A TOUCH OF A BLIZZARD
"Those boys ought to be more careful," said Snap, as he watched Giant
and Whopper plunge along after the wounded duck.
"Well, you told them to beware of holes," answered Shep.
The two ducks that had been killed were picked up and put in the
game-bags, and then Snap and Shep started to follow their comrades,
but at a more moderate rate of speed.
"Hark! they are calling for help!" exclaimed the leader of the Gun
Club, a moment later.
"They are in a hole!" said the doctor's son. "Look, I can just see
their heads!"
"We must help them out! My! how the wind is blowing!"
The increase in wind was rapid and by the time Snap and Shep drew
close to where Whopper and Giant were still floundering, it carried
the loose snow around in a perfect whirlwind.
"Can't you crawl out?" asked Snap, coming as close as he dared.
"Every time we try we seem to sink deeper!" gasped Giant.
"Then keep still and I'll aid you," answered the leader of the Gun
Club. "Come, Shep."
"What we you going to do?"
"I'll show you. Be quick."
Walking to the nearest bushes, Snap cut them down with the hatchet he
had insisted upon carrying. Shep now understood, and both lugged the
bushes to the edge of the fast sinking snow. Then more bushes were
brought, and at last, almost exhausted, Giant and Whopper crawled
forth on their hands and knees, their snowshoes held in the air. Then
they got up on their feet and lost no time in gaining a point of
safety.
"I told you to be careful," said Snap, rather severely. "And Jack
Dalton warned you, too. It is a lucky thing you didn't sink into the
marsh up to your head."
"We were after the duck and didn't think," answered Whopper. "But you
can bet I'll be careful next time."
"So will I be careful," came from Giant. "Where's the duck?"
"Flew away--I saw it," answered Shep. "Gracious, how the wind is
rising!" he added, pulling his coat collar closer to his neck. "It's
going to be a hammer of a snowstorm."
"I think we had better get off the Marshes," said Snap, after a look
at the sky and the whirling snow. "This looks to me as if it was going
to turn into blizzard."
"Going to leave with only two ducks?" asked the doctor's son. "It
seems a pity--after tramping such a distance, too!"
"Maybe we'll strike some more going back," said Snap, cheerfully.
All of the young hunters were willing to leave the Marshes, for the
increasing wind made the situation decidedly unpleasant. When they
turned back they had both the wind and the pelting snow in their faces
and could scarcely see where they were going.
"Isn't this fierce!" gasped Shep, after they had walked less than
fifty yards. "I never felt the wind blow so strongly!"
"We get the full sweep of it out here," answered Shep. "It won't be so
bad when we reach the timber again."
The mind was fairly whistling around them now. They could not tell how
much snow was falling, for much of it was caught up from where it lay
and sent hurtling along, now in straight dashes and then in mad
circles that blinded and bewildered them. More than once they had to
turn around to catch their breath and clear their eyes.
"I wish we we-were to th-the timber!" gasped Giant. "I feel as if the
wind was going to pick me up and carry me away!"
"Let us keep close together," said Whopper. "There is no telling what
will happen with such a wind tearing down upon us."
They were all scared and with good reason, for to be caught in a
blizzard on that wide stretch of marshland was a serious matter.
Sticking as closely together as possible they hurried on, as fast as
the gale and the flying snow would permit. The air was growing darker
and heavier every moment.
"Are you sure you are heading for the timber?" questioned Whopper,
presently. "I must confess I am completely turned around."
"So am I," added Shep.
"I--I think the timber is in that direction, but I am not certain,"
answered the leader of the club, pointing with his hand.
All stared around them in bewilderment. They scarcely knew how to
turn.
"Well, one thing is sure, we can't stay here," said Shep. "Come on,"
and he started off in the direction his chum had pointed out.
"Mind you, I don't say I am right," called out Snap.
"We'll go that way anyhow--if we can make it," said Whopper.
It was slow traveling, and they had to rest frequently, for the wind
seemed to fairly take the breath out of their bodies. Once they came
up to a clump of bushes and were half tempted to make a prolonged stop
there. But Snap demurred very strongly.
"It won't do, fellows," he said. "The snow is piling up fast and the
bushes will be snowed under in another hour or two. We have got to
reach the timber somehow. It's our only chance of safety."
Again they struggled on, so out of breath and weak they could scarcely
draw one snowshoe after the other. Giant fell down and had to be
raised up.
"I--I am afraid I ca--can't go another step!" he blurted out. "I am as
we--weak as a--a cat!"
"We'll help you," said Snap, kindly. "Come, Shep, you take one arm and
I'll take the other. Whopper can go in front, to break the force of
the wind for us."
At the end of ten minutes more all were ready to drop. They were
numbed with the cold and their breath came in quick, short gasps. It
looked as if they must give up and perish.
"Oh, if only we were back at camp!" sighed Whopper.
"Don't give up!" urged Snap. He stopped and gazed over his left
shoulder. "Am I mistaken, or is that a tree yonder?"
"I'll soon see," answered Shep and turned in that direction. "Yes,
it's a tree and the timber is back of it!" he cried in delight.
This announcement put renewed courage in the young hunters, and once
again they struggled on against the fierce wind, which was now blowing
little short of a hurricane. The trees came into sight dimly through
the swirling whiteness, and a minute later they sank down under the
overhanging boughs of a big spruce.
"Safe at last!" murmured Shep.
"Oh, how glad I am of it!" added Giant. "I--I thought we'd be
lo--lost sure!"
"We must have a fire, first of all," said Snap. "My feet are half
frozen already!"
"I brought some carbide along, so we can easily start a blaze," added
Whopper. "But we've got to be careful in such a wind as this. Just
listen!"
They listened, and it made them shiver to hear the shrieking of the
wind as it went ploughing through the forest, often snapping off a
bough here or a tree top there. The spruce they were under bent and
swayed, but it was strong and healthy and it did not give way.
Leaving his companions for a few minutes, Snap did his best to look
around the vicinity. He could see but little, but made out three big
trees growing somewhat close together on the edge of the marshland. At
one side of the trees was an irregular rock five or six feet in
height.
"That will have to do," he told himself, and called for his companions
to join him. But they did not hear, owing to the raging of the storm,
and he had to go after them.
"We'll fix up some sort of shelter among the trees," he said. "And we
can build a fire against that rock. Let us get to work at once, before
it grows colder and the snow gets worse."
The brief respite had rested them, and while Whopper and Giant cut
some wood and built a fire, Snap and Shep broke down some spruce
branches and piled them up around the clump of trees. Then they kicked
up the snow into something of a wall leading from the side of the rock
to the nearest tree.
"There, now we can keep fairly warm if nothing else," said the leader
of the Gun Club.
It was still very dark and the fire did little to dispel the gloom,
the wind having a tendency to blow the smoke in several directions at
once. But the fire kept them fairly warm and for that they were
thankful.
"If this isn't a blizzard it is next door to it," remarked the
doctor's son, as he gazed at the display of the elements. "And the
worst of it is, there is no telling how long it is going to last."
"Will we be snowed in?" asked Whopper.
"It looks like it."
"And with nothing but a rabbit and two ducks!" cried Giant. "Boys, it
doesn't look as if Christmas was going to be such a cheerful day after
all."
"Never mind Christmas," put in Snap. "Let us be thankful if we are not
snowbound so completely that we starve to death!"