THE LONE TREE
Suddenly, Frank Hardy had an inspiration.
In the shelter of some rocks he cleared away the snow, then began to
search about for wood in order to build a fire. If he were lost the
best plan was to build a fire which would serve the double purpose of
keeping him warm and possibly guiding Joe toward him as well.
He found some small shrubs and stunted trees and managed to break
off enough branches to serve as the basis of a fair-sized blaze. He
had matches in a waterproof box in his pocket, and after several
unsuccessful attempts he finally managed to get a fire going. The wood
was damp, but the small twigs caught the blaze and within a few minutes
the flames were leaping higher and higher and casting warmth and
radiance.
Frank crouched beneath the rocks and warmed himself by the fire. Once
in a while he got up and went away to search for more wood to cast on
the blaze. Occasionally he peered through the screen of snow in the
hope of seeing some sign of Joe. At intervals, he shouted until he was
hoarse in the hope of attracting his brother's attention.
The flames leaped up in the wind and as he piled more wood on the blaze
the fire grew brighter. It was in a sheltered spot where the gusts of
snow could not quench the flames.
At last he thought he heard a faint shout.
Frank sprang to his feet. He gazed through the shifting veil of snow
that swirled about his shelter, but he could see nothing. Then he
called out:
"Joe!"
The fire roared. The wind shrieked. Snow slashed against the rocks
above him.
Then, out of the inferno of wind and snow he heard the shout again, and
a moment later he caught sight of a dim figure plunging toward him. He
ran forward.
It was Joe. He was almost exhausted and he was blue with cold. He
staggered over toward the blaze and collapsed in a heap beside the fire.
"Thank goodness I saw the flames!" he gasped. "I was almost all in. I
couldn't have gone another step."
"I thought I'd never find you. I hunted all over."
"I got lost. I couldn't find the trail."
"We're both lost now. I got off the trail myself when I was looking for
you."
"I don't much care where we are so long as we're together again and we
have a fire."
Joe extended his trembling hands to the blaze. In a short while he
ceased shivering, and as the warmth pervaded his chilled body his
spirits rose.
"That fire was a lucky thought," remarked Frank. "I was cold and it
just occurred to me that you might see a fire through the storm even if
you couldn't see me."
"I just caught a faint glimpse of it--just like a little pink patch
shining through the snow. I was just about to give up and lie down on
the rocks when I saw it."
"You'd have died of exposure."
For a while the two lads were silent as they thought of how narrowly
the blizzard had been cheated of its victim. Then, when Joe had become
warmed by the fire, they began to consider their course of action.
Frank looked out at the storm.
"The wind seems to be dying down a bit," he said. "I can see farther
down the mountain now than I could a while ago."
"Think we ought to start home?"
"Do you feel well enough now?"
Joe got to his feet.
"Sure. I feel fine now. There's no use staying up here until
nightfall. This storm may last a couple of days."
"All right. Let's go."
They stamped out the fire and resumed their journey down the mountain.
They stayed close together this time, taking no chances on again being
separated. As Frank had noticed, the wind had indeed lost much of its
fury, although it still howled and blustered on the mountain slope, and
the snow still fell steadily in a drifting cloud. The trail was almost
obscured by the snowdrifts but Frank was able to find and follow it and
they finally reached the place where they had turned off toward the
abandoned mine workings several days before.
Here they hesitated.
"What do you think?" Frank asked.
"Now that we're so close to the mine I think we may as well go on with
our search."
"I was hoping you'd say that. It shouldn't take us more than an hour or
so and it isn't dark yet. Besides, we have our flashlights."
"I haven't mine. But one's enough. Go ahead. It shouldn't be hard to
find the Lone Tree from here."
Frank turned off the trail. He headed directly toward the old mine
workings they had previously visited and from which he remembered
having seen the lone pine tree. The snow was deeper than they had
expected and they ploughed through drifts up to the waist. They went
on, however, and in a short while reached the abandoned mine of their
harrowing experience underground. Here they paused.
"The lone tree was over to the right, I think," said Joe.
They peered through the storm. They could see nothing but drifting
snow and the dull masses of the rocks. A shift in the wind raised the
curtain of storm for a moment and then, like a gloomy sentinel, they
saw the tall pine tree, solitary against the bleak background of grey.
"That's it!"
Now that their goal was definitely in sight they felt invigorated, and
they hastened on through the snow toward the tree with new vitality.
Forgotten for the moment was their weariness and exhaustion, the cold
and the snow, in the lure of the gold that they felt sure lay somewhere
in the neighborhood of that lonely tree.
Stumbling and plunging through the snow, they reached their goal at
last. The tree creaked and swayed in the wind, and as they stood
beneath it they saw that they were standing on the verge of a deep pit
that seemed to have been scooped out of the earth by giant hands.
There were a few ramshackle ruins of old mine buildings near by. The
roofs had long since fallen in and the buildings sagged drunkenly. At
the far side of the bottom of the pit, clearly discernible against the
snow, they saw the wide mouth of a cave.
"That must be the shaft opening," said Frank. "We're on the track now."
The boys descended into the pit. The going was precarious, for the
rocks were slippery and the snow concealed crevices and holes, so that
they were obliged to proceed cautiously. But at length they reached the
bottom and made their way across to the mouth of the cave.
Frank produced his flashlight as he prepared to enter.
"Stick close behind," he advised his brother. "We don't know what we're
liable to run into here."
The snow flung itself upon them and the wind shrieked with renewed fury
as they left the unsheltered pit and entered the half darkness of the
cave mouth. It was as though they were entering a new world. They had
become so accustomed to the roaring of the gale and the sweep of the
storm that the interior of the passage seemed strangely peaceful and
still.
The flashlight sliced a brilliant gleam of light from the blackness
ahead.
Step by step they advanced across the hard rock. The dampness and cold
became more pronounced. As they went on the passage widened and in a
few minutes they found themselves in a huge chamber in the earth, a
chamber that extended far on into darkness, and they could not see the
opposite walls.
A curious rustling sound attracted their attention as soon as they
entered the place, and Frank stood still.
"What was that?"
They remained motionless and silent. Away off in the darkness of
this subterranean chamber they could hear a scuffling and rustling,
and sounds that the boys judged were caused by pattering feet. Frank
directed the beam of the flashlight toward them, but the light fell
short and they could see nothing.
They advanced several paces. The rustling sounds became multiplied.
Then, suddenly, Frank caught sight of two gleaming pinpoints of light
glowing from the blackness.
"What's that light?" asked Joe.
"I don't know. I'm going closer."
Frank stepped forward again. As he did so, instead of two pinpoints of
light, he saw two more, then two more, until at least a dozen of those
strange glowing green spots shone from the darkness, reflected in the
glow from the flashlight.
"Animals," he said quietly to Joe.
At the same instant he heard a low, menacing snarl.
The glowing greenish lights began to move rapidly to and fro. Into the
radiance of the flashlight shot a lean, grey form that disappeared as
swiftly as it came.
A prolonged and wicked snarling rose from the gloom. Frank glanced to
one side and saw that two of the greenish lights had moved until they
were circling behind him. He leaped back.
"We'd better get out of here!" he said. "Those are wolves."
But when the boys turned to retrace their steps they were confronted by
a lean form that barred their way to the cave entrance, and in the glow
of the flashlight they saw two greenish eyes that glowed fiendishly and
two rows of sharp white teeth bared in defiance.