CHAPTER XXIII
ANXIETY
In this valley into which Sammy and the two youngest Corner Housegirls had coasted without realizing their unfortunate change ofdirection, the blizzard that had swept down from the north-east uponthe wilderness about Red Deer Lodge did not reveal to the castawaysits greatest velocity.
The wind was mild in the valley compared to the way it swept acrossthe ridge on which the Birdsalls' home had been built. Already, whenNeale O'Neil discovered the absence of the small sled Sammy and Tessand Dot had taken, the storm was becoming threatening in the extreme.
Urged by Mr. Howbridge, Neale ran into the house to make sure thatSammy and the little girls were really gone. Nobody indoors knewanything about the trio. Instantly anxiety was aroused in the minds ofevery one.
Hedden, John and Lawrence, as well as Luke Shepard, soon joined in thesearch. Ike M'Graw of course took the lead. He knew the locality, andhe knew the nature of the storm that had now developed afterforty-eight hours of threatening.
"No use lookin' for them twins," he had told Mr. Howbridge bluntly."If they got away from here this mornin' with grub and a gun, they'lllikely be all right for a while. They know where to hole up, it'slikely, over this storm. 'Tain't as though they hadn't lived in thewoods a good deal, winter and summer. When this storm is over I'llhave a look for them twins, and like enough I'll find 'em all right.They air smart young shavers--'specially little Missie.
"But these here young ones you brought with you--well, they don't knownothin' about the woods. If they started up that road to have a slide,no knowin' where they are now. They've got to be found and broughthome. Yes, sir!"
Ruth and the other girls had come running to the back kitchen wherethe party was making ready for departure. Agnes and Cecile were intears; but although Ruth felt even more keenly that she had neglectedthe little folks, and because of that neglect they were lost, she kepther head.
The oldest Kenway hurried matters in the kitchen, and before Ike wasready to start with his crew, she brought two big thermos bottles, onewith hot milk and the other with hot coffee.
"That's a good idee, Miss," said the woodsman, buttoning up hisleather coat. "But we'll probably get them youngsters so quick theywon't be much cold. Scared, mostly."
All the members of the searching party did not feel so confident asIke's expression pictured his feelings. And perhaps Ike said this onlyto help ease the minds of those who remained at the Lodge.
Neale and Luke walked side by side as they set forth against the windthat now blew so hard. The snow sheeted them about so quickly thatthey were lost to the vision of the girls and Mr. Howbridge beforethey had gone twenty yards.
The boys were right behind M'Graw. The other men trailed them.
"Don't you fellers stray off the road we're goin' to follow," advisedthe old woodsman. "This is a humdinger of a storm, and it's goin' toget worse and worse from now on."
"Those poor kids will be buried in it," Luke shouted in Neale's ear.
"We'll dig 'em out, then," returned Neale, confidently. "Don't give upthe ship before we've even started."
But there was not much talk after getting into the road up which theyknew Sammy and the little girls had started with the sled. In fact,they could not talk. By this time the blizzard was at its height, andit was blowing directly in their faces as they advanced.
Over boot-tops, over knees, even leg-deep where the drifts were, thesearchers pressed on. Hedden overtook the backwoodsman and shouted:
"Hadn't we better separate, Mr. M'Graw, and beat the bushes on eitherside of this road?"
"No. Don't believe it's safe. And I don't think them little shaversseparated. They've holed-in together somewhere by this time, or--"
He did not finish his remark, but plowed on. He did not pass a hummockor snow-covered stump beside the road that he did not kick into andquite thoroughly examine. Every time Neale O'Neil saw one of thesedrifts he felt suddenly ill. Suppose the little folks should be underthat heap of snow? Nor did Luke bear the uncertainty in lighter vein.There were tears frozen on his cheeks as they pressed on.
The falling snow and sleet, driven by the wind, seemed like a solidwall ahead of them. This buffeted the searchers with tremendous power.It took all their individual force to stand against the storm.
When they finally reached the summit of the road, where the youngpeople had started the bobsled for the long slide that forenoon, theyhad found no sign of Sammy and the little girls.
Lawrence, one of the men, was completely exhausted. Ike made him sitdown in the shelter of a tree and dosed him with a big draught of thehot coffee.
"Don't want to have to lug you back in our arms, young man," snortedthe old woodsman. "You city fellers ain't got much backbone, I allow."
Meanwhile the other members of the searching party examined everybrush pile and heap of snow for a circle of twenty yards around thepoint where Ike and Lawrence waited. Neale and Luke shriekedthemselves hoarse calling the names of the trio of lost children.
"Do you suppose any wild animal has attacked them, or frightened them,Mr. M'Graw?" Hedden asked.
"Lynx and them is holed up, all right," declared the backwoodsman withconviction. "Nothing would bother them while this storm lasts. But Ideclare I don't see why we ain't found 'em," he added, shaking hishead. "Not if they come this way."
"I don't think they would have gone beyond this spot, do you?" Nealeasked. "Here's the top of the hill. They must have started for thisplace with the sled."
"'Twould seem so," agreed Ike M'Graw.
"I doubt if they could have walked so far from the house," said Luke.
"'Twasn't snowin' like this when they was on the way. But if they comeup here and slid down again, why didn't we find 'em on our way up?Beats me!"
"Perhaps we should have brought Tom Jonah with us," Neale observed."He might have nosed them out."
