THE RESCUE
Jonas found, when he reached home, that it was about dinner-time. The
farmer said that the storm was coming on sooner than he had expected,
and he believed that they should have to leave the rafters where they
were. But Jonas said that he thought he could get them without any
difficulty, if the farmer would let him take the oxen and sled.
The farmer, finding that Jonas was very willing to go, notwithstanding
the storm, said that he should be very glad to have him try. And Josey,
he said, might accompany him or not, just as he pleased.
"I wouldn't go, Jonas," said Josey, "if I were you. It is going to be a
great storm."
He, however, walked along with Jonas to the barn, to see him yoke the
oxen. The yard was covered with a thin coating of light snow, which made
the appearance of it very different from what it had been when they had
left it. The cows and oxen stood out still exposed, their backs whitened
a little with the fine flakes which had fallen upon them. Jonas went to
the shed, and brought out the yoke.
"Jonas," said Josey, "I wouldn't go."
"No, I think it very likely that you wouldn't. You are not a very
efficient boy."
"What is an _efficient_ boy?" asked Josey.
"One that has energy and resolution enough to go on and accomplish his
object, even if there are difficulties in the way."
"Is that what you mean by being efficient?" said Josey.
"Yes;--a boy that hasn't some efficiency, isn't good for much."
As he said this, Jonas had got one of the oxen yoked. He then went to
bring up the other.
When the other ox was up in his place, Jonas raised the end of the yoke,
and put it over his neck.
"You see," continued he, "your uncle wants all those rafters got down.
It will be a little harder getting them, in the storm; but I care
nothing for that. It will be a great satisfaction to him to have them
all safe down here before it drifts. He doesn't _require_ me to go; but
if I go voluntarily and bring them down, don't you think that, to-morrow
morning, when he finds two feet of snow on the ground, he'll be glad to
think that all his rafters are safe in the yard?"
"Why, yes," said Josey. "I've a great mind to go with you."
"Do just as you please," said Jonas.
"Well, do you want me to go?"
"Yes, I should like your company very well; and, besides, perhaps you
can help me."
"Well," said Josey, "I'll go."
He accordingly followed Jonas as he drove the oxen along to the sled.
Jonas held up the tongue, while Josey backed the oxen, so that he could
enter the end of the tongue into the ring attached to the lower side of
the yoke. He then put the iron pin in, and all was ready.
Jonas drove the oxen along, till he came to the great gate in the back
yard, and then he stopped to go and get some chains. The chains he
fastened to the stakes, which were in the sides of the sled. Then he
opened the great gate, and the oxen went through; after which he seated
himself upon the sled by the side of Josey, and so they rode along up
into the woods.
The storm increased, though very slowly. The road into the woods, which
had become well worn, was now beginning to be covered, here and there,
with little white patches, wherever new snow, driven along by the wind,
found places where it could lodge. At length, however, they came to the
woods; and there they were sheltered from the wind, and the snow fell
more equally. Josey had found it quite cold riding in the open ground,
for the wind was against them; but under the shelter of the trees he
found it quite warm and comfortable.
The forest appeared very silent and solitary. It is true they could hear
the moaning of the wind upon the tops of the trees, but there was no
sound of life, and no motion but that of the fine flakes descending
through the air in a gentle shower. The whole surface of the ground, and
every thing lying upon it, was covered with the snow; for the branches,
and the stumps, and the stems trimmed up for timber, and the places
where the old snow had been trampled down by the oxen and by the
woodcutters, were now all whitened over again and concealed.
"Who would think," said Jonas, "that there could be any thing alive
here?"
"Is there any thing?" said Josey.
"Yes, thousands of animals, all covered up in the snow,--mice in the
ground, and squirrels in the hollow logs, and millions of insects,
frozen up in the bark of the dead trees."
"And they'll be covered up deeper before morning," said Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas, "and so would our rafters, if we didn't get them out.
We could not have found half of them, if we had left them till after
this storm."
The rafters were lying around upon the old snow, wherever small trees,
from which they had been formed, had fallen. They could be distinguished
very plainly now, although covered with an inch of snow.
Jonas and Josey immediately went to work, getting them together, and
placing them upon the sled. When they had been at work in this way for
some time, Jonas said,--
"We shall not get half of them, at this load."
"Then what shall you do?" said Josey.
"O, come up again, and get the rest."
"But then it will be dark before you get home."
"That will be no matter," said Jonas.
"Only you'll get lost, and buried up in the snow."
"No," said Jonas; "there might be some danger to-morrow evening, after
it shall have been snowing four and twenty hours; but not to-night. The
snow will not be more than a foot deep at midnight."
