THE DUTY OF THE SCOUT
When two days had passed and the storm still raged, the scouts began
to feel more anxious than ever. The snow continued to sweep past the
cabin in blinding sheets. It was difficult to know whether all this
came from above, or if some was snatched up from the ground and
whirled about afresh.
In some places enormous drifts abounded, while other more exposed
spots had been actually swept bare by the wind.
The scouts had not suffered in the least, save mentally. The cabin
proved to be fairly warm, thanks to the great fire they kept going day
and night; and they certainly had no reason to fear for any lack of
provisions with which to satisfy their ever present appetites.
Still, from time to time, murmurs could be heard.
"One thing sure!" Sandy Griggs was saying toward noon on this third
day of the blizzard, "this storm is going to upset a whole lot of our
plans."
"Knock 'em into a jiffy!" added Bluff.
"We'll never be able to skate down the creek to the lake, if it's
covered with two feet of snow," Sandy growled.
"Oh! for all we know," laughed Paul, "this wind has been a good friend
to us, and may keep the smooth ice clear of snow. We'd better not cry
until we know the milk has really been spilled."
"But any way," Bluff continued, bound to find some cause for the
gloomy feelings that clung like a wet blanket, "we'll never be able to
run our iceboats back home. Chances are we'll have to drag them most
of the way."
"All right, then," Paul told him, "we'll make the best of a bad
bargain. If you only look hard enough, Bluff and Sandy, you'll find
the silver lining to every cloud. And no matter how the storm upsets
some of our plans we ought to be thankful we've got such a snug
shelter, and plenty of good things to eat--thanks to Mr. Garrity."
"Yes, that's what I just had in mind, Paul," spoke up Bobolink. "Now,
you all needn't begin to grin at me when I say that. I was thinking
more about the fellows who may be shivering and hungry, than of our
own well-fed crowd."
"Oh! The Lawsons!" exclaimed Bluff. "That's a fact. While we're having
such a royal time of it here they may be up against it good and
hard."
Perhaps all of the boys had from time to time allowed their thoughts
to stray away, and mental pictures of the Lawson crowd suffering from
hunger and cold intruded upon their minds. They forgot whatever they
chanced to be doing at that moment, and came around Paul.
"In one way it would serve them right if they did get a little rough
experience," observed Spider Sexton, who perhaps had suffered more at
the hands of the Stanhope bully and his set than any of the other
scouts.
"Oh, that sort of remark hardly becomes you, Spider," Paul reminded
him. "If you remember some of the rules and regulations to which you
subscribed when joining the organization you'll find that scouts have
no business to feel bitter toward any one, especially when the fellows
they look on as enemies may be suffering."
"Excuse me, Paul, I guess I spoke without thinking," said Spider, with
due humility. "And to prove it I'm going to suggest that we figure out
some way we might be of help to Hank and his lot."
"That's more like it, Spider!" the scout-master exclaimed, as though
pleased. "None of us fancy those fellows, because so far we've failed
to make any impression on them. Several times we've tried to make an
advance, but they jeered at us, and seemed to think it was only fear
on our part that made us try to throw a bridge across the chasm
separating us. It's going to be different if, as we half believe,
they're in serious trouble."
"But Paul, what could we do to help them?" demanded Bluff.
"With this storm raging to beat the band," added Tom Betts, "it would
be as much as our lives were worth to venture out. Why, you can't see
ten feet away; and we'd be going around in a circle until the cold got
us in the end."
"Hold on, fellows, don't jump at conclusions so fast," Paul warned
them. "I'd be the last one to advise going out into the woods with the
storm keeping up. But Tolly Tip told me the snow stopped hours ago.
What we see whirling around is only swept by the wind, for it's as dry
as powder you know. And even the wind seems to be dying down now, and
is blowing in spasms."
"Paul, you're right, as you nearly always are," Jack affirmed, after
he had pressed his nose against the cold glass of the little window.
"And say! will you believe me when I say that I can see a small patch
of blue sky up yonder--big enough to make a Dutchmen's pair of
breeches?"
