CHAPTER IX.
THE GREAT STORM.
Mr. Raikes proved to be a very affable and genial sort of a man. Hechatted with the boys for some time, and asked them a great deal abouttheir plans.
Not once, however, did he refer to the business that had brought himselfand Mr. Bogle into the wilderness.
"Isn't this a queer time of the year to go prospecting?" inquired Jerry,during a lapse in the conversation. "I thought summer was the rightseason."
Mr. Raikes' blue eyes expressed mild surprise, as he turned to thespeaker.
"This is just the time for our line of business," he replied; and if heever spoke the truth in his life, he spoke it then.
"We'll make out all right if the weather holds good," he added, hastily."I'm a little afraid there's a snow squall coming, though. The air justfeels like it. It's not nearly so cold as when I started."
"That's so," exclaimed Hamp. "I can feel it getting warmer."
"You'd think it was downright hot if you were in my place," declaredJerry. "I'm actually sweating."
"That's the best thing for you," said Mr. Raikes, "only don't take coldafter it. Well, I must be off. You boys want to sleep, and I supposeJoe is getting anxious about me. Of course, we will see each otheragain, since we are such near neighbors?"
Without waiting for a reply, Mr. Raikes shouldered his gun and strodedown the ravine. The boys shouted good-by after him, and watched untilhe disappeared in the gloom.
"Not a bad sort of a fellow," commented Brick.
"He has mighty restless eyes," said Hamp. "When they weren't looking atyou, they were searching around the camp."
"I noticed that he watched Brick pretty sharply," put in Jerry. "He wasa mighty talkative fellow. Come to think of it, he found out everythingabout us, and didn't tell us a scrap about himself."
Here the discussion of the departed Mr. Raikes ended, for the boys weretoo sleepy to think of anything else. Brick looked at his watch, anduttered a gasp of surprise.
"Half-past three o'clock. It will soon be morning."
"The roof of the cabin must be fixed before we go to bed," cried Jerry."It may snow at any time. You fellows will have to manage it, for Iwon't dare stir about till I get over this sweat."
Brick and Hamp undertook the contract, and, by following Jerry'sinstructions, they completed the work in a very few minutes. Then theydragged a big log down the ravine and put it on the fire.
The light faded, and dawn came. It was a dreary sort of a dawn, at best,for the weather had changed in a truly terrific manner. At midday thetired boys were still slumbering, blissfully ignorant of the warringelements outside. The afternoon advanced, and it was well toward eveningwhen Brick yawned, stretched himself, and sat up. He looked at hiswatch.
"Great Scott!" he ejaculated. "After four o'clock! What a sleep we'vehad!"
Then he noticed a sprinkling of snow on the pine boughs, and saw quite alayer of it in the front corners of the cabin. A loud humming noise wasringing in his ears, and mingled with it was a deep, sonorous roar.Brick threw off the blanket and crawled to the door. He pulled the sledaway and partly lifted the flap of canvas. When he saw a solid wall ofsnow staring him in the face, he uttered a shout that instantly woke hiscompanions.
"Look out, or we'll have a cave-in!" cried Jerry, as he pushed the sledback in place. "Whew! what a storm this is! Just hear the wind roaring!"
"How are we going to see out?" asked Hamp.
For answer, Jerry took an ax and chopped a small, oblong hole in thefront wall of the cabin, at the height of five feet from the ground. Theboys crowded in front of it and looked out.
To say that they were astonished and alarmed, would but feebly expresstheir feelings. The snow was level with the hole, and lay to the depthof five feet all through the ravine. The air was white with swirlingflakes, and the lofty trees to right and left were creaking and groaningin the teeth of a tremendous gale.
Fortunately the storm was blowing from the northeast, and thus the cabinwas effectively screened by the upper bank of the ravine. Had it beenexposed, even partially, to the gale, it would have been demolished longago.
Jerry stuffed an old coat into the hole to shut out the bitterly coldair that filtered through.
