As its end came within his grasp, Jack seized the improvised rope andmade a loop in it which he knotted under his arm-pits.
"All ready?" hailed Tom.
"All ready."
"Then hold tight and help yourself all you can."
"I sure will. But please don't let go!"
"Not if we have to go over ourselves," Tom assured him.
A stunted "rampick" grew close to the edge of the trail. The rope waspassed around this, one turn being taken so that they could rest andstill keep their grip on the rope if they desired. Then the long haulbegan.
Inch by inch, resting at times when they were out of breath, the two,the boy and the old trapper, hauled Jack up to a point where they wereable to knot the rope about the "rampick" and lift their comrade up tosafety with their hands.
Thanks to the softness of the snow bank into which he had been hurled,Jack had not received additional injury, except for a few bruises. Theyrested for a time and then old Joe and Tom resumed the tramp to LaRoche's place. Carrying Jack between them and making frequent stops, itwas dark when they reached there and found a warm welcome.
Tom promised La Roche liberal pay to take them back to Camp _YukonRover_, and after some demur the trapper consented. The next day hehitched up his dog sled for Jack's convenience, and they started onagain under his guidance. They paused on the homeward trail to bury oldJoe's faithful mamelukes, who had proven themselves, as have many othersof the kind, faithful unto death.
Then the journey was resumed, for old Joe had promised to accompany theboys to their camp. Tom wanted his uncle and Mr. Chillingworth to meetthe old man who had been such a good friend to them and helped them overso many stumbling blocks.
On their second day on the trail they espied an Indian coming towardthem. It proved to be Pegic, the friendly Indian with whom they hadcamped. He set up a shout on seeing them.
"That Injun sure has suth'in on his mind," said La Roche, noticing suchunusual signs of excitement in the son of a stoical race.
A few moments later the mystery was explained. Pegic, with some othersof his tribe, had the day before found a white man with a broken neck atthe foot of a precipice.
It had proved to be the "little gray man," whom they all had seen and ofwhose flight and theft they knew. Pegic, recalling the story of hisfriend, Joe Picquet, had searched among the dead man's effects, whichlay scattered about him. Among them were a black fox skin of shimmeringbeauty, which the Indian gravely handed to the delighted Tom, and manyother skins, including those nicked from old Joe.
How the Wolf had met his death was never discovered, nor did hiscompanions ever appear to explain the mystery. One explanation was thathe fell from the precipice during a fight, a theory which some marks onhis body served to support.
With frontier justice, old Joe Picquet awarded to Pegic for his honestythe skins unclaimed by himself or by the boys. They amounted in value toa considerable sum, and the Indian was delighted with the gifts of hiswhite friends.
The next day they reached the camp of the _Yukon Rover_, where theyfound Mr. Dacre, Mr. Chillingworth and Sandy. How much they all had totell each other and how many hours of the night were consumed in thetelling, you may imagine. Tom and Jack did not receive the scolding theyhad contemplated getting for the loss of the black fox. Their recoveryof the skin and the hardships they had undergone on the trail, in theopinion of both their elders, more than counterbalanced any carelessnessthey might have shown.
The remainder of the winter was spent in trapping with old Joe Picquet,who was retained at a good salary as chief trapper. The old man, too,not long afterward, bought himself a new team of mamelukes, but fine asthey are he declares that no sledge animals will ever be seen in thenorth country to equal his lost team, for which he mourned for manymonths.
When Jack's ankle healed, he took as active a part as any in the workand play of the _Yukon Rover_ camp. In due course, spring came over theicy regions North of Fifty-three. The rivers were opened, and one fineday the _Yukon Rover_ slipped her moorings and with a valuable cargo oflive foxes--destined to start the first enterprise of its kind in theUnited States--she dropped down the Porcupine to the Yukon. On the banka sorrowful figure stood waving goodbye. It was Joe Picquet. Long aftera bend of the river shut him out from view, the boys could see him intheir mind's eyes standing there, motionless as a figure of stone,calling:
"Good-bye! Come back some day!"
"I wonder if we ever will?" mused Sandy as they stood on the foredeckbeneath the "Totem of the Frozen North."
"Who can tell?" rejoined Tom. "But whatever happens, we shall neverforget our adventures up here."
"I shan't for one," said Jack with conviction.
"Nor I," echoed Sandy. "I feel different, somehow, bigger and older forit all."
"And so say we all!" cried Jack.
And here we must bid good-bye to the Bungalow Boys, leaving them, asSandy expressed it, "bigger and older" and better equipped to meetlife's trials and battles for the experiences that they had faced "Northof Fifty-three."
