Chapter XXVI.
FINDING SNOW-BIRDS AND LOSING THE CAPTAIN.
Jim knew he must keep quiet, so he stood like a statue, trying toforget his stinging ears, until the flock had recovered from itssurprise, when he knocked over a second bird.
It was slow and very cold work, but the boy stuck to it bravely untilhis fingers became so stiff that he could not manage his littleweapon, and then he crept down to the stove, to dance about and wringhis hands with pain as the heat of the room set them aching.
As soon as possible he went out again--missed twice and hit once. Justas he was taking aim a fourth time his foot slipped, and he tumbledbackwards, followed by a small avalanche, which half buried him at thefoot of the rock. When he picked himself up, every feather haddisappeared.
Running round to the front, he found two dead birds and three woundedones, whose necks were speedily wrung. Never was a boy prouder thanthis young sportsman, as he laid his trophies in a row and admiredthem.
"What a delicious broth they will make!" cried Katy, who longed totaste something really good.
"I'm hungry enough to eat 'em raw, like an Indian. Oh, Tug, look whatI've shot!" Jim added, as his friend opened the door and stood shakingoff the snow.
"Good for you! I've got nothin' 'cept a mighty good appetite. Why,they're cross-bills and red-polls!"
"What are _they_?"
"Birds that come down in winter from away up north. This littlestreaked sparrow-like fellow, with the rosy breast and the red cap, isthe red-poll; they say he never breeds south of Greenland. Now look atthese larger ones--see how strong the bills are, and how their pointscross! That's so they can twist the hard scales off the cones and getat the seeds."
"Yes," said Jim; "they were hanging upside down and every way on thecones, and I could hardly see them to take aim."
"That's 'cause their plumage is such a vague sort of red and green, sonear the color of the leaves and scales on those evergreen trees. Thehawks and owls can't see 'em, either, half as well as if they werebright, and that's where the little fellows have the advantage oftheir big enemies. Did you notice any other kinds?"
"There was one different one, a little larger than any of these, thatI caught a glimpse of--it was green, just like the hemlock leaves, andkept inside out of the storm--"
"Like a sensible bird, eh? Correct! I guess he was a pine grosbeak."
"That means 'pine _big_beak' doesn't it? It ought to, for this fellowhad a beak twice as thick as any bird I ever saw, except a cardinalfrom South Carolina that a man had in a cage last summer. Do you thinkthey'll come back?"
"I reckon so. None of these winter birds are shy--lucky for us! and Ithink the shelter of these trees and the warmth of our smoke willfetch 'em, especially if we scatter some crumbs out on the roof."
"But we have none to scatter," Katy protested.
All three then went to work picking the birds, whose bodies lookedsurprisingly small after their puffy coats had been taken off. "Seewhat a warm undershirt of down this one wears at the roots of hisfeathers!" Tug pointed out, holding up a red-poll.
"Wish I were a bird," said Jimmy; "I'd get out o' this in no time."
"Perhaps if you were, this would be the very place you would most wantto come to and stay in," Katy remarked, "just as these poor littlethings did. The 'if' makes a lot of difference, Master Jim."
By this time it began to grow dusk, and though the snow was falling asfast as ever, the air had grown much warmer, as though the storm wouldend in rain. Aleck had not come yet, and the three, in their snughouse, looking out upon the deep drifts and the clouded air, andlistening to the melancholy sound of the wind in the trees, becamemore and more anxious for his appearance.
When it had grown quite dark, and the broth Katy had made was ready,together with cakes of corn-meal, and tea, or, rather, hot waterflavored with tea and sugar--the best meal they had seen for many aday--Tug said that if the Captain did not come before they got througheating he would go and look for him. So they tried to keep up eachother's spirits; but when the meal was done, and still no brotherappeared, all their merriment faded.
"Jim and Rex ought both to go with you, Tug; and you must take alongthe lantern, and these extra corn cakes I have baked, and somebacon--"
"The bacon's raw," Jim protested.
"Well, stupid, you could fry it over some coals on the end of a stick,couldn't you?" exclaimed Tug, impatiently. He was getting very tiredof Jim's constant objections.
"And you must take this little bit of brandy, because you know, hemight--might be--"
"Now, Katy, dear Katy," said Tug, his own eyes moist, as he threw hisarm around the shoulders of the girl, who had broken down at last, andwas crying bitterly. "Don't cry, Katy. If _you_ give in, what arewe goin' to do? You are the life of the party, and there ain't nothin'we wouldn't any of us--and specially me--do for you. Really now,Katy--Here, you young cub, what are _you_ bellerin' about? If I catchyou crying round here again, discouragin' your sister in this style,I'll thrash you well!"
"DON'T CRY, KATY!"]
Tug was thoroughly excited and distressed by this last and heaviesttrouble, and most anxious of all to make the rest believe he wasn'tanxious. As usual, when excited, he dropped into the slang he had beenstriving to forget. But this added force to his speeches, for when itoccurred everybody understood that he was very much in earnest.
"I knew a young fellow," Tug himself used to say, when laughed at forthis peculiarity, "whose father was a Dutchman, but who could never bepersuaded to learn that language. 'Why not?' we used to ask him.'Well, fellows,' he would say, 'my daddy talks English till he catchesme up to some mischief; then he begins to talk Dutch, and goes for hiswhip; so I've got a terrible distaste for Dutch.' It's with me as itwas with that man. When I am mad, or mean business, I'm pretty likelyto talk in the 'Dutch' I learned when I was a boy."
The two boys and the dog--for Rex had nursed his foot until it was ofuse to him again, protected by bandages--bundled themselves up, tookthe lantern, the hatchet, and luncheon, and started out. Katy saidshe should not be a bit afraid, and would keep up a good fire. As theydisappeared, letting in a flurry of snow before they could shut thedoor, she dropped into a seat (if truth must be told) to finish hercrying. Let her do it, poor girl!--few of her associates, or yours, mypretty maiden, ever had better cause. We will flounder along with Tugand Jim, who are bowing their faces to the storm, and toiling up thedark and treacherous hillside.
When the top of the ridge had been gained they paused to get breathand to shout Aleck's name. No reply came, and they pushed on down tothe isthmus, where the snow, which was becoming more and more sleety,swept about their faces with double force. In a few moments, however,they reached the shelter of the woods, which covered pretty much thewhole of that part of the island; and then came the question whetherit would be better to work along the beach or plunge into the woods.
There seemed very small chance of success, in the midst of thisdarkness and storm, either way, but they felt sure that some accidenthad happened to the Captain, and they were eager to help him. Aftertalking it over, they decided upon the right-hand or southern shore ofthe island, because that was to leeward, and better sheltered, andmarched on as rapidly as they could. They had no strength to talk,but hand-in-hand pushed ahead, stopping now and then to shout, butnever getting an answer.
"There's one good thing about this storm," Tug remarked, after awhile, as they halted to rest in a sort of cleft in the rock. "Thoseconfounded dogs will be likely to stay indoors and not bother us."
"I wonder where they keep themselves at night?"
"If our island is like the rest, this limestone rock is full of caves.There's no telling, for instance, how deep this here opening we'resitting in goes back; and in some of the Puddin' Bay [Put-in-Bay]islands big caves have been explored that people go away into to seethe stalactites. There are plenty of rocky holes, therefore, wherethey could find good shelter and beds of leaves that the wind hadblown in. But we must get out o
f this, Youngster."