CHAPTER VIII
A thin stream of smoke was rising from the hole in the roof of thecabin. From the chimney volumes of vapor had suddenly begun to pourout into the moonlight. The dim glow at the window now and then flaredup brightly.
"That spirit lamp must have set fire to something. Those men will beburned to death. Come, we must try to get them out!" Horace cried.
They rushed together to the cabin door. It was barricaded on theinside; they battered it with kicks and blows for a good half-minute,and at last it yielded.
A gush of smoke and suffocating fumes burst out into their faces, andthe boys staggered back. The inside of the cabin appeared to be all inflames, but it was so obscured by smoke that they could see nothingclearly.
With the opening of the door the fire seemed to burn more fiercely. Itseemed impossible that anything could be alive in that place; but Fredshut his eyes and dashed blindly in.
He stumbled over the body of a dog, and kicked it outside the door.Choking with the smoke and the formaldehyde fumes, he took anotherstep, and his foot struck something soft; it was the body of a man.
Fred stooped and tried to pick the body up by the shoulders. Suddenlythrough the smoke Peter appeared at his side, and helped him; togetherthey got the man out and laid him down on the snow. He was one of theFrench Canadians, apparently lifeless.
"Is he dead?" gasped Fred to Macgregor, who bent over the prostrateform.
The medical student peered under the man's eyelids, and felt his wrist."No," he said, "he'll come round all right in the fresh air. It's thesmoke more than the gas."
Horace came out at that moment, dragging Mitchell's limp body. Thered-bearded ruffian was alive, but unconscious; the boys placed him onthe snow beside his companion. Then all four of them rushed into thecabin together, and succeeded in getting out the remaining two FrenchCanadians.
"Now the dogs! We must get them out!" cried Peter. That was not hardto do, for the animals were lying close to the door.
The strong draft from the door to the chimney had by this time clearedthe atmosphere a good deal, and the boys saw that the fire was burningchiefly among the couches of balsam boughs. The spirit lamp must havescorched through the cord by which it hung, and dropped into a heap ofdry twigs.
The boys had no means of putting the fire out; the immediate need wasto rescue the provisions. They rushed in again, and each dragged outan armful of supplies. They took a breath of fresh air, and thenhastened in again. Fred was reaching for a slab of bacon, whensuddenly something exploded almost under his hand.
He jumped back, almost fancying he had been shot at. _Crack! crack!bang!_ went several other reports in quick succession, and this time herealized what it must be.
"Run! The ammunition's going off!" he shouted, and rushed for theopen; as he ran, however, he caught up the piece of bacon.
Some of the rifle cartridges were exploding, one by one, and then twoor three together, and suddenly, with a tremendous bang, a whole boxseemed to go off.
Then the firing ceased, and after a short interval, the boys set towork again to get out more provisions. The cabin was stifling now frompowder smoke, but they got what they could lay their hands on--a bag offlour, a quantity of canned stuff, a kettle, a rifle; soon a great heapof rescued supplies lay on the snow outside.
The flames, unable to ignite the solid logs of the cabin, were nowdying; evidently they would soon burn themselves out.
Mitchell at this moment gave signs of returning life. He opened hiseyes, stirred, and began to cough violently. They placed him in a morecomfortable position, and at the same time took the precaution of tyinghis wrists and ankles securely with strips of deer-hide. The manseemed dazed; he looked at the boys in amazement, and did not utter aword.
Two of the French Canadians were also reviving, and the boys tied themup in the same way. The fourth was in bad shape, and it took vigorousrubbing to restore him to consciousness: if he had been neglected alittle longer he might have died.
They laid the captives out in a row on a pile of hemlock branches, andlighted a roaring fire to keep them from freezing. Horace then wentthrough Mitchell's pockets, and recovered the sack of stones that Fredhad seen. He poured the glittering crystals into his hand, whileMitchell looked on in black disappointment.
"My friend," said Horace, "you've taken a vast amount of trouble,risked committing murder, and almost lost your own life for thesepebbles. Here, I'll give them to you." He poured the crystals backinto the pouch, and then flung the sack into the man's lap.
