SNOW-BOUND
"I DON'T believe there ever was such a furious snow-storm as this
before!" Toby remarked, after a while, with a little pensive sigh, as
though he had already begun to repent having conceived that brilliant
idea, in the following out of which they had fallen into their present
serious predicament.
"Oh! that's because the wish is father to the thought, Toby," Elmer told
him. "We all like to stand up ahead of the other fellows. If you were
home right now I reckon you'd just say that it was a pretty decent sort
of a storm; but being cooped up here in the woods makes things look
different."
"How deep do you think she is on the level, Elmer?" asked Lil Artha; "as
much as three feet?"
"Nothing like that," replied the other, quickly; "you mustn't judge by
seeing what's piled up there. That's a drift, and the eddies of wind
have been piling it up all night long. You see the snow is as dry almost
as powder, owing to the cold. It's quit falling in big flakes, and is
sifting down now in fine stuff."
"Yes, and it gets down your back every time, if you don't look out,"
complained George. "This beats my time all hollow. I wonder how it'll
end."
Elmer purposely made out to mistake the croaker's meaning; he knew that
George was thinking of the dismal outlook by which they were confronted,
but chose to pretend it was something else that was intended.
"What, this storm, George?" he said, cheerily; "oh! it'll wind up before
a great while. They all have their innings, you know, some longer than
others."
"I should say this was one of the longest, then," George affirmed.
"But after it does stop we can make up our plans, and start to carry the
same out," Elmer continued, knowing that if he kept the minds of his
companions employed in some fashion they would not find much time to
worry. "I'm going to settle down pretty soon by the fire here, and
figure things out again. This time we want to make a sure job of it. I
know the wiggly route we've taken to get here, following that little
creek, and I've settled it in my mind just which way we ought to go to
remedy our blunder."
"It wasn't so much a mistake as false tips we received, you remember,
Elmer," Lil Artha was quick to say.
"Yes, that skunk told us wrong just to have what he thought would be a
silly joke on scouts," Toby added. "Guess he thought we considered
ourselves some punkins because we wore khaki suits, and he was mean
enough to want to take us down a peg. I'd like to see that same chap
again. What I wouldn't do to him wouldn't be worth telling."
"At any rate he's forced us to have a novel experience," Elmer told
them. "Only for his sending us on a false scent we wouldn't have had the
chance to know what scouts can do when storm-bound in a snow forest.
Some time, when it's all away back in the past, and you can sit and
think of it without getting furious, perhaps none of us may feel quite
so hard about that young scamp's work."
"Huh! about that time begin to feel of your shoulders," grunted George,
"because I reckon the wings will have started to sprout. If I had _my_
way I'd condemn that rascal to spend a whole week in a snow camp, with
only six matches along, and just enough grub to keep him from starving.
Half rations and George Robbins don't seem to agree very well."
"Nothing seems to agree well with you this morning, George," remarked
Lil Artha; "I hope it don't turn out to be catching."
"What do you mean by saying that, Lil Artha?" demanded the other,
suspiciously.
The tall scout shrugged his shoulders as he went on to cautiously
explain.
"Why, you know we were talking about shipwrecked sailors a while back,
and how they often had to go on half rations because they carried so
little in the boat with them?"
"Yes, go on," urged George.
"Once in a while it gets even worse than that," Lil Artha continued,
gravely, "and they have to draw lots to see who will be sacrificed, so
that the rest of the bunch can live."
"Aw! come off, and quit that!" cried George; "you're just trying to
scare me, and it don't go worth a cent. Nobody is going to starve here
in the woods where we can find some sort of meat to eat, even crow, if
we have to come to it, or perhaps muskrat. That's a mighty poor joke,
Lil Artha, let me tell you."
"Well, of course I'm hoping myself that things'll never get _just_ that
bad," the tall scout went on to say, "but only supposin' they did, and
the choice fell on you, I'm wondering if ever afterwards the three of us
would have to go around all our lives finding fault with everything. I
wouldn't like that, George."
"But what about yourself?" demanded the other; "you might happen to be
the first victim after all, Lil Artha."
"That makes me smile," he was informed, coolly; "d'ye think now anybody
with eyes in his head would be so silly as to pick out a bony scarecrow
like _me_ when they could settle on a nice plump chicken of your build?"
and he playfully dug his fingers in George's ribs as he said this.
"Let's change the subject," Toby broke in with; "this always talking of
eatin' seems to jar on my nerves. It sets me to thinkin', and that empty
larder stares me in the face. Something's got to be done about it."
"Sure it has," echoed Lil Artha, eying George closer so that the other
squirmed uneasily, and edged further away from him.
"If we stay right where we are nothing will come to us, will there,
Elmer?" Toby pursued.
