jack. “Down with the sail!”
All on board made a rush to the right, and bore heavily on the steering-iron on that side. Harry caught hold of the ropes attached to the sail, and untied them. Down came the sheet in a lump, falling partly over the crowd and dragging on the ice beside them.
TheIciclebegan to swing around, and also slowed up. The semi-circular motion caused the sail to get under the steering-iron, and this helped to stay their onward progress.
“We’ll have to jump!” cried Boxy. “Look how close we are getting!”
“No; we’ll stop before we get there,” returned Jack. “Hard on the iron, everybody!”
There was a sharp, rasping sound as theIciclestruck a bit of lumpy ice, and the clumsy craft trembled from stem to stern. She swung completely around, and came to a halt when within twenty feet of where the dark waters from the side creek rushed along silently.
“My gracious! but that was a close shave!” murmured Boxy, as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
“Dat am de werry closest shabe wot I ever ’sperienced,” returned Pickles. “An’ I don’t want no moah ub dem!”
“We are not yet out of danger,” urged Harry. “An extra-heavy puff of wind may come along at any time and carry us over.”
“That’s so,” returned Jack. “Come on, boys, let’s get off and push the boat over to the west shore, where I guess we will find a solid strip to pass along on.”
His companions were not slow to follow his advice. They lost no time in moving the iceboat back a distance of forty or fifty yards, and, feeling comparatively safe here, they stopped long enough to get out their skates and put them on.
Thus equipped, it was easy to haul the craft around, and, getting behind her, they took turns in pushing her over toward the west shore, where, as Jack had supposed, there was a strip of ice all of fifty yards wide, leading to the solidly frozen river beyond.
“We want to be on the lookout for such places as this,” remarked Harry, as they boarded theIcicleonce more, and hoisted the sail, which was now sadly torn in half-a-dozenplaces. “If it hadn’t been for Pickles we might all be at the bottom of the river this minute.”
And he gave the colored youth a grateful look, which caused Pickles to grin from ear to ear.
After that two of the boys remained at the bow, straining their eyes to see ahead.
But this extra caution was now hardly needed. Owing to the torn condition of the mainsail, theIcicledid not move as rapidly as before, and presently, when the wind died down a trifle more the clumsy craft came to a complete standstill.
“Humph! Here’s a state of things!” muttered Andy, impatiently. “And we are still two or three miles from Rudd’s Landing. What’s to do?”
“Get on our skates again and push theIciclealong,” suggested Jack.
“Boxy, you whistle for a wind, you are such a whistler,” laughed Harry, who, as there was no danger attached, was disposed to view the condition of affairs lightly.
“I’m afraid I’d have to whistle a pretty long while,” returned Boxy. “My idea is that the wind has gone down for the night, as it frequently does.”
“Dat’s it, persackly,” put in Pickles. “But I jess as lief shobe deIsticle—I’se all cold to de marrer ub my bones.”
“So am I,” cried Jack. “I’m going to push just to get warm. You had better stay on board if you feel played out,” he added, to his brother.
“No, I’ll get off, too,” replied Andy. “But I don’tbelieve I can shove very much; my head hurts a bit again.”
Once more all hands sprang down and donned their skates. Then Pickles, Harry, and Jack began to push the iceboat before them, while Boxy and Andy followed on behind with the sled.
It was now dark, and growing colder every minute, which was odd, so they thought, since the wind had gone down.
“We won’t get that snowstorm to-night, that’s sure,” remarked Harry. “It is always warmer just before a heavy fall of snow.”
“Maybe we’ll catch clear weather that’s cold enough to freeze the leg off a mule,” returned Jack. “Somebody said there was an intensely cold snap on the way.”
“Oh, we’re prepared for cold all right,” put in Boxy. “All you’ve got to do is to move around lively like to keep up the circulation, and you are all right.”
“Just the same I wish we were in Rudd’s Landing,” said Jack. “I don’t like this traveling on an unknown part of the river in the dark. We may not find the Landing at all.”
“Pooh! How can we help it? We know just where it is along shore.”
“Well, then, let us turn in a bit. There is no sense in keeping away out here in the middle.”
“That’s so,” said Andy. “It may be warmer in toward the shore.”
So they turned in the direction of the shore upon which was situated the town for which they were bound. Theoverhanging bank of the stream was fringed with bushes and trees and they skirted along just outside of these, keeping a sharp lookout for airholes and thin spots.
“Don’t want a bath just now,” shivered Boxy.
“No; a bath would just about do us up,” returned Andy. “As it is, I can hardly move along.”
“We’ll be all right when we get to Barton Coils’ place,” called back Jack. “So don’t get faint-hearted, Andy.”
On they went, with no sound breaking the stillness of the cold night save the grinding of the iceboat runners and their skates on the ice.
Suddenly from out of the darkness among the trees which lined the farthest shore came a dismal howl that caused nearly every one to jump in alarm.
“My gracious! what was that?” exclaimed Andy.
“Dat mut be a ghost, suah!” cried Pickles, as he sprang away from the voice.
“It’s the most unearthly sound I ever heard,” put in Harry.
“And don’t you know what it is?” asked Jack, with a merry laugh.
“No,” said Boxy. “What is it?”
“Nothing more nor less than the bark of a fox. There it goes again.”
“Goodness! I never knew a fox would get up such a dismal noise,” exclaimed Boxy. “Why, it’s enough to give one the creeps.”
“Wait till you get into the woods on the other side of Rock Island Lake, and you’ll hear sounds to make your hair stand on end, I’ll warrant.”
The barking continued for some time, and then came answering calls from several other locations.
“They are tuning up to descend on some hen-roost, I imagine,” said Jack. “It’s a good way to get up their courage.”
“I’d like to get a shot at one of them,” said Harry.
“So would I,” burst out Boxy. “Can’t we get at them, Jack?”
“It would take too long, I’m afraid. Andy couldn’t stand the waiting in the cold.”
“Boxy and I might wait, and you fellows go on,” suggested Harry. “We will soon catch up with you.”
“Yes, let’s do that,” burst in Boxy.
The matter was talked over for a minute, and then it was agreed that Harry and Boxy should take the guns and remain behind a quarter of an hour, while the others pressed on for Rudd’s Landing, keeping close to the river bank they were now skirting.
Seeing to it that the two guns were ready for use, the two would-be fox hunters set out across the river in the direction from which the first barks of the animals had proceeded. Meanwhile those on theIcicleand the sled went ahead, and were speedily lost to view around a broad bend beyond.
“It would be fine if we could get a fox apiece,” said Boxy, as they skated along close to one another. “We could keep the brushes as trophies.”
“I guess we’ll be lucky if we get a good shot at one of them,” returned his companion. “Foxes are very sly chaps.”
“Oh, I know that.”
“Let us go up the river a bit, so as to get out of that wind. They can smell your scent if the wind is blowing from you to them.”
They moved up the river about twenty yards, and then made a semi-circle toward the shore. Here they found a small creek, and up this they moved as silently as possible.
“We must be getting close to one of the fellows,” whispered Boxy. “That sound came from this vicinity.”
“Hush, Boxy, he may——”
Harry did not finish, for at that instant a bark sounded so closely to them that both sprang back in alarm. A little open glade was before them, and directly in the center of it both boys discovered a silver gray fox, standing with one forefoot raised, listening for an answer to his call.