_Chapter IV_ LITTLE DEER VALLEY
In spite of her warm clothing, Janet could feel the sting of the nightair. It was much colder than when they had arrived. The snow seemed to beless, but the wind was shipping it in little eddies across the yard.
With the heater running full blast, the bus was comfortable and theyfound seats well up toward the front. Miss Bruder counted them to makesure that everyone was on hand. Reassured, she told the driver to startthe return trip.
The windows were heavily frosted and it was like being in a sealed room,the only peephole being the small frame of glass which the windshieldwiper kept clear.
"What time is it?" Janet asked Helen, who had a wrist watch.
"Nine forty-five. We're starting home early."
Janet nodded, but she was glad they had made the start. It wouldn't havebeen pleasant staying at Youde's if they had been snowed in for thelonely inn had few comforts.
The powerful engine of the bus labored as the big machine topped a gradeout of the valley and they swung down into another. For five or six milesit would be one hill after another and Janet wondered if the snow wasdrifting down in the valleys.
The road was little used and if the wind increased, it might make travelexceedingly difficult. But she dismissed that thought from her mind forthe bus had heavy chains on the double wheels at the rear.
The spontaneity which had marked their trip out was missing andconversation soon died away. Everyone was tired and willing to snuggledown into their coats.
Janet must have been dozing for the heavy roar of the bus motor awoke herwith a start.
They were backing up. Then they stopped and the driver shifted gears. Thebus leaped ahead, the throttle on full and the exhaust barking in thecrisp air. Gradually their forward motion ceased and the wheels groundinto the snow.
Without a word the bus driver shifted instantly into reverse and theylurched backward. The driver stopped the bus, set the emergency brake,and dodged out into the night.
"What's the matter?" asked Helen, who was almost hidden in her fur coatand deliciously sleepy.
"I think we've hit a drift," replied Janet.
"We ought to be almost home, though. It seems like we've been travelingfor ages."
"I expect we are," but Janet didn't feel the optimism that she meant herwords to convey.
If the wind had increased they might find themselves in a serioussituation.
The bus driver opened the door and stuck his head in.
"One of you fellows come out and give me a hand with the shovels."
Jim Barron, nearest the door, responded with Ed Rickey at his heels.
After several minutes the bus driver came back inside and slowed themotor down to idling speed and the wave of heat from the heaterdiminished noticeably.
With the motor barely turning over, outside noises were audible and Janetcould hear the rush of the wind. Particles of the fine, dry snow werebeing driven against the window beside her.
It was at least fifteen minutes later when Jim, Ed and the driverreturned, red-faced and breathless from their exertions. The boys droppedinto the front seats while the driver opened the throttle and sent thebig machine lumbering ahead.
The bus plunged into the drift, the chains on the rear wheels biting deepinto the snow. Once they swung sharply and Janet gasped, but they swungback and with the engine taxed to the limit finally pulled through thedrift.
Janet saw Jim look around and she thought she detected grave concern inhis eyes. Then he turned away and she was too far away to speak to himwithout alarming the others.
The bus labored up a long grade, breasted the top of the hill, and thenstarted down. It would be in the valley that trouble would come, for thesnow would be heavily drifted.
The big machine rocked down the slope, jolting its occupants around andbruising one or two of them. Janet heard Miss Bruder cry out sharply andturned around, but the teacher motioned that she was all right.
Then the speed of the bus slackened, the wheels spun futilely, and theirforward motion ceased. Almost instantly they were in reverse, but the busslipped to one side and in spite of the full power of the motor, thewheels churned through the dry snow.
The driver eased up on the throttle, looked significantly at Jim and Ed,and with them at his heels plunged into the storm again. Fortunately, hehad tied several shovels to the bus before leaving Youde's and they werenot without implements to dig themselves out.
Janet could hear them working, first at the front and then at the rearand Helen, now thoroughly wide awake, looked at her in alarm.
"It's getting colder in here," she said.
"The engine's barely turning over; there isn't much heat coming out."
"I know, but I mean the temperature outside must be dropping rapidly, andlisten to the wind."
But Janet preferred not to listen to the wind; it was too mournful, toonerve-wracking. What it whispered alarmed her for they were still somemiles from the main road and there were few if any farms near.
The bus driver returned and motioned to the other boys.
"Give us a hand. We don't want to stay here a minute longer thannecessary."
The rest of the boys piled out of the bus, leaving the girls and MissBruder alone.
"I'm nearly frozen," complained Margie Blake. "At least we might haveobtained a good bus driver."
"I don't think it's the driver's fault," interposed Janet. "We stayed toolong at Youde's."