"If you mean anything in the way of game we could hardly expect it,"
replied the scout master. "The fellow who generally gets there is the
one who goes out and finds what he wants, and doesn't hang around home
waiting for something to turn up. That's what wideawake scouts believe
in."
"Hurrah! that's the ticket! And when can we make a start?" demanded
Toby.
"If there's any sign of the storm letting up by noon, we'll clear out
and take our chances of finding Uncle Caleb's shack before night-time,"
he was told.
"And as the snow's so deep," Toby rattled on, "what's to hinder me from
trying my bully snow-shoes?"
"Nothing that I know of," Elmer remarked; "only I'm afraid you won't
find the going as easy as you expect."
"I won't, eh? What's the reason?" asked Toby, who always wanted to be
shown.
"You're a new beginner, in the first place, and a knowledge of how to
walk on snow-shoes is something that's got to be gained by experience.
I've been on them up in Canada; and they had to dig me out lots of times
before I learned how to stand straight. If once you slip it's good-bye
to you. Down your head goes, and you can't get up alone because of the
clumsy big shoes. They always carry a long stick to keep from taking
these headers, especially when going it alone."
"Anything else?" asked the aspiring one, as he took up the pair of
splendid snow-shoes Uncle Caleb had sent him, and made as if to secure
his toe in place with the thong intended for that purpose.
"Yes, there's another thing that will make it doubly hard," Elmer
informed him. "Dry snow like this is the toughest kind to walk over.
When hunters go after deer or moose on snow-shoes they always pick a
time after a thaw, when a return of the cold has frozen the wet surface
of the deep snow. Over this thin ice they can run three times as fast as
the poor deer, which breaks through with every jump, and flounders
almost helplessly."
"That sounds almost like plain murder, do you know," Lil Artha
vehemently declared, frowning at the idea.
"Well, if you were hungry, and that was the only way to get near a
venison mebbe you wouldn't feel so particular," George told him. "I know
right now that I wish a splendid buck was doing some of that same
floundering near us, and Elmer had a chance to settle his hash for him.
It'd sure do me a heap of good just to know we had enough grub for a
week, and then some."
"That's a forbidden subject, George," remonstrated Elmer, who wanted to
get the minds of his chums directed in more pleasant channels; "let's
all get together and compare notes about direction. I said I had a plan,
but then I might be off my base, and some of you could correct me. Four
heads are better than one all the time."
His scheme succeeded, for presently he had managed to get them deeply
interested in the subject of location, so that one after another put
forward some plan.
It was about all they could do, under the circumstances, that and
keeping the fire burning. Even George so far forgot his troubles as to
suggest several things that were well weighed before being rejected.
As it turned out, after the conference, Elmer had changed his figures a
little, and the latest plan was to head a point south of northwest when
they started forth in hopes of finding shelter from the storm.
No one knew the grim necessity for action better than Elmer. While he
tried to assume a pleasant face in order to keep the courage of the
others up, he understood the serious character of their condition far
more than he was willing to openly admit.
They could not expect any one to come and find them, if they continued
to stay where they were; and besides the scantiness of their provisions
entailed the necessity for doing some sort of hunting in the snow forest
in hopes of securing a new supply.
As the morning dragged on many anxious glances were cast out to where
that fine powdery substance was showering steadily down, adding to the
tremendous quantity that was already on the ground. If it would only
begin to slacken how thankful they would be.
On several occasions some one would exclaim that it looked as though the
snow might be coming down in lessened quantities, but no sooner did they
begin to pay close attention than the storm seemed to start in again as
furiously as ever.
So the time drew near the middle of the day, and as yet they could not
say that there was any hopeful sign.
"If it gets along past noon we're in for another night here, I'm
afraid," Lil Artha argued, "because, you remember the old saying,
'between eleven and two, it'll tell you what's it's going to do.'
Needn't chuckle that way, George, because I've often seen that proved.
Seems like that's a turning point most times, if there's going to be any
change."
"All silly bosh!" George went on to say, for at least he was not given
to believing in "signs" and such things; "haven't I many a time seen a
storm go on past noon, and look as black as a pocket, only to clear
handsomely about four or five, with the grandest rainbow in the west you
ever saw? Those sayings are all bunco, Lil Artha. I'm surprised at as
sensible a scout as you admitting that you believe in any of the same.
I'm not superstitious, whatever else I may be."
"Oh! well, it doesn't matter which one's right," the tall scout
observed; "the thing is there's always a fair chance of its breaking
around noon; and let's hope it'll be kind enough to do that same
to-day. I know Elmer wants to make a move as much as any of us, don't
you, Elmer?"
"Yes, and I don't care how soon it comes along, either," he was told
without the slightest hesitation.
"There's one comfort we've got," said Toby.
"I'd like to hear it, then," George muttered, disconsolately, eying the
other half suspiciously, as though he feared another trap intended for
his unwary feet.
