THE BLIZZARD
The two other sleds had, as a matter of necessity, come to a halt behind
the first one. The defile in the snow was so narrow that there could be
no passing. Those who had broken the road through the drifts had not
been wise enough to make a wide path, and now the consequences must be
taken.
In fact it would have been a little difficult to make at this point a
path wide enough for two sleighs. The road went between two rocky walls,
and though in the summer, when there was no snow, two vehicles could
squeeze past, in the winter the piling up of the snow on either side
made an almost impassable barrier.
To turn out to right or left was out of the question, for the snow was
so deep that the horses would have floundered helplessly in it.
"Well, what's to be done?" asked Mr. DeVere, as he buttoned his coat
collar up around his neck, and looked at his two daughters.
"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you all to get out," said Mr. Macksey. "I
want to get a better look at that broken runner, and see if it's
possible to mend it. Bring up a lantern," he called to one of the
drivers of the other sleds. "We'll soon need it."
The moving picture players in the broken-down sled piled out into the
snow. Fortunately they had come prepared for rough weather, and wore
stout shoes. Ruth and Alice, as well as Russ and Paul, laughed at the
plight, and Mr. Switzer, with a chuckle, exclaimed:
"Ha! Maybe mine pretzels vill come in useful after all!"
"That's no joke--maybe they will," observed Mr. Sneed, gloomily. "We may
have to stay here all night."
"Oh, we could walk to Elk Lodge if we had to," put in Mr. Macksey, as he
took the lantern which the other driver brought up.
"It wouldn't be very pleasant," replied Mr. Sneed, "with darkness soon
to be here, and a storm coming up."
"You're right about the storm, I'm afraid," answered the veteran hunter.
"I don't like the looks of the weather a bit. And it sure will be dark
soon. But we'll have a look at this sled," he went on. "Give me a hand
here, Tom and Dick," he called to the other drivers, who had left their
teams.
They managed to prop up the sled, so a better view could be had of the
forward runner. Then the extent of the damage was made plain. One whole
side had given way, and was useless. It could not even be patched up.
"Too bad!" declared the hunter. "Now, if it had only been the rear sled
it wouldn't worry me so.
"For then we could pile the stuff from the back sled into the others,
and go on, even if we were a bit crowded. But with the front sled
blocking this narrow road, I don't see how we are to go on."
"If we could only jump the two rear sleds over this broken one, it would
be all right," said Alice. "It's like one of those moving block puzzles,
where you try to get the squares in a certain order without lifting any
of them out."
"That's it," agreed Mr. Macksey. "But it's no easy matter to jump two
big sleds, and eight horses, over another sled and four horses. I've
played checkers, but never like that," he added.
"But we must do something," insisted Mr. Pertell. "I can't have my
company out like this all night. We must get on to Elk Lodge, somehow."
"Well, I don't see how you're going to do it," responded the hunter.
"You could walk, of course; but you couldn't take your baggage, and you
wouldn't like that."
"Walk? Never! I protest against that!" exclaimed Mr. Bunn.
"'He doth protest too much!'" quoted Paul, in a low voice. "Come on,
Ruth--Alice--shall we walk?"
"I'd like to do it--I'm getting cold standing here," cried Alice,
stamping her feet on the edge of the road. "Will you, Ruth?"
"I'm afraid we'd better not--at least until we talk to daddy, my dear,"
was the low-voiced answer. "Perhaps they can get the sled fixed."
But it did not seem so, for Mr. Macksey, with a puzzled look on his
face, was talking earnestly to the two drivers. The accident had
happened at a most unfortunate time and place.
"We can't even turn around and go back a different road, the way it is,"
said the hunter. "There isn't room to turn, and everybody knows you
can't back a pung very far before getting stuck."
"Then what are we to do?" asked Mr. Pertell.
The hunter did not answer for a minute. Then he said:
"Well, we've got twelve horses here, and I can manage to squeeze the two
rear teams past the stalled sled. Then if you'd like to take chances
riding them to Elk Lodge----"
"Never!" cried Mr. Bunn, with lively recollections of a time he had
ridden a mule at Oak Farm. "I shall stay here forever, first!"
"Well, if you don't want to do that," said Mr. Macksey, and to tell the
truth few members of the company seemed in favor of the idea, "if you
don't want to do that I might ride on ahead and get a spare sleigh I
have at the Lodge. I could get back here before very late, and we'd get
home sooner or later."
"And we would have to stay here?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"I see no help for it. There are plenty of blankets in the sleds, and
you can huddle down in the straw and keep warm. I'll get back as soon as
I can."
There really seemed nothing else to do, and, after talking it over, this
plan was practically decided on. But something happened to change it.
The wind had been rising constantly, and the snow was ever falling
thicker and faster. The players could see only a little way ahead now
from the place where they were stalled.
"This would make a good film, if you could get it," remarked Paul to
Russ.
"Too dark," replied the camera operator. "Do you know, I don't like
this," he went on in a low voice to the young actor.
"You don't like what?" Paul wanted to know.
"The way this weather is acting. I think there's going to be a big
storm, and here we are, stalled out in the open. It will be hard for the
girls and the women, to say nothing of Tommy and Nellie."
"That's what it will, Russ; but what can be done?"
As he spoke there came a sudden fierce rush of wind and a flurry of
snow. It took the breaths of all, and instinctively they turned from it,
for the snow stung their faces. The horses, too, disliked to face the
stinging blast, and shifted their places.
"Get behind such shelter as you can!" cried Mr. Macksey, above the roar
of the storm. "This is a genuine blizzard and it's death to be
unprotected. Get into the sleds, and cover up with the blankets. I'll
have to go for help!"