The End
BOY AVIATORS' SERIES
By Captain Wilbur Lawton
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys
Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
THE BOY AVIATORS IN NICARAGUA; or, Leagued With Insurgents
The launching of this Twentieth Century series marks the inauguration ofa new era in boys' books--the "wonders of modern science" epoch. Frankand Harry Chester, the boy aviators, are the heroes of this exciting,red-blooded tale of adventure by air and land in the turbulent CentralAmerican republic. The two brothers with their $10,000 prize aeroplane,the Golden Eagle, rescue a chum from death in the clutches of theNicaraguans, discover a lost treasure valley of the ancient Toltec race,and in so doing almost lose their own lives in the Abyss of the WhiteSerpents, and have many other exciting experiences, including beingblown far out to sea in their air-skimmer in a tropical storm. It wouldbe unfair to divulge the part that wireless plays in rescuing them fromtheir predicament. In a brand new field of fiction for boys the Chesterbrothers and their aeroplane seem destined to fill a top-notch place,These books are technically correct, wholesomely thrilling and geared upto third speed.
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BOY AVIATORS' SERIES
By Captain Wilbur Lawton
Absolutely modern. Stories for Boys Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
THE BOY AVIATORS ON SECRET SERVICE; or, Working With Wireless
In this live-wire narrative of peril and adventure, laid in theEverglades of Florida, the spunky Chester Boys and their interestingchums, including Ben Stubbs, the maroon, encounter exciting experienceson Uncle Sam's service in a novel field. One must read this vivid,enthralling story of incident, hardship and pluck to get an idea of thealmost limitless possibilities of the two greatest inventions of moderntimes--the aeroplane and wireless telegraphy. While gripping and holdingthe reader's breathless attention from the opening words to the finish,this swift-moving story is at the same time instructive and uplifting.As those readers who have already made friends with Frank and HarryChester and their "bunch" know, there are few difficulties, no matterhow insurmountable they may seem at first blush, that these up-to-dategritty youths cannot overcome with flying colors. A clean-cut, realboys' book of high voltage.
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BOY AVIATORS' SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys Cloth Bound Price 50c pe
r volume
THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA; or, An Aerial Ivory Trail
In this absorbing book we meet, on a Continent made famous by theAmerican explorer Stanley, and ex-President Roosevelt, our old friends,the Chester Boys and their stalwart chums. In Africa--the DarkContinent--the author follows in exciting detail his young heroes, theirvoyage in the first aeroplane to fly above the mysterious forests andunexplored ranges of the mystic land. In this book, too, for the firsttime, we entertain Luther Barr, the old New York millionaire, who provedlater such an implacable enemy of the boys. The story of his defeatedschemes, of the astonishing things the boys discovered in the Mountainsof the Moon, of the pathetic fate of George Desmond, the emulator ofStanley, the adventure of the Flying Men and the discovery of theArabian Ivory cache,--this is not the place to speak. It would bespoiling the zest of an exciting tale to reveal the outcome of all theseepisodes here. It may be said, however, without "giving away" any of thethrilling chapters of this narrative, that Captain Wilbur Lawton, theauthor, is in it in his best vein, and from his personal experiences inAfrica has been able to supply a striking background for the adventuresof his young heroes. As one newspaper says of this book: "Here isadventure in good measure, pressed down and running over."
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BOY AVIATORS' SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys Cloth Bound Price 50c per volume
THE BOY AVIATORS TREASURE QUEST; or, The Golden Galleon
Everybody is a boy once more when it comes to the question of hiddentreasure. In this book, Captain Lawton has set forth a hunt for goldthat is concealed neither under the sea nor beneath the earth, but iswell hidden for all that. A garrulous old sailor, who holds the key tothe mystery of the Golden Galleon, plays a large part in the developmentof the plot of this fascinating narrative of treasure hunting in theregion of the Gulf Stream and the Sargasso Sea. An aeroplane fitted withefficient pontoons--enabling her to skim the water successfully--haslong been a dream of aviators. The Chester Boys seem to have solved theproblem. The Sargasso, that strange drifting ocean within an ocean,holding ships of a dozen nations and a score of ages, in its relentlessgrip, has been the subject of many books of adventure and mystery, butin none has the secret of the ever shifting mass of treacherous currentsbeen penetrated as it has in the BOY AVIATORS TREASURE QUEST. LutherBarr, whom it seemed the boys had shaken off, is still on their trail,in this absorbing book and with a dirigible balloon, essays to beat themout in their search for the Golden Galleon. Every boy, every man--andwoman and girl--who has ever felt the stirring summons of adventure intheir souls, had better get hold of this book. Once obtained, it will beread and re-read till it falls to rags.