FLUNG THE SACK INTO THE MAN'S LAP]
The outlaw looked utterly bewildered.
"Ain't them diamonds?" he exclaimed.
"Fool's diamonds," Horace replied. "Maybe you can get five dollars forthe lot. If they were real diamonds, you might be a millionaire now."
Mitchell was evidently convinced, for he swore bitterly.
"I'm curious to know," Horace said, "how you came to hear that youmight expect to find diamonds hereabouts?"
"One of these breeds," said Mitchell sullenly, "got it from a brotherof his down by Hickson that a prospector had died here with a pocketfulof shiny stones that he'd picked up. I've prospected some myself. Ithought what these stones likely was, and I got together this crowd,and--"
"We know the rest," said Peter. "You came on the same false scent thatwe did." Then he turned to Horace, and whispered, "What in the worldare we going to do with these fellows?"
Horace wrinkled his brows in perplexity, and shook his head. "I don'tknow," he said.
But whatever they did, they must first of all sleep. The fire in thecabin had indeed burned out, but the place was so charred and smoky asto be uninhabitable; so they built a huge camp-fire of logs on thesnow. Here they all passed the night,--there was not much left ofit,--and Peter, Fred, and Maurice took turns in staying awake in orderto watch the prisoners.
The next morning the boys prepared a great breakfast from therecaptured provisions. They released the right hands of the captives,to enable them to eat; the men showed no hostile spirit. Mitchell onlywas sullen, as usual; the three French Canadians chattered gayly; theyhad quite recovered from their suffocation. Four of the dogs werelively, too; but one was dead.
After breakfast the boys inspected the cabin, and carried out the restof the supplies. Most of these were badly damaged. All the blanketshad been destroyed; the rifles were charred about the stocks, but couldstill be used; the kettles and tinware were not much injured; but theboys found only one box of cartridges that had not exploded.Mitchell's dog harness was burned to pieces. Both the sledges had beenleft outdoors, and were unhurt.
As they looked over the outfit, the boys discussed their plans. Theyagreed that they should start for home at once. They were all anxiousto have the diamonds appraised, and there was not the slightest reasonfor remaining. But the question what to do with the prisonersperplexed them. They could not take them along, could not leave thembound, and did not dare to set them free and restore their weapons.
Finally, however, the boys found a way out of the difficulty. Theydivided the provisions and ammunition into two equal parts, and loadedtheir toboggan with one of them. Peter then cut the four men loose.
"We'll treat you better than you did us," he said. "We're leaving youhalf the grub, and there are some old deerskins here from which you canmake a new dog harness. We'll carry your snowshoes with us for twomiles down the river, and leave them there. We'll carry your riflesthree miles farther, and leave them in a conspicuous place, too."
Then the boys set out on their homeward journey. One of the Frenchmenimmediately started after them in order to pick up the snowshoes andthe rifles, but the boys soon left him far behind. They saw no more ofany of the outlaw gang, although, for fear of an attack, they keptwatch for the next two nights in camp.
None of the boys were in condition for fast travel, and the question ofsupplies was a serious one. Horace thought it best to make straightfo
r the lumber camp where he had been so kindly received, and theyreached it on the third day. Here they spent a couple of days in restand recuperation, and were lucky enough to be able to buy enough beans,flour, and bacon to last them to the railway. Again they set off, and,after four days of hard tramping in bitter cold weather, they heard thewhistle of a train, faint and far away through the trees.
They all yelled with joy. It was like a voice from home. They beganto run, and in a short time they came to iron rails running north andsouth through the snowy forest. Following up the line, they foundthemselves at Ringwood, three stations north of Waverley, where theyhad gone in.
The next train took them down to that point, and they went back to thehotel, recovered their suit-cases, and put on town clothes again. Itseemed a long time since they had passed that way before, and collarsand cuffs were hard to wear. A great many curious eyes followed themabout the little hotel.
"Find any gold?" the landlord asked them, in an offhand manner.
"No," said Maurice. If he had inquired about diamonds, the boys wouldhave been puzzled what to say.