"This is a pretty ugly fix," he said, gravely. "I hope the storm won'tkeep up."
"We're snug enough in here, at any rate," replied Hamp.
"And we can stand a long siege," added Brick, who was disposed to becheerful. To him, a snowstorm suggested only the pleasing excitement ofwinter sports.
"We are all right as long as the wind don't change," responded Jerry,"but if it does--then good-by to the cabin. The snow itself is not asdeep as it looks. The wind blowing over the bank makes a sort of an eddybehind it, and all this snow in the ravine has drifted. It will keep ondrifting, too--higher and higher."
"We'll find a way to pull through," said Hamp, confidently. "I don'tbelieve the wind is going to change."
"It may sheer to the east," suggested Brick.
"That is just what I am afraid of," replied Jerry. "But we won't borrowtrouble before it comes. We have enough on our hands now."
He pointed to the roof, which was sagging down considerably in themiddle. There was evidently a heavy weight of snow on top.
"No way to remedy that," he added. "We can't get up there in such a deepsnow. Let's make the best of it, fellows. I'm thankful that I feel wellafter my cold bath last night."
"If anything happens, those men may help us," suggested Hamp.
"Not likely," replied Jerry. "I'll bet anything they're worse off thanwe are. Probably they've got nothing to shelter them but a couple ofrocks or a flimsy lean-to."
"Then I pity them," declared Brick. "But let's have something to eat,fellows. I'm ravenous."
His companions were equally hungry. All sat down on the straw, and forhalf a minute no one spoke or moved. An expression that was halfserious, half comical, stole over each face.
Then Hamp opened a tin box and took out several dozen biscuit. Heunrolled a napkin and disclosed about half a pound of chipped beef. Hespread these things significantly in front of his companions. The actwas enough to tell the tale.
"I thought so," exclaimed Brick, dismally. "We'll starve, sure. Whatfools we were to leave everything in the storehouse."
"What confounded fools," echoed Hamp. "But we couldn't have known whatwas going to happen."
The storehouse, it must be explained, was a triangular hollow betweentwo rocks that stood in the center of the ravine, half-a-dozen yardsbelow the cabin.
Here, snugly covered with one of the sleds, rested most of theprovisions--tinned biscuit and meats, potatoes, flour, lard, coffee,pork, and various other articles.
This place had been selected because there was not sufficient room inthe cabin.
"We can't keep alive long on this handful of crackers and beef,"declared Jerry. "We've got to get at the supplies somehow or other.Light the lantern till we look about us. Where are the matches?"
"In the storehouse," muttered Brick. "The sealed bottle, I mean. But wehad a box here last night. I saw it lying in that corner."
Alas! the corner was heaped up with snow, and when Brick dug out thebox, it was a sight to be seen. It had been left partly open, and theheads of the matches were one sticky mass.
"Look in your pockets," Jerry fairly shrieked.
Every pocket was quickly searched, but to no purpose. Not a match couldbe found.
"No light, and hardly any food," muttered Jerry, glaring at the twouseless lanterns. "Now we must get to the storehouse. There are no twoways about it. I suppose the snowshoes are with the other traps."
"Yes," said Hamp, dismally.
"If we had them here, we would be all right."
"Can't we dig a tunnel?" suggested Brick.
"That's just what I'm thinking about," replied Jerry. "It might be done,though it will take a long time. The snow is so light that I am afraid
atunnel will cave in."
"Let me try it, anyhow," said Brick. "You'll catch cold if you get intothe snow, Jerry."
"I'll attend to the tunneling," asserted Hamp. "I'm used to that sort ofthing. Do you remember our snow forts, Jerry?"
Jerry nodded.
"Do your best, old fellow. Everything depends on it. Let's all have abite to eat first."
As he spoke, a sharp, snapping noise was heard above the roar of thestorm. A terrific crash followed. The cabin quivered and reeled, andblack darkness shut out the pale gray twilight.