When they had got as many of the rafters upon the sled as Jonas thought
the oxen could conveniently draw, he secured the load by the chains, and
collected the rest of the sticks together a little, on the ground. Then
he told Josey to climb up to the top of the load and ride. He said that
he would walk along by the side of the oxen. Josey found it more
comfortable going back, than it was coming up, for the wind was now
behind him, and the snow did not drive into his face. Jonas walked along
in the snow, which was now nearly ankle deep, and after they had got
out of the woods, there were some places where it had drifted much
deeper.
"Do you suppose that uncle has got his frame done?" said Josey.
"I presume he has left it, if he hasn't finished it," said Jonas.
"Why? Why couldn't he stay out in the storm to work, as well as we?"
"Because," said Jonas, "the snow would wet his tools, and fill up his
mortises, and so trouble him a great deal more than it does us. You
can't do carpenter's work out of doors in a snow-storm."
"Do you mean to go after the other load?" asked Josey.
"Yes," replied Jonas.
The boys found, when they reached the yard, that it was as Jonas had
predicted. The farmer and Amos had left their work and gone in. They
were in the shop grinding their tools. The farmer asked Jonas if he had
got all the rafters.
"No, sir," said Jonas; "there is another load."
"Well, we'll let them go," said the farmer. "I'm very glad you've got
one load down."
"I think, sir," said Jonas, "if you have no objection, I'd better go
and get the rest. I know just where they are, and I can get them all
down here before night."
"You won't have time to get down before it will be dark," said the
farmer.
"Just as you think best, sir," said Jonas, "but I think I can get out of
the woods before dark; and it is of no consequence about the rest of the
way."
"Very well," said the farmer, "you may go. Don't you want Amos to go
with you?"
"No, sir, it isn't necessary."
"No, sir," said Josey, "I can go with him."
So Jonas threw off his load, and then turned his team about, and once
more set out for the woods. He and Josey sat upon the sled, talking by
the way,--the storm continuing without much change. The snow gradually
increased in depth, but the oxen walked along without difficulty through
it. Sometimes they came to a drift where the snow was so deep as to come
in a little upon the bars, where the boys were sitting; but in general
the sled runners glided along through it very smoothly.
The woods appeared still more somber and solitary than they had done
before. The new snow was deeper, and it was falling faster; and,
besides, as it was now nearly sundown, there was only a gloomy sort of
twilight, under the trees. Jonas and Josey loaded the sled as fast as
they could. They put on the last of the rafters, which Jonas had
collected, with great satisfaction. Josey, especially, began to be in
haste to set out on his return.
"Now," said Jonas, "I'll look around a little, just to see that there
are none left behind."
"O, no, I wouldn't," said Josey; "let us go. We've got them all, I
know."
"I want to be sure," said Jonas, "and make thorough work of it."
So saying, he began wading about in the snow, to see if he could find
any more rafters. He, however, soon satisfied himself that they were all
upon the sled. He then secured his load carefully, with the chains, and
they set out upon their return, as before.
It grew dark rapidly, and the wind and storm increased. When they came
out of the woods, they found that the air was very thick with the
falling flakes, and the drifts had begun to be quite large, so that
sometimes, in plunging through them, the snow would bank up quite high,
before the sled, against the ends of the rafters. Jonas said that, if
they had been two hours later, they could not have got along.
"You said that the snow wouldn't be a foot deep by midnight," said
Josey.
"It is coming faster than I thought it would," said Jonas. "It is almost
a foot deep now."
The road by which the boys were advancing, led along the bank of the
brook, until it reached nearly to the shore of the pond, and then it
turned off, and went towards the house, at a little distance from the
shore. When they reached this part of the road, the storm, which here
swept down across the pond, beat upon them with unusual fury. The wind
howled; the snow was driven through the air, and seemed to scud along
the ground with great violence; and the drifts, running diagonally
across the road, were once or twice so deep, that the oxen could hardly
get the load through. It was now almost dark, too, and all the traces of
the road were obliterated,--though Jonas knew, by the land and fences,
how to go.
Just at this time, when the wind seemed to lull for an instant, Jonas
thought he heard a cry. He stopped his oxen to listen.
"No," said Josey, "I don't believe it is any thing; let us go on."
In fact, Josey was afraid, and wanted to get home as soon as he could.
"Wait a minute," said Jonas. He listened again, and in a moment he heard
the cry again. It seemed to be a cry of distress, but he could not
distinguish any words.
"It is somebody off upon the pond," said Jonas.
"Is the pond out that way?" asked Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas, "and I verily believe somebody is out on it, and has
lost his way."
"Well," said Josey, "let us go home as fast as we can, and tell uncle."
"No," said Jonas, "that won't do."
Jonas turned in the direction from which the sound appeared to come, and,
putting his hands up to his mouth in the shape of a speaking-trumpet,
he called out, as loud as he could call,--
"Hal--loo!"
He listened after he had thus called, but there was no answer. In a few
minutes, the cry which he had heard first was repeated, in the same tone
as before.
