CHAPTER XVI--BERT STARTS OUT
Just about the time that Bert was getting ready to try for a rabbitpotpie by firing the gun from the door of Mrs. Bimby's cabin, in theother and larger cabin at Cedar Camp the smaller Bobbsey twins werehaving a good time. There was no danger there of starving, for thecupboard was far from being bare.
But of course Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were worried because, after theirlong night of worry, neither Bert nor Nan had come back, and there wasno news of them.
"But we'll surely hear from them to-day," said Tom Case, as he came overthrough the storm after breakfast to learn if Mr. Bobbsey had anyspecial plans.
"How's Old Jim?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, as the head of the sawmill workerscame in out of the storm, for it was still snowing.
"Oh, Jim's all right," was the answer. "But he's worrying about his wifenot having any food. I came over to say that if the storm lets up alittle maybe we'd better try to take something to eat to the old lady.She's all alone in her cabin."
Of course neither he nor Old Jim knew that the two older Bobbsey twinswere at that very moment with Mrs. Bimby.
"All right, it would be a good idea," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And we mustmake another search for Bert and Nan."
"I have a sort of feeling that they're safe," said Mr. Case. "And,really, it wouldn't be wise for you to start out in this storm to lookfor them. I think it may moderate a little by to-morrow."
"Let us hope so!" sighed Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Can't Old Jim come over and play with us?" asked Flossie.
"We want to have some fun," added Freddie.
The two smaller twins had been as good as possible, but they were notused to being cooped up in the house, and there really was not much todo in the cabin. No toys had been brought along, for Mr. Bobbsey had notexpected to stay very long in looking after his Christmas trees. And hecertainly never counted on being snowed in.
"Yes, I'll bring Old Jim over," said Mr. Case. "He's pretty good atmaking things with his pocket knife. Shouldn't wonder but what he couldcut you out a doll, Flossie."
"Can he make boats?" asked Freddie.
"Sure he can!" said the sawmill foreman.
"Where you going to sail a boat in the snow, Freddie Bobbsey?" askedFlossie.
"I--I'll have him make me a snow-boat!" the little fellow said.
"Pooh!" laughed Flossie. "There are ice-boats, 'cause we rode in oneonce, but there aren't any snow-boats, are there, Daddy?"
"Well, perhaps Old Jim can make one," her father said. "Bring him over,Tom. I want to talk to him and find out where would be the most likelyplace for Nan and Bert to have found shelter."
The old logger, who seemed to have gotten over his exposure to thestorm, came to the Bobbsey cabin, and he somewhat relieved the worriesof Bert's father and mother by saying there were a number of cabins ofloggers and trappers scattered through the woods, and he had an ideathat Bert and his sister might have reached one of these.
"Well, we'll start out and look for them as soon as the storm lets up alittle," said Mr. Bobbsey.
Freddie and Flossie made great friends with Old Jim. They took to him atonce, and when he cut out of a piece of wood a queer doll for Flossie,and made for Freddie a thin wooden wheel, which would turn around in thewaves of heat arising from the hot stove, the children were delighted.
They climbed all over Old Jim, and laughed and shouted as though theyhad no cares in the world. And, as a matter of fact, they were not oldenough to worry about Bert and Nan. They thought their older brother andsister would come along sooner or later.
Slowly the day of storm passed, but with no let-up in the falling snow.The wind, while it did not blow as violently as at first, was high andcold, so that the little Bobbsey twins could not go out.
And it was about the time that Flossie and Freddie were having such funwith Old Jim that, back in this same logger's lonely cabin, Bert and Nanwere wondering whether they would have anything to eat for supper.
As Nan had said, she did see two large rabbits when she looked from thewindow. And she called to her brother to get the gun from its place overthe mantel.
"Land sakes!" exclaimed Mrs. Bimby, "there _are_ two right in plainsight. Now Bert, if you're any kind of a shot, maybe we'll have rabbitstew for supper. Here, take the gun, but be careful!"
