TOM'S WILD RIDE
"Talk about fields of ice, Dick! Just look around us!"
It was Sam who spoke. The party had come to a halt for the midday
meal. They had stopped in the shelter of some big rocks, now thickly
covered with snow and ice.
Snow and ice were on all sides--the latter glistening brightly in the
sunshine. It was a wonderful transformation from the green and brown
that had decked the landscape before winter had set in so suddenly.
"I'd hate to be out in this alone," remarked the big brother. "A
fellow could get lost without half trying."
"Dick, what do you think of Tom?" went on Sam, in a lower tone.
"He's in a bad way again, Sam," was the reply. "Poor fellow! If only
we had him where we could place him under the care of some good doctor,
some specialist. That is what he needs."
Tom was indeed in a bad way. All morning he had talked in a rambling
fashion, to himself and to the others around him. The Canadians were
getting afraid of him and the Germans shrugged their shoulders.
"I dink he besser peen in an asylum, ain't it," said Gus Schmidt. "A
feller can't vos dell vot such a feller vos going to do next alretty!"
"We'll have to watch him," had been Dick's answer.
One of the Canadians was preparing dinner, aided by one of the Germans.
To show that they did not wish to shirk any camp duties, Sam and Dick
did what they could to assist. The dogs and the sleds were off to one
side. Tom sat on one sled, wrapped in heavy blankets, for it was still
very cold.
Suddenly there came a wild shout from the Canadian who was doing the
cooking. With a saucepan he pointed to the dogs and sleds. All of the
others gazed in that direction and Sam and Dick set up a cry of alarm.
And well they might, for the sight that met their eyes filled them with
fear. In some way Tom had gotten one of the sleds with its dogs away
from the others and jumped aboard. With a crack of a whip he was off,
standing on the sled and yelling like a demon.
"Tom! Tom! Stop!" screamed Dick and Sam in unison. "Come back here!"
"I'm off for gold! Nuggets of gold!" yelled the one who was not right
in his mind. "Don't you dare to follow me! Off for gold! Gold!
Gold!" And then the sled with its rider passed out of hearing, the
dogs doing their best, urged on by the continued cracking of the long
whip.
"We must catch him!" said Dick. "Quick! before he gets out of sight
over some hill, or around some rocks!"
"He has der pest sled und der pest dogs!" groaned Gus Schmidt. "I said
ve must keep an eye on him, yah! Of he busts dot sled somepody got to
pay for him!"
"We'll pay, never fear," answered Sam. "But we must catch him! We
don't want him to get hurt."
"You come mit me," said the leader of the outfit, motioning to Dick.
"It ain't no use for all of us to go after him. De udders da stay
right here. Ludvig, you hear?"
"Yah," came from the other German, and he nodded his head.
In a few minutes Gus Schmidt had one of the other dog teams ready for
use. He was about to jump on the sled when he paused.
"Besser ve took somedings along," he suggested. "Somedings to eat und
to trink, hey? Und some plankets, yah?" and he commenced to haul over
the packs.
"Why, do you think the chase will be a long one?" asked Dick, anxiously.
"I can't vos tell dot. Mebbe him peen long. Dem vos schmart togs, I
tole you dot."
A pack containing food and blankets was hastily thrown together and
strapped to the sled. Then Dick was assigned a place and Gus Schmidt
hopped aboard.
"Of ve ton't got back tonight go on to Riss Rifer," he directed the
others.
"Good-by, Dick, and good luck!" called out Sam, and Jack Wumble waved
his hand.
"You take care of yourself, Sam," was the brother's parting caution.
The dog sleds had done some fairly fast traveling before, but the rate
of speed now set by Gus Schmidt almost took away Dick's breath. On and
on bounded the sled, the dogs yelping wildly at first, but then
settling down to a steady pace. Up one hill awl down another they
dashed, sending the loose snow flying in all directions. Soon the camp
was left out of sight, even the smoke gradually disappearing from view.
