HARD ASHORE.
It was at this juncture that Tom came aft with a rope trailing in his
hand. It was the original rope. He had drawn it aboard when he
discovered it dangling from the mooring bitts into the water.
"Look at this rope," he cried excitedly. "It was no accident that we
went adrift."
"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Dacre.
"That it was cut."
"Cut?"
"Yes."
"How do you know that?"
"All the rope is not here. If it had slipped from the anchor we cast
ashore among the rushes, or if the anchor had slipped, it would be."
"Perhaps some animal chewed it."
"We'll soon see that. Who's got a match?"
Tom struck a lucifer. As it flared up, Mr. Dacre took the end of the
rope in his hand. A single glance sufficed. The rope had been severed
so cleanly that there was no question that it had been done by a sharp
knife. No animal's teeth could have made that neat, clean incision.
"Well, what do you think of that?" demanded Tom.
"Who could hae done it?" wondered Sandy.
"I know." Jack interjected the remark with confidence.
"Who?"
"Those natives. That bunch that raided our pantry."
"By Jove, boy, I believe you are right," declared Mr. Chillingworth.
"It would be just like one of their tricks."
"Well, here we are, stuck hard and fast," said Mr. Dacre. "I suppose
those natives would feel highly gratified if they could see our
predicament."
"I guess we ought to be glad that they didn't set the boat on fire,"
commented Jack indignantly. "I'd like to have a brief interview with
them."
As an examination showed that the _Yukon Rover_ was in no particular
danger, it was decided to wait till daylight before trying to get her
off the bar. In the meantime, Sandy went below and began getting up
steam, for he had banked his fires during the sleeping period. The
others discussed the situation.
It was plain that they had drifted some distance, though how far they
had, of course, no means of estimating. Although no actual harm had
been done, they naturally felt incensed against the natives, who they
were certain had played the scurvy trick on them. Had the wily old
chief and his followers happened along just then, they would have met
with a warm reception. Perhaps it was just as well that they did not.
After hot coffee had been served out, all hands went to work with a
will to release the steamer from her sandy bed. But this proved to be
no easy task. It had been hoped that she could be got off under her
own power by dint of utilizing the stern wheel. But the blades of the
wheel were stuck in the sand, and to have tried to work them might
have crippled the ship permanently.
Another plan, therefore, was adopted. The boys got out the small boat
and taking the anchor on board carried it some distance up the stream.
Then they returned to the ship and began heaving with might and main
on the cable, using the small capstan to do this. A cheer went up
when, after about half an hour of back-breaking work, they felt the
_Yukon Rover_ give a quiver and move about an inch.
"Hurrah, boys! Keep it up! We'll soon be afloat!" cried Tom
cheerfully.
Sure enough, as they worked they got the vessel further and further
off the sand-bank and at last had the satisfaction of feeling her
floating free. As soon as this happened, the engine was started and
the steamer began bucking the current once more. The anchor was
hoisted as the _Yukon Rover_ came "up on it" and the voyage, which had
been so mischievously interrupted, was resumed with great
cheerfulness. About ten miles up the river they came to the spot where
they had anchored the night before. The steamer was stopped and the
boys went ashore to investigate. On the banks were the tell-tale marks
of the keels of the bidarkas and numerous footmarks around them. The
anchor was found undisturbed, with about ten feet of rope attached to
it, and was brought back on board.
The resumption of the journey found them still traversing much the
same kind of country as that they had hitherto steamed through. Low
banks, thickly grown with alders and other water-loving trees,
islands covered with willows, sand-bars and sluggish, outbranching
sloughs innumerable.
These willow islands formed troublesome obstructions to navigation.
But the outcropping willows at least served one useful purpose. They
indicated the presence of sand-bars which, in some instances, lay
several feet beneath the surface of water at the high stage of the
river. It was not till some days later, during which time they had
steadily bucked the current, only tying up for sleep, that the
character of the scenery began to change and the boys felt that they
were really getting into a wild country at last.
The flat banks and occasional small towns with remnants of Russian
forts and occupancy about them, had been left behind. Now the banks
shot up steeply above the swift current, and the _Yukon Rover_ was
called upon to test her power against the full strength of the stream.
One night,--of course, it was not dark, but "rest time,"--the
travelers tied up on the north bank of the stream under a
particularly precipitous mass of cliff. It towered above them like the
side wall of a skyscraper. Mr. Dacre, who examined it, declared that
it had once been a glacier, and there were still traces of glacial
action visible upon it. The ground thereabouts was also rich in
fossils and the boys obtained permission to go ashore and collect a
few of these last.
They set off in high spirits, landing by the long gangplank which the
_Yukon Rover_ carried for such purposes. Shouting and laughing they
made their way up through the woods till they had clambered to quite a
height. All their pockets were bulging with specimens of rock
formation, many of them very curious.
"Let's go over to the edge of that glacier," said Sandy, "and hae a
look doon on the river. It must be a grand sight."
Nothing loath, they struck off over the rough ground under the larch
and pine trees, and soon found themselves at the edge of the sharp
acclivity, which had been ground almost to the smoothness of a board
by a mighty glacier centuries before. They had not climbed so far
above the river as they had imagined from the laboriousness of the
ascent. In fact, they were surprised to find that far from being at
the top of the glacier, hundreds of feet of its extent still towered
above them.
Below lay the _Yukon Rover_ tied to the bank, with the smoke wisping
lazily from her funnel. Mr. Dacre and his partner sat out on deck
reading. It was a peaceful scene, the silence broken only by the voice
of the river as its mighty current hastened down to the sea. All at
once though, the calm of the scene was rudely scattered by a loud yell
from Sandy.
The Scotch lad had been amusing himself by throwing rocks down the
smooth incline of the glacier, which sloped right down into the river,
and watching them vanish in the current.
In the course of this amusement he had climbed up on the edge of the
treacherously smooth rock chute, which was practically what it was.
"Look out there, Sandy!" warned Tom, knowing the boy's remarkable
faculty for getting into trouble.
"Hoot toot! Dinna fash yersel' aboot me," returned Sandy easily, and
set another rock rolling and bounding down the glacier.
As if in bravado, he clambered right up on the smooth cliff before his
companions could check him. But at that instant his foot caught on a
rock and he stumbled and fell.
Tom jumped forward to save him, but the lad's clothes tore from his
grasp, as Sandy shot downward at a terrific speed, at the same time
emitting a wild shriek of terror.
At the same instant his cry was echoed by Jack, for Tom, who had in
vain sought to save his chum, now shared Sandy's misfortune and went
chuting downward to the river on the smooth rock chute at lightning
speed.
"Help!" cried Jack, as if human aid could accomplish anything, "help!
They'll both be killed."
"Ki-i-i-i-i-l-l-e-d!" flung back the mocking echoes from the cliffs.