"Hurrah! that settles the old blizzard then!" cried Sandy Griggs. "You
all remember, don't you, the old saying, 'between eleven and two
it'll tell you what it's going to do?' I've seen it work out lots of
times."
"Yes," retorted Jud, "and fail as often in the bargain. That's one of
the exploded signs. When they come out right you believe in 'em, and
when they miss, why you just forget all about it, and go on hoping.
But in this case I reckon the old storm must have blown itself about
out, and we can look for a week of cold, clear weather now."
"We'll wait until after lunch," said Paul, in his decided fashion that
the boys knew so well; "then, if things brighten up, we'll see what we
can do. Those fellows must be suffering, more or less, and it's our
duty to help them, no matter whether they bother to thank us or not."
"Scouts don't want thanks when they do their duty," said Phil Towns,
grandly. "But I suppose you'll hardly pick me out as one of the rescue
party, Paul?"
"I'd rather have the hardiest fellows along with me, Phil," replied
the scout-master, kindly; "though I'm glad to know you feel willing to
serve. It counts just as much to _want_ to go, as to be allowed to be
one of the number."
Bobolink especially showed great delight over the possibility of their
setting out to relieve the enemy in distress. A dozen times he went to
the door and passed out, under the plea that they might as well have
plenty of wood in the cabin; but on every occasion upon his return he
would report the progress of the clearing skies.
"Have the sun shining right away now, boys," he finally announced,
with a beaming face. "And the wind's letting up, more or less. Times
are when you can see as far as a hundred feet. And say! it's a
wonderful sight let me tell you."
Noon came and they sat down to the lunch that had been prepared for
them, this time by Frank and Spider, Bobolink having begged off. The
sun was shining in a dazzling way upon the white-coated ground. It
looked like fairyland the boys declared, though but little of the snow
had remained on the oaks, beeches and other forest trees, owing to the
furious and persistent wind.
The hemlocks, however, were bending low with the weight that pressed
upon their branches. Some of the smaller ones looked like snow
pyramids, and it was plain to be seen that during the remainder of the
winter most of this snow was bound to hang on.
"If we only had a few pairs of snow-shoes like Tolly Tip's here,"
suggested Bobolink, enthusiastically, "we might skim along over
ten-foot drifts, and never bother about things."
"Yes," Jud told him, a bit sarcastically, "if we knew just how to
manage the bally things, we might. But it isn't so easy as you think.
Most of us would soon be taking headers, and finding ourselves upside
down. It's a trick that has to be learned; and some fellows never can
get the hang, I've been told."
"Well, there's no need of our talking about it," interposed Paul,
"because there's only one pair of snow-shoes in the cabin, and all of
us can't wear those. But Tolly Tip says we're apt to find avenues
swept in the snow by the wind, where we can walk for the most part on
clear ground, with but few drifts to wade through."
"It may make a longer journey av the same," the old woodsman
explained; "but if luck favors us we'll git there in due time, I
belave, if so be ye settle on goin'."
Nothing could hold the scouts back, it seemed. This idea of setting
forth to succor an enemy in distress had taken a firm hold upon their
imaginations.
Besides, those days when they were shut up in the storm-besieged cabin
had been fearfully long to their active spirits, and on this account,
too, they welcomed the chance to do something.
There could no longer be any doubt that the storm had blown itself
out, for the sky was rapidly clearing. The air remained bitter cold,
and Paul advised those whom he selected to accompany him to wrap
themselves up with additional care, for he did not wish to have them
take the chance of frosting their toes and their noses.
Those who were fortunate enough to be drafted for the trip were Jack,
Jud, Bobolink and Tom Betts. Some of the others felt slighted, but
tried to be as cheerful over their disappointment as possible.
Of course, Tolly Tip was to accompany them, for he would not have
allowed the boys to set out without his guidance, under such changed
and really hazardous conditions. A trained woodsman would be necessary
in order to insure the boys against possible disaster in the
storm-bound forest.
Well bundled up, and bearing packs on their backs consisting in the
main of provisions, the six started off, followed by the cheers and
good wishes of their comrades, and were soon lost to view amidst the
white aisles of the forest.