"The old dog couldn't scurcely git through this here snow," saidM'Graw. "I don't guess he can help us much till the storm's over. Butlet's go back. Them young ones must have turned out o' this roadsomewheres. Stands to reason the snow scared 'em and they startedback. They must have got out o' this woodroad, and then--"
He slowly shook his head. His anxiety was shared by all. Wherever thechildren had gone, they were surely overtaken by the storm. If theyhad found some shelter-they might be safely "holed up" till the stormstopped. But if not, neither Ike M'Graw nor the others knew where tolook for them.
And the blizzard was now sweeping so desperately across the ridge thatthe sturdiest of the party could scarcely stand against it. Had it notbeen at their backs as they headed for Red Deer Lodge again, it isdoubtful if they would have got to their destination alive.
The last few hundred yards the party made by holding hands and pullingeach other through the drifts. It was a tremendous task, and evenM'Graw was blown when Red Deer Lodge was reached.
Lawrence was the worst off of them all. Neale and Luke literallydragged him through the storm from the sheds to the rear door of theLodge. He would probably have died in the drifts had he been alone.
The girls and Mrs. MacCall, as well as Mr. Howbridge, were awaitingthe return of the searchers with the utmost anxiety. Not only werethey disturbed over the loss of the three children, but thepossibility of the men themselves not returning had grown big in theirminds. The rapidity with which the snow was gathering and thefierceness of the gale threatened disaster to the searchers.
When M'Graw fell against the storm door at the rear of the house andburst it open, everybody within hearing came running to the backkitchen. When Ruth saw that they did not bring with them the twolittle girls and Sammy, she broke down utterly.
Her despair was pitiful. She had held in bravely until now. To thinkthat they had come up here to Red Deer Lodge for a jolly vacation onlyto have this tragedy occur!
For that it was tragedy even Ike M'Graw now admitted. There was noknowing when the storm would cease. If the children had not beenprovidentially sheltered befo
re the gale reached this high point, itwas scarcely possible that they would be found alive after theblizzard was over.
At this hour no human being could live for long exposed to the stormwhich gripped the whole countryside.
* * * * *
There was anxiety in the cave in the valley as well as at Red DeerLodge about this same hour. But it must be confessed that the childrenwho had taken refuge in the cave were mostly anxious about that rabbitstew!
Was there going to be enough to go around? And had Rowdy made thedumplings all right and seasoned the stew so that it would bepalatable?
"The housekeeping arrangements of the cave wereprimitive."]
"Why, you're all sitting around here and sniffing at that stew everytime I lift the pot cover like hungry dogs," declared Rowdy. "I guessif it doesn't turn out right, you'll eat me."
"Oh, no," said Dot. "We wouldn't like to do that, for we aren't cannonballs."
"You aren't _what_?" cried the boy, amazed.
"Oh, dear, Dot! Why _will_ you get so mixed up in your words?" Tesswailed. "She doesn't mean 'cannon balls,' Rowdy; she means cannibals.'And we aren't. It is bad enough to have to eat rabbit when it looks somuch like a cat."
This very much amused Rowdy and Sammy Pinkney; but Rafe, the grouchybrother, would not be even friendly enough to laugh at the smallestCorner House girl.
"I don't know what's got into him," said Rowdy. "He never was this waybefore."
Rafe lay on the bed of balsam branches, and when his brother tried tostir him up he growled and said: "Let me alone!" But when the stew wasdone he was ready for his share.
The housekeeping arrangements of the cave were primitive. There were afew odd plates and dishes. But knives and forks were not plentiful,and the tea had to be drunk out of tin cups, and there were only threeof them.
There was condensed milk for the tea; and besides the dumplings whichRowdy had made, there were crackers and some cold cornbread left froma previous meal.
Rowdy seemed to be a pretty good cook for a boy of his age. And he wasjust as handy with dishes and in housekeeping matters as a girl.
The visitors praised his rabbit stew. They really had to do thatbecause they ate so much of it. Rafe grumbled that they took more thantheir share.
"I'd like to know what's got into you!" Rowdy said to his brother ingreat disgust. "You are just as mean as poison ivy--so there!"
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are. And what are you scratching that way for?"
"Because my chest itches. What does anybody scratch for?" growledRafe.
After eating, Rafe rolled up in a robe and went to sleep at one end ofthe bed. The others helped Rowdy clean up; and, as he said, "just topay Rafe off for being so mean," they had dessert which Rafe had nopart in. Rowdy produced a can of pears and they opened and ate themall!
"Je-ru-sa-_lem_!" ejaculated Sammy, when this was finished, "ain't itfun living in a cave? I'd rather be here than up to that Red DeerLodge place. Hadn't you, Tess?"
"No-o," admitted the honest but polite little girl. "I can't say justthat. But I think Rowdy's cave is very nice, and we are having a verynice time here."
Dot frankly yawned. She had been doing that, off and on, all throughsupper.
"I'm afraid there won't be anybody to put my Alice-doll to bedtonight," she said. "And I haven't any nightgown with me. Why, Tess!what shall we do?"
"I guess you wouldn't want to take off your clothes here. It isn'twarm enough," said Rowdy.
"But can't we say our prayers?" murmured the startled Dot. "Of course,Tess and I spent the night once right out under a tree--didn't we,Tessie? Last summer, you know, when we went on that tour in ourautomobile. But we said our prayers first."
"I guess we'd all better say our prayers and go to bed," said Rowdy."This is a pretty big storm, and maybe it won't stop snowing for everso long. The more we sleep, the less we'll know about it."
Therefore, a little later, the four joined the already slumbering Rafeupon the heaped up branches; wrapping themselves as best they could inthe torn robes and pieces of carpet.
It was not a very comfortable bed or very nice bedding; but they wereall too weary to criticize the shortcomings of Rowdy's cave. At least,it was shelter from the storm.