Bert knew a little about firearms, and he was not at all afraid as Mrs.Bimby put the shotgun into his hands. Then she opened the door for him,very carefully, so as not to frighten the rabbits.
"They're still there, right on top of the snow!" called Nan, as shepeered from the window on her side of the cabin. "I'm not going to watchyou shoot them, Bert, though I am terribly hungry. And I'm going to holdmy hands over my ears so I won't hear the gun."
Bert was quite excited, and did not pay much attention to what hissister was saying, but he was not so excited that he could not hold thegun fairly steady.
"Hold it close against your shoulder, then it won't kick so hard," Mrs.Bimby whispered in his ear, as she helped him get the shotgun in place,and pointed it for him out of the open door.
The rabbits were in plain sight now, two wild, gray bunnies, fat andplump. Bert took sight over the little point on the end of the gun. Heheld this sight as steadily as he could in line with one of the rabbits.
"Better shoot quick!" whispered Mrs. Bimby. "I think they see us andthey'll scoot away in a minute!"
Bert gave a steady pull on the trigger, not a sudden pull, which is notthe right way to shoot. A sudden pull spoils your aim.
"Bang!" went the shotgun.
"Oh!" screamed Nan, who, in spite of having held her hands over herears, heard the report.
"I got one! I got one!" excitedly cried Bert, as he saw one of thebunnies lying on the snow. The other had scampered off.
"Yes, you did get one, child!" said Mrs. Bimby, as she ran out into thestorm and came back with the game. "Now we shan't starve. I'll make apotpie."
This she did, stewing the rabbit with some dumplings she made from alittle flour she had left in the bottom of the barrel. Bert and Nanthought nothing had ever tasted so good as that rabbit potpie.
"You'll be quite a hunter when you grow up," said Mrs. Bimby, when themeal was over. "You shot straight and true, Bert!"
"But you helped me," said the Bobbsey boy. "I couldn't have aimed thegun straight if you hadn't helped me."
"But I saw the rabbits, didn't I?" asked Nan.
"Yes, dearie, you surely did," said the kind old woman. "Now we shan'tstarve for a couple of days, anyhow."
"And then I can shoot more rabbits, or maybe some squirrels," Bertdeclared.
"I hope by that time the storm'll be over," remarked Mrs. Bimby, "andthat my Jim will come back."
"Will he take us home, or bring our father here?" Nan questioned.
"I guess so," Mrs. Bimby answered.
But as the snow kept up all the remainder of that day, and as it wasstill storming hard when night came, there did not seem much chance ofthe two older Bobbsey twins being rescued.
Again Bert and Nan spent the night in the little rooms of the cabin, butthey slept better this time, Nan not even awakening for a drink ofwater. And in the morning Bert looked from a window and cried:
"Hurray! The snow's stopping! I'm going to start out and go back tocamp!"
"You are?" asked Nan. "Are you going to take me?"
"No," said Bert. "You'd better stay here. I'll go to camp and send daddyback in a sled for you. He can hitch a horse to one of the lumber sledsnow that the snow is stopping, and he can ride you home. And if I findyour husband I'll send him back with a lot of things to eat," he toldMrs. Bimby.
"I wish you would, dearie," said the old woman. "But are you reallygoing to start out, Bert?"
"Yes'm! My father and mother will be worried about us. I can get to campnow, I'm sure, as the storm is almost over."
Mrs. Bimby, who, though not very wise, was kind, made him take a littlelunch with him, packing up some cold boiled chestnuts and part of thecold r
abbit meat. It was all there was.
"But maybe I'll get to camp before I have to eat," said Bert. "And I'llsend back help to you."
So Bert started out, Mrs. Bimby showing him the direction he was totake. It was still snowing a little, but he hoped it would soon stop.
OLD JIM DELIGHTED THE TWINS.]