"They don't hear me," said Jonas.
"Hal--loo!" cried out Josey, as loud as he could call.
There was no answer; but, in a few seconds afterwards, the cry was
repeated, as at first.
"You see," said Jonas, "that the wind blows this way, and they can't
hear us. We must go out after them."
Josey tried to dissuade Jonas from this plan; but Jonas said he must go,
and that, as they had oxen with them, there would be no danger. "First,"
said he, "we must throw off our load."
So he and Josey went to work, and threw off the rafters, as fast as they
could. Jonas reserved four or five rafters, which he left upon the sled.
Then he turned the oxen in the direction from which the cry had come.
They continued to hear it at moderate intervals.
They descended gradually a short distance across the field, and then
they came to the shore of the pond. Here Jonas took off one of his
rafters, and laid it upon the shore, with one end raised up out of the
snow.
"What is that for?" said Josey.
"To show us the way back to our road," said Jonas. "I place it so that
it points right back,--the way we came."
"We can tell by our tracks," said Josey.
"No," said Jonas; "our tracks will all be covered up before we come
back."
Jonas then drove down upon the pond, guiding his oxen in the direction
of the cry. He kept Josey upon the sled, so as not to exhaust his
strength. He rode himself, too, as much as he could; but he was obliged
to jump off very frequently, to keep the oxen in a right direction. He
stopped occasionally to put down a rafter, placing it so that its length
should be in the line of his road, and taking care to sink one end into
the snow, so as to leave the other out as far as possible, to prevent
its being all buried up before they should return. Every now and then,
too, he would answer the cry, as loud as he could call.
At last, after they had toiled along in this way for some time, Jonas
thought that he succeeded in making the travellers hear; for,
immediately after his call, he would hear a calling from them, following
it, and speaking in a different way, though Jonas could not understand
what was said. He kept pressing forward steadily, and, before long, he
found that the travellers were silent, excepting immediately after he
called to them,--when there was a sound as if intended for a response,
though Jonas could not tell what was said.
"We shall get to them, Josey," said he.
"Who do you suppose it is?" said Josey.
"I don't know; very probably some travellers lost upon the pond."
Jonas was right in his conjecture: as they came nearer and nearer, the
sounds became more distinct.
"Hal--loo!" vociferated Jonas.
"Hal--loo!" was the answer. "Can--you--come--and--help--us?"
"Ay, ay," said Jonas; "we're coming."
"Ay, ay," shouted Josey, in his loudest voice, which, being more shrill
than that of Jonas, was perhaps heard farther.
Still nothing was to be seen. Besides being dark, the atmosphere was
thick with snow. So it was not until they got very near to the
travellers, that they could see them at all. They saw at last, however,
some dark-looking object before them. On coming up to it, they found
that it was a horse and sleigh. The horse was in a very deep snow-drift,
and was half lying down. There was a woman in the sleigh, with a small
child in her arms, and a boy, about as large as Josey, standing at the
horse's head.
"O, I am so glad you have got some oxen, sir!" said the woman. "We
couldn't have got out without oxen."
"I don't see how the snow happens to be so deep just here."
"Why, it's that island," said the woman; "I suppose there is an island
off there. I told Isaiah it would be drifted under this island; and now
the horse is all beat out; and, besides, we don't know the way."
"Well," said Jonas, "I'll hook the oxen on, and we'll soon get you to
the land. Isaiah, you take your horse out of the sleigh."
So Isaiah went to work to unhook the traces and the hold-backs, in order
to get the horse free from the sleigh.
"I'll get out," said the woman.
"No," said Jonas; "you sit still, and keep your child warm."
As soon as Isaiah had taken the horse out, Jonas told him to lead him
around behind the sleigh, while he turned the shafts over back against
the dasher, and then he brought the oxen up in front of the sleigh. He
first, however, drove the oxen out of the road with the sled, so as to
leave that where it would not be in the way. Then he took two chains
from the sled, and attached the oxen, by means of them, to the forward
part of the sleigh. When all was ready, he put Josey in with the woman,
and let Isaiah lead his horse behind. He then started the oxen.
"Are you going to leave the sled here?" said Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas, "we can come and get it after the storm is over."
The oxen drew the sleigh along very easily. The snow was quite deep for
a little distance, and then it became less so; but it was very dark, and
it was difficult for Jonas to follow his track. The snow blew across it
with great violence, and was fast filling it up.
However, Jonas soon came to his first rafter, and this encouraged him.
It was a good deal covered with snow, but the end was out, and the
direction of it showed him which way to go, in order to find the next
one. After he had passed this guide, the path was no more to be
distinguished. He went on, however, as nearly as he could in the
direction indicated by the rafter; and, after going the proper distance,
he began to look out before him for the second. He began to be a little
anxious lest he had missed it, when he observed something dark in the
snow, at a little distance on the right. He went to it, and found that
it was the rafter.