"We've got stacks of coffee along, and can always have a cup to cheer us
up. I think that counts a lot. It not only warms you inside, but gives
you courage to face your troubles like a true scout."
"And yet some scouts are never allowed to drink tea or coffee,"
suggested George.
"I'm sorry for them, that's all," Toby continued; "we don't happen to
fall in that class, do we, fellows? My folks let me have one cup every
morning; and when I'm in camp I c'n drink all I want. There, look and
tell me if you don't think it seems to be lightening in the northwest,
Elmer; because that's where all this awful snow is coming from."
"It does look a little better, for a fact!" admitted the scout master,
after he had taken a critical observation; "of course I'm not a
weather-sharp; and my prediction may not be worth a pinch of salt; but
if you asked me I'd like as not say I really believe it was going to
break."
"Hurrah!" shouted both Lil Artha and Toby in concert; for this was the
first time Elmer had committed himself to saying what he thought about a
possible change in the weather.
More anxiously than ever they waited and watched. The snow did not come
down quite so heavily, and was constantly lessening in force. A stiff
wind had arisen that cut like a knife; they hoped this was blowing the
gray clouds away, and that soon the cheery face of the sun would peep
forth through a gap in the curtain overhead. All of them stood ready to
greet his advent with a rousing cheer.
"Here, let's get our coffee started, so we can move out right away, if
things look good to us!" Elmer told them; and it seemed as though there
were four times as many cooks as the supply of food warranted, because
every one wanted to have a hand in preparing their scanty lunch.
As one of them had said it promised to be pretty much "coffee and
point," and of course he was compelled to tell how the poor Irish during
famine times were accustomed to hanging a bit of bacon over the table,
and as they ate their potatoes they would point the same at it, as
though in imagination they might get some of the flavor that way.
"The Irish were long on praties, and short on bacon," Lil Artha
commented, "and with us it's a case of plenty of coffee, and a famine in
other kinds of grub; but better times are coming soon, boys, when we'll
have plenty," and he managed to cast another of his wicked looks in the
direction of George, which being seen by that worthy caused him to curl
his lips in derision, and return the hint with an expression that seemed
to say: "you'll have to wait a long time before you taste _me_, Lil
Artha, and don't you forget that!"
Things got better and better as the cooking progressed; that is to say,
overhead the clouds were plainly showing ragged signs, as though they
must presently break, and the storm be of the past.
This fact gave the four boys some reason for cheering up. It was a bleak
immediate future that stared them in the face, but being young and full
of hope they easily found many things to pin their faith on. Youth is
apt to be buoyant, and see only the present; George's habit of
complaining, and being a pessimist, doubtless sprang from a poor
digestion, and could easily be remedied if he went on a plain diet.
"Watch the smoke, how it goes straight up when the wind stops," Elmer
told them. "That's a good sign, and every old hunter knows it. Smoke
hugs the ground when the air is heavy with moisture, and ascends when
it's dry. I'm more certain than ever now that we're seeing the tail-end
of our storm."
"The worst is yet to come," croaked George.
"Smells pretty fine to me," said Lil Artha, sniffing the air, which was
charged just then with a delightful aroma of coffee.
"I only wish all of you were as lucky as me," Toby broke in with,
showing that he could not tear his mind away from contemplating his
present. "Think how slick we'd go skimming along over the big drifts on
our snow-shoes, and not caring five cents whether school kept or not."
"Mebbe we would, and again mebbe we'd be sorry," George told him.
"Things ain't always just what they seem. Lots of times you think you're
going to have a nice swell drink, and swich! the glass drops, and is
broken into bits."
"Well, we've got aluminum drinking cups, so there's no danger of that
thing happening to us," practical Lil Artha assured him, for he never
bothered his head about evil omens, and all such nonsense.
Toby, who had been bending over the fire, happened to look around
presently. Perhaps it was his intention to add some brilliant remark to
what he had already said in connection with snow-shoes; but if this were
so the thought was driven completely out of his head by something else.
"Oh! my stars! would you see that?" he almost shrieked.
Startled by his exclamation, and half believing that he must have
discovered at least a hungry lynx about to spring into the camp, the
others whirled around and then they in turn stared as though hardly able
to believe their eyes.
A splendid stag had come bounding along through the deep snowdrifts,
unaware of the fact that human enemies were so near by, since the wind
carried the scent of their presence, as well as the smoke from the fire,
in another direction. He had apparently just discovered them at the
instant they all looked, for with a flirt of his antlered head he was
making off, jumping gracefully through the deep snow, and doubtless
picking his way, even though dreadfully alarmed.
Elmer had started to look for his Marlin, but realizing the hopelessness
of getting a shot he desisted, and watched the splendid animal vanish
from view.