_A Loan Negotiated_
"Zero weather, boys, and below," called the Doctor, who was first to
wake, about four o'clock that afternoon, and who, before waking the
others, had gone out to inspect his weather recording instruments. "The
bear hanging here by the door is frozen hard, and so is all the water in
the house. So all that want a bath will have to join me in a roll in the
snow out there."
With that he shed the scant clothing that he had on him and, rushing
out, plunged into a snow bank. The rest, determined not to be out-done
in robustness, quickly followed him, and after a vigorous rubbing with
their coarse towels, they felt like entirely new persons.
"How glad our friends will be," said Tom, "when they hear that each of
us is 'another fellow.'"
"That's an old joke, Tom," responded Ed.
"Yes, to other people, perhaps, but not to this crew of new people,
every one of whom has proclaimed himself 'a new man' after that snow
bath."
"Now, we can accomplish something," said Jack. "The rain and natural
settling have reduced the depth of snow out there where we're chopping
to two or three feet, and in this weather the surface of it will be as
hard as ice itself. So we'll all drive nails in our heels to-night, as
Tom has done with his, and early to-morrow we'll set to work again with
the axes."
Ed was already broiling some slices of juicy bear beef, and had a big
pot of coffee ready for use. As they ate supper, Harry said:
"This bear beef is delicious, of course, but I would give something
pretty if I had an ash cake or a pone of bread to go with it. It may be
true that a healthy person can live on meat alone for a good while, but
it is a good deal more comfortable to have some bread with it."
"And it is more wholesome, too," said the Doctor. "Man was made to eat a
mixed diet, and it isn't well for him to live too long on meat without
starchy food, or starchy food without meat. I'm going to observe the
effects of this exclusively meat diet on all of us very closely."
"Any how," said Jack, "the Indians, when they go on their big hunting
trips or on the war-path, used to live on meat alone for weeks and
months at a time. So I don't think we'll starve while our bear lasts,
and before it is gone we can depend on Tom to provide something else.
Now that the snow is hard, Tom will go prowling about the mountains
before many days pass."
"Oh, we shan't starve," said the Doctor. "But it has been a good many
days now since we had any bread, and we are all beginning to feel the
need of it. The beans we had with our bear giblet stew were a very
imperfect substitute for bread, and the quart or so of beans that we
have left are not to be used at all so long as we keep fairly well. I'm
saving them for hospital diet. How the Doctors in the hospitals would
laugh at the suggestion of a bean diet in illness! And yet we may have
to come to that for lack of any other starchy food."
"What is it you fear, Doctor?" asked Jack.
"Why, I fear that an exclusive diet of meat may result in some sort of
inflammation or other disturbance of the digestive organs. If that
happens, even a few beans, boiled without meat, may save a life. At any
rate, I am going to keep the beans for such an emergency."
All this while Tom was taking no part in the conversation. Tom was
thinking--"looking straight at things and using common sense."
Presently, he took his gun and went out to "take a look at the
situation," he said. On his return, he reported that "everything is
frozen as hard as a brick, and if the moonshiners ever intend to attack
us, now is their time. We must put out a sentinel at once. As I want to
think a little I'll take the first turn, and the rest of you fellows can
arrange as you like for the other turns."
"One thing I want to suggest," broke in the Doctor. "The cold is
intense. The thermometer is considerably below zero. It will be cruel to
keep any boy on guard outside for any prolonged time. So I propose that
while this weather lasts we run the guard duty in half hour shifts. That
will give each boy half an hour out there in the cold, and two hours and
a half in which to sleep and get warm before he has to go on duty
again."
"It's an excellent idea," said Jack, "and we'll arrange it so."
"All right," said Tom, "only as I am taking the first and best turn,
I'll stay out for an hour."
The fact was, though Tom did not mention it, that the boy wanted a full
hour in which to think out some plans that he had vaguely conceived. It
was always Tom's habit to try to better the conditions in which he was
placed, instead of accepting them as inevitable. Whenever anything was
wrong and uncomfortable, Tom began asking himself if there might not be
some way in which he could make it right and comfortable. He could
endure hardship with a plucky resolution that often astonished others;
but he never endured hardship without giving all his energies to the
task of ridding himself of it if that were possible. It was a familiar
saying among those who knew him that "Little Tom Ridsdale never will
admit that he is beaten, and so at last he never is beaten."
As Tom paced up and down the platform, stamping his feet and clapping
his hands against his sides to keep them from freezing, the Doctor came
out with a burning brand to consult his weather instruments. When he had
done, Tom called to him, saying:
"Would you mind coming up here for a minute or two, Doctor?"
"No, certainly not," answered the Doctor. "Do you want to go in and warm
yourself?"
"No; oh, no," answered Tom, quickly. "I only want to consult you a
little."
The Doctor mounted the platform, and after some hesitation, Tom asked:
"Do you happen to have any more money in your pockets, Doctor?"
"Yes, of course. I always keep a little money with me."
"Would you mind lending me two dollars in the common interest of the
company, I giving you an order on our paymaster down below for that
amount, to be paid to you out of my share when we collect?"
"Yes," answered the Doctor. "I would mind that very much. In fact, I
positively decline to lend you any money on any such terms, Tom. But if
you want some money, be it two dollars, or ten, simply as from one
friend to another, and without any 'orders' on paymasters, you can have
it."
Tom understood, and he did not contest the point. He pressed the
Doctor's hand and said:
"Well, then, let me have two dollars, please?"
"Make it five," said the Doctor.
"No," answered Tom. "Two dollars will be quite enough. Somebody in the
mountains might murder me for five dollars. And, besides, nobody up
there could change the bill. So, if you will let me have two one dollar
bills I shall be grateful."
"What are you going to do, Tom? Nothing rash, I hope."
"I don't know yet what I'm going to do," answered Tom. "And please
don't say anything to the other boys about it. I'll be gone from here
when they get up in the morning. Maybe I'll bring back some game. You
see that bear won't last very long with six hearty men eating three
meals a day off it, with no other food to help fill up."
The Doctor saw that Tom did not want to talk of his plans--it was always
Tom's way to keep such things to himself--and so he asked no more
questions, but went to the doorway for light, selected two one dollar
bills, and returning, placed them in Tom's hand. Then Tom said:
"Now, Doctor, you fellows are not to worry about me if I don't turn up
when you expect me. I shall probably be away from camp for several
days--may be a week, or possibly even more than that. Don't worry, in
any case. Remember that I know how to take care of myself."
The Doctor promised, but it was with much of apprehension in his mind.
He saw that Tom was looking forward to his projected expedition with a
good deal less of confident hope than he usually manifested on such
occasions, and he gravely feared that the boy was planning to take some
serious, if not even desperate, risk. He knew that Tom was daring to a
fault, and that when he had formed a purpose he pursued it to its
ultimate accomplishment or failure, with no regard whatever to the risks
run, except that prudent forethought and circumspection which might
enable him to avoid threatened evils.