Thus he was upon his track again; but his having so narrowly escaped
missing it, made him afraid that he should not be able to follow the
train very far. His fears proved well grounded. All his efforts to
discover the third rafter were entirely unavailing.
"'Tis of no consequence," said Jonas; "we can't be far from the shore.
I'll keep straight on, and we shall strike the land somewhere, not far
from the house."
But it is much easier to get bewildered in a storm than Jonas had
supposed. The darkness, the obscurity produced by the falling snow, the
perfect and unvarying level of the surface, in every direction the same,
and the agitation of mind which even the most resolute must experience
in such a situation, all conspired to make it difficult, in a case like
this, to find the way. Jonas drove on in the direction which he thought
would have led to the shore; but, after going amply far enough to reach
it, no shore was to be seen. The fact was, that he had insensibly
deviated just so far from his course, as to be going along parallel with
the shore, instead of in the direction towards it. Jonas began to be
somewhat concerned, and Josey was in a state of great anxiety and fear.
He rose up in the sleigh, and attempted to look around; and his fear was
suddenly changed into terror, at seeing a large black animal, like a
bear, coming furiously up behind them, bounding over the snow. Josey
screamed aloud.
"What is the matter?" said the woman.
"Why, Franco! Franco!" said Jonas, "how could you get here?"
It was Franco, true enough. He came swiftly along,
leaping and staggering through the deep snow; and he seemed delighted to
have found Jonas and his party at last. Jonas patted his head. Both
Jonas and Franco were overjoyed to see each other.
[Illustration: "'That can't be the way, Franco,' said Jonas."]
Jonas patted Franco's head and praised him, while the dog wagged his
tail, whisked about, and shook the snow off from his back and sides.
"What dog is that?" said the woman.
"This is Franco," said Jonas. "Franco Ney is his name. Now we shall have
no trouble in getting out."
Franco turned off, short, from the road in which Jonas was going. He
knew by instinct which way the shore lay from them. Jonas at first
hesitated about following him.
"That can't be the way, Franco," said he.
But Franco, after plunging on a few steps, looked round and whined.
Then he came back towards Jonas again a few steps, looking him full in
the face, and then whisked about again, and went on farther than
before,--and then stopped and looked back, as if to see whether Jonas
was going to follow him. Jonas stood just in advance of the oxen,
hesitating.
"That must be the way," said Jonas. "Franco knows."
"No, that isn't the way," said the woman; "the dog don't know any thing
about it. We must go straight forward."
"No," said Jonas, "it will be safest to follow Franco." And so saying,
he began to turn his oxen in the direction indicated by Franco.
The woman remonstrated against this with great earnestness. She said
that they should only get entirely lost, for he was leading them
altogether out of their way. But Jonas considered that the
responsibility properly belonged to him, and that he must act according
to his own discretion. So he pushed forward steadily after Franco.
But his progress was now interrupted by hearing another loud call behind
him, back upon the pond.
"What's that?" said Josey.
"Somebody calling," said Jonas.
"More travellers lost," said the woman.--"O dear me!"
He listened again, and heard the calls more distinctly. He thought he
could distinguish his own name. He answered the call, and was himself
answered in return by men's voices, which now seemed more distinct and
nearer.
"I know now who it is," said Jonas. "It is your uncle and Amos, coming
out after us. Franco was with them."
Jonas was right. In a few minutes, the farmer and Amos came up, and they
were exceedingly surprised when they saw Jonas with his oxen, drawing a
sleigh, with a woman in it, off the pond, instead of a sled load of
rafters from the woods.
"Jonas," said he with astonishment, "how came you here?"
"I came to help Isaiah get off the pond," said Jonas. "But how did you
find out where we were?"
"Franco guided us," said the farmer. "He followed the road along some
time, and then he wanted to turn off suddenly towards the pond. We
wouldn't follow him for some time; but he _would_ go that way, and no
other. When he came to the shore of the pond, we found your rafter laid
there, and that made us think you must have gone upon the ice, but we
couldn't imagine what for. At last, we found where you had left the
sled, and then we began to halloo to you."
"But, uncle," said Josey, "didn't you see our heap of rafters, by the
road where we turned off?"
"No," said his uncle.
"We put a load there."
"Then they must have got pretty well covered up," said he, "for we
didn't observe them."
The whole party followed Franco, who led them out to the shore the
shortest way. They took Isaiah and his mother to the house, and gave
them some supper, and let them stay there that night. The next morning,
when Jonas got up, he found that it was clearing away; and when, after
breakfast, he looked out upon the pond, to see if he could see any thing
of his sled, he observed, away out half a mile from shore, two short
rows of stakes, sticking up in the snow, not far from on island. The
body of the sled was wholly buried up and concealed from view.