"Then he should have told us the storm was getting worse. My folks willbe worried half to death if we are hung up here all night."
Janet admitted to herself that they would all have cause to worry if theyhad to stay in the bus all night, for she doubted if the supply of fuelwould be sufficient to keep the engine going to operate the heater forthat length of time and she dreaded to think of how cold it might get ifthe heater was off.
Between the gusts of wind that swept around the bus they could hear thesteady swing of the shovels biting into the snow. It was eleven o'clockwhen the driver came inside. His face was almost white from the cold andhe beat his hands together as he took the wheel and eased in the clutch.
With the motor roaring heavily Janet felt the power being applied to thewheels ever so gradually to keep them from slipping. The bus seemedcemented into the snow, but motion finally became evident. The wheelschurned and they moved backward.
Someone outside was shouting, but the words were unintelligible to allexcept the driver. He stopped while one of the boys scraped the frost offthe window outside for the windshield wiper had frozen.
Then, barely creeping ahead and with the bus in low gear, they movedthrough the snow, shouted commands keeping the driver in the right path.At last they were through the drift and the boys piled back into the bus,pounding each other on the back and clapping their hands to bring backthe circulation.
Miss Bruder called Jim Barron back.
"Just how serious is this, Jim?" she asked.
"Pretty bad. We're three miles from the main road and there isn't a farmwithin two miles. Only thing we can do is to keep going ahead and try toshovel through."
"How about Little Deer valley?"
"That's what we're worrying about. The wind gets a clean sweep there andI'm afraid we may not get through."
"Can we turn back and stay at Youde's?"
"Some of the road behind us would be as badly drifted as Little Deervalley," replied Jim. "I guess the only thing is to grind ahead and trustthat the gas holds out."
For a time they made steady progress, the bus rumbling along smoothly andthe heater throwing out a steady blast of warm, dank air. Then theyrolled down a gentle slope and onto the flat of Little Deer valley, whichwas more than half a mile wide.
The driver stopped and went out to wade through the drifts. He came backto report that they might make it although in places the drifts werenearly up to the tops of the fence posts.
"It's going to mean plenty of
shoveling," he warned them.
"We've got to go on," said Miss Bruder. "If we get stuck at least we'rethat much closer to the road. Perhaps we could walk to the main highway."
Janet saw Jim glance sharply at Miss Bruder. Perhaps she didn't realizethe seriousness of their situation, or perhaps she was masking herthoughts with those words.
The gears ground again, the motor took up its burden, and they lurchedahead, churning through the deepening snow.
The air was colder now. There was no warmth from the heater. Somethinghad gone wrong with the motor or a pipe had frozen. No matter then.Getting through the drifts was uppermost in their minds.
Gradually the straining progress of the bus slowed, finally stopped, thegears clashed, and they lurched backward several hundred feet. Then theyplunged ahead again, burrowing deeper into the snow.
"Everybody out to shovel," said the driver, snapping off the engine tosave fuel.
The boys hurried out into the cold and the girls huddled closer to eachother. Margie and Cora, thinly clad for such a night, beat their armsalmost steadily and stamped their feet in rhythmic cadence.
Janet and Helen, heavily clothed, were still warm although the cold creptthrough their gloves to some extent.
"I wonder how cold it is?" asked Helen.
"I haven't any idea, but it feels like it was almost zero. Let's notthink about it."
"Try not to think about it," retorted Helen, and Janet admitted that hercompanion was right. There was nothing to think about except the cold andthe snow. Of course there was the class play, but marooned in the middleof Little Deer valley with a howling blizzard raging was no time to thinkof class plays.
The driver came back and stepped on the starter. The motor was slow inturning over. It must be bitterly cold, thought Janet. Finally the enginestarted and they plowed ahead a few feet, then finally churned to a stop.
Outside the shovels clanged against the steel sides of the bus as theboys dug into the snow again. It was chilling, numbing work out there andJim Barron tumbled through the door to stand up in front and beat hisarms steadily. When he went out, Ed Rickey came in and the boysalternated.
Margie whimpered in the cold and Janet felt sorry for her.
"My coat's large. I'll come up and sit with you and Cora can come backhere with Helen," said Janet.
The other girls, thoroughly chilled, welcomed the change and Janetunbuttoned the voluminous coonskin and shared it with Margie, Helen doinglikewise for Cora. Janet could feel Margie trembling as she pressed closeto her.
After a time the driver returned and started the motor again. They movedforward slowly, creeping along the trail the boys had opened with theshovels. Finally they rocked to a stop and the driver turned toward MissBruder.
"It's no use. The drifts are three feet high and getting worse everyminute."