For the last time they packed their dunnage sacks on the batteredtoboggan, and shipped it to the city. They traveled on the same trainthemselves, and were in Toronto the next morning.
The boys parted with hearty farewells--Maurice going home, Macgregor tohis rooms, and Horace accompanying Fred to his boarding-house, where heintended to find quarters for himself.
"And now for the great question!" said Horace, when they were onceindoors. "Are the diamonds worth anything, or are they not? I can'tthink of anything else till I find out."
"Why, I thought you were sure--" began Fred.
"So I am--in a general sort of way. But I'm not a diamond expert, andI may be deceived. It's just possible that the things may not be realdiamonds at all.
"But don't worry," he added, seeing his brother's startled face. "I'mpretty sure they 're all right. But I'm going to take them at once toWilson & Keith's and get them appraised. They're the best diamond firmin the city, and they'll treat me honestly."
Horace dressed himself very carefully, took his little sack of jewels,and departed. He was gone fully three hours, and Fred waited in almostsickening impatience. At last he heard Horace's step on the stairs,and rushed out to meet him.
"What luck?" he cried eagerly.
"S-sh!" said Horace, drawing him back into the room. "It's all right.They're diamonds!"
"Hurrah!" Fred shouted wildly.
"They were awfully keen to know where I got them, but of course Iwouldn't tell, except that it was in Ontario. They would have boughtthe lot, I think, but I wasn't anxious to sell at once. They wanted meto make a price, and I wanted them to make an offer, and both of uswere afraid, I guess. However, they're going to take care of thestones for me and think it over."
"We must tell the other boys!" exclaimed Fred. "Can you make theslightest guess at what the stones are worth?"
"Hardly--at present. Maybe a thousand or two. Three of them are toosmall to be of any use at all, too small to be cut. The biggest has abad flaw in it; it could be used only for cutting up into what theycall 'commercial diamonds,' for watch-movements, and such things. Yes,give Peter and Maurice the news, certainly, but do it by word of mouth.Don't 'phone them. You don't know who may be listening.
"And be sure to warn them to keep the whole affair the closest kind ofsecret. Wilson & Keith are going to exhibit the stones in their showwindow, and you've no idea what an excitement will be stirred up.We'll all be watched. People will try in every possible way to findout where we got them. The newspapers will be after the story, andthere'll be all kinds of underhand tricks to trap us into letting outsomething. Not that it would do much good, for none of you know enoughto be dangerous, but we don't want a dozen parties going up theNottaway River next spring. We 're going there ourselves."
Fred promised secrecy, and presently found that his brother had hardlyexaggerated the sensation caused by the little pile of dull stones on asquare of black velvet in the jeweler's window, labeled "CanadianDiamonds." The newspapers were unremitting; Horace gave them a briefand circumspect interview, and thenceforth refused to add another wordto his statement. He was besieged with inquiries. He had all sorts ofproposals made to him by miners and mining firms. One group ofcapitalists made him an offer that he thought good enough to considerfor a day, but he ultimately rejected it.
Fred had his share of glory too, as the brother of the diamond finder.It leaked out that Maurice and Peter had also been on the expedition,and they were so pestered with inquiries and interviewers that itseriously interfered with their collegiate work. But by degrees theexcitement wore off, for lack of anything further to feed upon. Thediamonds were withdrawn from exhibition, and the jewelers at last madeup their minds to offer Horace seven hundred dollars for the lot.
It was rather a disappointing figure. Horace took his diamonds toMontreal and submitted them to two jewel experts there, who advised himthat they were probably worth little more, in their uncut form. Thecutting of them might develop flaws, or it might bring out unexpectedluster; it was taking a chance.
Returning to Toronto, he announced that he would take eight hundred andno less; and after some arguing Wilson & Keith consented to pay thatprice. The boys had a grand dinner at a downtown restaurant that nightto celebrate it. It was far from the fortune they had hoped to gain,but they still had great hopes of discovering that fortune.
"It's more than enough to cover the expenses of your trip into thewoods this winter, and our next trip in the spring, too," said Horace,"for of course this eight hundred is going to be divided equallybetween us."