THE BLIZZARD
The Hardy boys set off down the trail at a good pace. The wind howled
down from the crags and whistled through the trees. The entire mountain
was veiled in a great mist of swirling snow and, as the wind rose, the
snow stung their faces and slashed against them.
"Storm coming up," said Frank, burying his chin deeper into his coat
collar.
"I hope it doesn't get any worse. We'll never find the place."
"We won't give up now. If we wait until to-morrow it may be too late."
The storm grew rapidly worse. The snowfall was so heavy that it
obscured even the tops of the great masses of rock and it quickly
drifted over the trail so that the boys were forced to follow the path
by memory. This was difficult, as in some places the trail had wound
about through tumbled masses of boulders and when it was hidden by snow
they had to guess at its intricate windings. Several times Frank lost
it altogether, but he was always able to pick up the trail again in
some place that was sheltered from the storm.
The boys struggled on in silence. The wind was increasing in volume and
the snow was so heavy that Joe could scarcely see the dim form of his
brother but a few yards ahead. Suddenly he saw his brother stop.
"I've lost the trail!" shouted Frank, turning back.
They were standing ankle deep in snow. There was not the slightest
vestige of a path. High above them they could discern the gloomy mass
of a steep rock cliff and before them loomed a sloping declivity of
rock that afforded not the slightest foothold.
"I lost the trail farther back, but I thought I was following it all
right and could pick it up farther on. We'll have to turn back."
They retraced their steps. So furiously was it snowing that their own
footprints were almost obliterated and they could scarcely find their
way back to the place where they had left the trail. They found it
again, however, and struck out in another direction.
It was growing bitterly cold, and although they were warmly clad they
began to feel the effect of the chill wind that swept down from the icy
mountain slopes. They pulled their caps down about their ears and made
their way slowly forward against the terrific wind that buffeted them
and flung sheets of snow against them.
Frank gave a shout of triumph when he finally picked up the trail
again in the shelter of some huge rocks where the snow had not yet
penetrated. They advanced with new courage.
At length they emerged through the defile where the trail to the
outlaw's deserted camp led off the main trail up the mountain, and then
they rested.
Far below them they could see the slope of the mountain, veiled
in sweeping banners of snow that shifted and swirled madly in the
blustering wind. The town was hidden from view, obscured by the white
blizzard.
"Do you think we should try to make it?" asked Frank.
"The mine?"
"Yes."
"You're leading this procession. Whatever you want to do."
"If you think the storm is too bad, we'll start for the cabin."
"What would you rather do?"
"I hate to give up now," replied Frank, after a moment of hesitation.
"I feel the same way about it," Joe said. "I vote we try to find the
mine. Once we get there we'll be able to get in out of the storm,
anyway."
"I thought you'd say that," laughed Frank. "We'll head for the Lone
Tree Mine then. As far as I can remember it is just below us, and then
over to the right."
"We'll find it, I guess."
They started down the slope. But once they left the shelter of the
rocks where they had rested they found that the fury of the storm was
increased tenfold on the mountainside. The full force of the blizzard
struck them.
The wind shrieked with a thousand voices. The snow came sweeping down
on them as though lashed by invisible whips. The roar of the storm
sounded in their ears and the fine snow almost blinded them.
"It's worse than I thought," muttered Frank.
The slope was steep and precipitous. They could not distinguish the
details of the trail other than as a vaguely winding path that led
steadily downward. Frank lost his footing on a slippery rock and went
tumbling down the declivity for several yards before he came to a stop
in a snowbank. He got to his feet slowly and limped on, suffering from
a bruised ankle.
The trail wound about a steep cliff and he skirted the base of it, then
disappeared between two high masses of rock. Joe could dimly see the
figure of his brother, and he hastened on so as not to lose sight of
him.
But when Joe came around the rocks he was confronted by an opaque cloud
of snow, like a huge white screen that had dropped from the skies. He
could not see Frank at all.
He followed the trail as well as he could, but in a few moments he came
to a stop. He was out on the open mountainside and the winds at this
point converged so that the snow seemed to be swirling about him from
all sides. The faint trail had been wholly obliterated.
He shouted.
"Frank! Frank!"
But the wind flung the words back into his teeth. A feeling of panic
seized him for a moment, but he quickly calmed himself, for he realized
that when Frank looked behind and saw they were separated, he would
retrace his steps.
He went on uncertainly a few paces, until it occurred to him that he
might be wandering in the wrong direction and that if Frank did turn
back he might not be able to find him. So he tried to return to the
trail again. But the snow was falling so heavily by now that he seemed
to be wandering in an enormous grey void, from which all direction had
been erased.
He was hopelessly lost, so he stood where he was and shouted again and
again. There was no answer. He could only hear the constant howling of
the wind, the sweep and swish of snow.
Once he thought he heard a faint cry from far ahead, but he could not
be sure, and although he listened intently he could hear it no more.
As he stood there on the rocks, with the snow sweeping down on him and
with the wind howling about him, with only the gaunt, gloomy shapes of
the boulders looming out of the heavy mist of storm, Joe felt the icy
clutch of the cold and he began to beat his arms against his chest so
as to keep warm. He knew the danger of inaction in such a blizzard.
Anything was better than remaining where he was. He struggled forward,
slipped and fell on the rocks, regained his feet, and moved slowly on
into the teeth of the wind. He did not know whether he was following
the trail or not but, to the best of his judgment, he tried to descend
the slope.
As for Frank, he had been plunging doggedly on through the storm,
confident that Joe was close behind, and it was not until he had gone
far down the trail that he became aware that his brother was not
following. He turned, and when he could no longer discern the figure
in the storm behind he retraced his steps, shouting at the top of his
lungs.
There was no answer.
He searched about, going to left and right of the trail. He did not
dare go far, being fearful of losing the trail himself. Frank was
alarmed lest Joe had slipped and fallen on the rocks and injured
himself. If he were unable to proceed he would freeze to death, lying
helpless on the mountainside.
With this thought in his mind, he searched frantically. He tried to
follow back up the trail, but the snow had swept over his footsteps and
he soon found himself knee-deep in a heavy drift and he knew he had
lost the path.
He tried to regain the trail, but the white screen of snow was like a
shroud over the rocks and he had lost all sense of direction.
He floundered about in the snow aimlessly, but the trail constantly
evaded him. Frank set his jaw grimly and went hither and thither,
stopping every little while to shout. He knew that the wind drowned out
his voice and he realized the futility of his cries, but still he hoped
that there was just a chance that Joe might hear him.
Frank Hardy felt an overpowering sense of loneliness as he wandered
about among the rocks and the deep drifts. He seemed to be alone in a
world of swirling, shrieking winds and flailing snow that stormed down
from a sky of leaden hue.
He shouted again and again, but to no avail.
It was mid-afternoon, but the sky was so dark that it seemed almost
dusk. If darkness fell and they were lost out on the mountain there was
little hope that they would survive until morning. They would perish
from exposure.
"I'd better go back to Hank Shale's place and get a searching party to
come up and look for Joe," he thought.
This seemed the only sensible solution. But when he turned and tried
to find the trail down the mountain again he found that it eluded him.
There was not the vestige of a trail, not the sign of a path.
"And I'm lost too!" he muttered.
The wind shrieked down from the rocks. The snow swirled furiously about
him. The blizzard raged. The roaring of the storm drummed in his ears
as he stumbled and floundered about among the rocks and snow.
The Hardy boys were lost, separated, in the storm.