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BOY AVIATORS' SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys Cloth Bound Price 50c per volume
THE BOY AVIATORS IN RECORD FLIGHT; or, The Rival Aeroplane
The Chester Boys in new field of endeavor--an attempt to capture anewspaper prize for a trans-continental flight. By the time these linesare read, exactly such an offer will have been spread broadcast by oneof the foremost newspapers of the country. In the Golden Eagle, theboys, accompanied by a trail-blazing party in an automobile, make thedash. But they are not alone in their aspirations. Their rivals for therich prize at stake try in every way that they can to circumvent thelads and gain the valuable trophy and monetary award. In this they stopshort at nothing, and it takes all the wits and resources of the BoyAviators to defeat their devices. Among the adventures encountered intheir cross-country flight, the boys fall in with a band of rollickingcow-boys--who momentarily threaten serious trouble--are attacked byIndians, strike the most remarkable town of the desert--the "dry" townof "Gow Wells," encounter a sandstorm which blows them into strangelands far to the south of their course, and meet with several amusingmishaps beside. A thoroughly readable book. The sort to take out behindthe barn on the sunny side of the haystack, and, with a pocketful ofjuicy apples and your heels kicking the air, pass happy hours withCaptain Lawton's young heroes.
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BOY AVIATORS' SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys Cloth Bound Price 50c per volume
THE BOY AVIATORS POLAR DASH; or, Facing Death in the Antarctic
If you were to hear that two boys, accompanying a South Polar expeditionin charge of the aeronautic department, were to penetrate the Antarcticregions--hitherto only attained by a few daring explorers--you wouldfeel interested, wouldn't you? Well, in Captain Lawton's latest book,concerning his Boy Aviators, you can not only read absorbing adventurein the regions south of the eightieth parallel, but absorb much usefulinformation as well. Captain Lawton introduces--besides the originalcharacters of the heroes--a new creation in the person of ProfessorSimeon Sandburr, a patient seeker for polar insects. The professor'sadventures in his quest are the cause of much merriment, and lead onceor twice to serious predicaments. In a volume so packed with incidentand peril from cover to cover--relieved with laughable mishaps to theprofessor--it is difficult to single out any one feature; still, arecent reader of it wrote the publishers an enthusiastic letter theother day, saying: "The episodes above the Great Barrier are thrilling,the attack of the condors in Patagonia made me hold my breath, the--butwhat's the use? The Polar Dash, to my mind, is an even more entrancingbook than Captain Lawton's previous efforts, and that's saying a gooddeal. The aviation features and their technical correctness are by nomeans the least attractive features of this up-to-date creditablevolume."
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OAKDALE ACADEMY SERIES
Stories of Modern School Sports
By MORGAN SCOTT.
Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c. per vol., postpaid
BEN STONE AT OAKDALE.
Under peculiarly trying circumstances Ben Stone wins his way at OakdaleAcademy, and at the same time enlists our sympathy, interest andrespect. Through the enmity of Bern Hayden, the loyalty of Roger Eliotand the clever work of the "Sleuth," Ben is falsely accused, championedand vindicated.
BOYS OF OAKDALE ACADEMY.
"One thing I will claim, and that is that all Grants fight open andsquare and there never was a sneak among them." It was Rodney Grant, ofTexas, who made the claim to his friend, Ben Stone, and this story showshow he proved the truth of this statement in the face of apparentevidence to the contrary.
RIVAL PITCHERS OF OAKDALE.
Baseball is the main theme of this interesting narrative, and that meansnot only clear and clever descriptions of thrilling games, but anintimate acquaintance with the members of the teams who played them. TheOakdale Boys were ambitious and loyal, and some were even disgruntledand jealous, but earnest, persistent work won out.
OAKDALE BOYS IN CAMP.
The typical vacation is the one that means much freedom, littlerestriction, and immediate contact with "all outdoors." These conditionsprevailed in the summer camp of the Oakdale Boys and made it a scene oflively interest.
THE GREAT OAKDALE MYSTERY.
The "Sleuth" scents a mystery! He "follows his nose." The plot thickens!He makes deductions. There are surprises for the
reader--and for the"Sleuth," as well.
NEW BOYS AT OAKDALE.
A new element creeps into Oakdale with another year's registration ofstudents. The old and the new standards of conduct in and out of schoolmeet, battle, and cause sweeping changes in the lives of several of theboys.
Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. HURST & COMPANY--Publishers--NEW YORK
BOY INVENTORS SERIES
Stories of Skill and Ingenuity
By RICHARD BONNER
Cloth Bound, Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid
THE BOY INVENTORS' WIRELESS TELEGRAPH.
Blest with natural curiosity,--sometimes called the instinct ofinvestigation,--favored with golden opportunity, and gifted withcreative ability, the Boy Inventors meet emergencies and contrivemechanical wonders that interest and convince the reader because theyalways "work" when put to the test.
THE BOY INVENTORS' VANISHING GUN
A thought, a belief, an experiment; discouragement, hope, effort andfinal success--this is the history of many an invention; a history inwhich excitement, competition, danger, despair and persistence figure.This merely suggests the circumstances which draw the daring BoyInventors into strange experiences and startling adventures, and whichdemonstrate the practical use of their vanishing gun.