Tom and his outfit were nowhere to be seen, having long since passed
over a hill to the northward. Gus Schmidt had, however, noted the
direction with care. He had noted, too, that the runaway had taken a
somewhat curved course, and now he attempted to catch him by taking a
straight route for the same point.
For over an hour the chase kept up, and then, reaching the top of a
long hill, they saw, far to the northward, a dog sled moving to the
eastward.
"I dink I got him now!" cried Gus Schmidt, and once more he cracked his
long whip and again his team bounded forward. Quarter of an hour
passed and they drew closer to the other team, and then both the German
and Dick set up a cry of dismay.
It was not the sled on which Tom had run away. The dogs were different
and on the sled sat two men, strangers.
"Yes, we saw the sled you are after," said one of the men, when the
others had come up and put a question to him and his companion. "It
passed us, going like the wind and the driver yelling like a madman."
"And how was it headed?"
"About due North," answered the other man on the sled. And then he and
his companion moved forward again.
"I dink ve haf to go pack und look for der tracks," said Gus Schmidt.
"Too pad, dot vosn't our sled, ain't it?"
The team was turned back, and for the best part of half an hour they
looked for the missing trail. At last it was discovered, and once more
they moved rapidly forward, this time due North.
Fortunately there was little wind, otherwise Dick could not have stood
that long and wild ride. As it was, he felt chilled to the bone, and
his feet were like two lumps of ice. Gus Schmidt must have surmised
this, for presently he stopped the sled and motioned to the youth.
"Ve git off und rundt a leetle. It vos do us goot," he remarked, and
swung himself down on the icy snow. Dick followed, so stiff at first
that he could scarcely put one foot before the other. They set off on
a walk, the dogs pulling them, and gradually increased their speed to a
run.
Then Dick felt better.
All through the afternoon the chase kept up. They saw nothing of Tom.
But the track he had left was a plain one and to that they stuck
closely.
At last it grew so dark that they could see the track but indistinctly.
They had to reduce their speed to a walk for fear of turning off.
"He ought to be stopping for the night," said Dick.
"Such a feller might not sthop at all," answered the German. "He might
go on und on bis der togs trop dead, yah!"
Finally Gus Schmidt came to a halt and announced that they must go into
camp for the night. The dogs needed the rest. They could continue the
chase at the first sign of dawn.
"Do you know where we are?" asked Dick.
"Out in der ice und snow, dot ist all I know," said the German. "I
nefer vos here pefore."
"If we are not lost we are next door to it," murmured Dick.
They had brought along a little tent and sleeping bags, and after
supper made themselves as comfortable as possible. The dogs had been
fed and they snapped and snarled over the bones thrown to them.
Only once during the night were Dick and his companion disturbed. From
a distance came a yelping which the dogs at once answered.
"What is that?" asked the youth, sitting up. "Not the dogs of the
other sled?"
"Nein, dot vos foxes," answered Gus Schmidt. "Ton't podder mit dem.
Da ton't come here--da vos afraid of ter dogs." And he turned over to
go to sleep again.
Dick could not sleep with any kind of comfort. He was utterly
exhausted, yet his mind was continually on Tom. What was his poor
brother doing, all by himself, amid that desolation of ice and snow?
At daybreak they were on the way again. The sun had come up, but soon
it was hidden by a heavy bank of clouds, and then the snowflakes
commenced to fall.
"Dot ist pad," said Gus Schmidt, shaking his head.
"You mean, it will wipe out the trail?" said Dick.
"Yah--der drail to find your prudder und der drail for us to git pack
py. Maype ve besser go pack now."
"No! no! don't turn back! Please don't go back!" pleaded Dick. "He
can't be so very far ahead of us. We are sure to catch up to him in a
very short while now. If we----"
Dick did not finish, for a strange sight ahead caught his eye. Coming
towards them was a dog team on a gallop. Behind the team was an
overturned sled, empty.