DECIDING UPON A NEW MOVE.
The warm rain continued all that day and the next night, while the
boys rested, except that Tug went to his set-lines and brought back a
fine pike of about six pounds' weight, which gave them a good dinner.
By the next morning the snow had nearly all melted away, and the sun
shone warm, while great glistening pools of water lay spread out upon
the ice. It was evident that the long-delayed January thaw had come at
last.
The disappearance of the snow brought several things to light that
they had not seen before. Bits of iron and general rubbish appeared
about the door. A heap of snow which they had thought concealed a
bowlder, exposed by its melting an old flat-bottomed skiff, turned
upside down, and under it lay a torn sail, with its mast. Behind the
house Tug found several articles he thought "might come handy;" among
the rest a short piece of lead pipe, which he seized upon at once.
Then, while Aleck and Jimmy walked out to look at the traps, Tug built
a hot fire, and went to work at making bullets of the lead. He melted
his old pipe in a piece of tin, which he had hammered into a spoon,
and dropped the molten metal into cold water. The bullets, or shot,
were not all of the same size, and were more pear-shaped than round;
but by whittling and hammering they did very well, and in two hours he
had a handful.
"Now," said he, with a vengeful tone in his voice, "just let me get a
shot at those or'nary curs!"
Later, Aleck came back, reporting no birds, but bringing a small
pickerel.
"But I saw another flock of cross-bills, and I'm going to take my
'pitchfork' and go after them," Jimmy added, eagerly; and at once went
out, while Katy put on her hat and started for a short walk.
"Aleck," said Tug, when they were alone, "I have wanted a good chance
to talk with you about the fix we're in. I feel sure that, snug as we
are, it's no good to stay here."
"How are we going to get away? Our boat is useless for ice travel, now
that the sledge is gone, even if we save her in decent condition,
which we must see about this afternoon."
"I have been looking at that little scow down on the shore. She is big
enough to carry us in water, and I believe we could put a couple of
low runners on her bottom, so as to move over an ice-field. Come with
me and have a look at her."
So the two lads went down to the old boat, and looked her carefully
over, discussing all the repairs she would need, and how they could be
made.
"But why don't you think we could stay here longer?" Aleck asked,
after a time.
"Because," his companion replied, "we have almost no ammunition and
almost no fishing-tackle. In a week from now we should have to live
wholly on what we could catch in fishing and by traps, and we get so
little now that I think it foolish to risk it if we can get a chance
to escape. I reckon it'll freeze up hard again in a few days, but for
the last time this winter. Probably the ice'll break up so badly next
time it thaws that we couldn't sledge on it; and after that, you know,
come the long, stormy months of spring, when, if we tried sailing, our
boat wouldn't keep afloat with four people in it during a journey
across the lake. If we can't get away over the ice before the next
break-up, I believe we're goners."
"It can't be very far to the mainland; but the weather has always been
so thick I never could see far southward," Aleck remarked.
"It's clear to-day," said Tug. "Let's go and take a look."
Inspired with hope, the two comrades, forgetful of everything else,
hastened up the hillside, and soon reached the pinnacle of rocks that
formed their lookout.
The air was clear, the sky cloudless, and the first glance southward
showed them, faint upon the low horizon, yet distinct enough to be
unmistakable, the long, dark line of the mainland. Between them and it
all lay white, mixed with blue--a plain of ice covered with thin
patches of rain-water. They could not see more than eight or ten
miles; but in no direction except on the northern horizon (towards the
centre of the lake) was there any sign of open water. They hoped, and
this helped them to believe, that between them and the shore lay an
unbroken plain of ice.
"If that is so," said Aleck, "and it will only come on cold before it
snows, we could skate right across."
"Take us a couple of days, you'll find," Tug replied.
"Pshaw! it can't be more than twenty miles."
"Yes, but we're not so strong as we were when we started. We've none
of us really had a square meal for a fortnight, and some of us have
been knocked on the head, you know, and that don't help a man any."
"At any rate, it will be best to get ready right away."
"That's my ticket," Tug replied. "By the way, can we see the _Red
Erik_? Oh, yes, there she is--all right, I reckon."
"Yes, she appears to be."