Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds Part 6

"Why, it ought to be right over there!" replied Tommy doubtfully.

"Over where?" demanded Sandy, with a note of alarm in his voice.

"Blessed if I know!" declared Tommy, sitting flat down in the snow.

The boys walked round and round the tree and made little excursions in every direction without getting a single trace of the campfire.

"I guess we've gone and done it now!" Tommy grunted.

"Aw, we can find our way back all right enough!" Sandy declared.

"We came north when we left the camp, didn't we?"

"Guess we did," replied Tommy, his teeth rattling with the cold.

"Then all we've got to do is to follow the wind and we'll strike the tents. That's some Boy Scout forestry sense, isn't it?"

"We'll wait until we see whether it brings us back to camp or not,"

replied Tommy. "If it does, it's all right; if it doesn't, it's all wrong."

Had the boys proceeded straight north on leaving the camp, they would have doubtless returned to the lighted zone by keeping with the wind, if the wind had not shifted to the west soon after their departure from the camp.

They walked for what seemed to them to be hours. In fact, more than once they glanced about hoping to get their direction from a showing of daylight in the sky.

"I don't believe it ever will be daylight again," grumbled Sandy, "and I move we stop right here and build a big fire."

"Can we build a fire in all this ruck?" asked Tommy.

"You bet we can!" was the answer. "What are we Boy Scouts good for if we can't build a fire in a storm?"

They cleared a little s.p.a.ce in the snow and Tommy brought a handful of dry bark. Shielding the flickering blaze as much as possible, the boy applied the match he had struck to the bark. The fire which resulted could have been started in a teacup.

About this he built a skeleton tent of bits of dry soft wood from six to nine inches in length. His fire was now as large as an ordinary kettle. Next, the boys threw larger boughs on the blaze, and finally succeeded in surrounding it by large logs.

"There's one thing about it," Tommy declared as they warmed their hands over the blaze, "there won't any wild animals take a bite out of us as long as we keep near this fire!"

"I wish George would come poking along in," Sandy commented. "I believe I'll go out in the thicket after I get warm and see if he isn't somewhere in this vicinity. I thought I heard a call over there just a moment ago."

"Listen, then," Tommy advised. "If some one called, we're likely to hear a repet.i.tion of the sound."

Sure enough, the call came again as the boys huddled over the fire.

It came down with the wind and seemed to be rapidly drawing nearer.

"That sounds to me like a boy's voice," Sandy suggested.

"Sounds more like a half-breed to me!" Tommy answered.

"He's stopped coming on, anyway." Sandy exclaimed in a moment.

"Perhaps he's tumbled down in the snow!" Tommy argued.

"In that case, we'd better be getting out where he is," said Sandy.

The boys both left the fire and darted out into the darkness, listening for the call but hearing only the roaring of the wind.

CHAPTER VI

THE CAVE OP THE TWO BEARS

"Bears?" exclaimed George, as the lads listened in front of the cave, "do you think there are polar bears up here? I think it's cold enough for the big white variety."

"Put your head inside the cave," Thede suggested, "and you won't be wondering whether there are any bears here."

George did as requested, and soon the warm animal odor noticeable in the various zoos of the country attacked his nostrils.

"What kind of bears are they?" he asked.

"I've heard Pierre say there were black and brown bears," replied Thede. "You know I haven't been in here only a few days."

"I wonder if they'll bite."

"Stick your arm in there and find out," Thede answered.

"I don't believe they'll jump on us if we keep our light going,"

George argued. "Anyway," he went on, "we've got to get somewhere out of this wind and snow. If we don't, we'll freeze to death!"

Very slowly and cautiously the boys made their way into the cavern.

It was a small place, not more than six feet in width and twice that in depth, and the electric revealed about all there was inside.

Two black huddles of fur showed under the finger of light, and as the boys crept on, George with his automatic ready for use, two pair of surly, pig-like eyes became visible.

The animals stirred restlessly as the boys advanced and finally began edging toward one side of the cave, as if seeking a way out.

"Get out of the entrance," advised George as soon as both animals were on their feet, "and we'll give them a chance to escape."

This plan was followed, and, much to the delight of the youngsters, the animals sprang outside and for a moment disappeared in the darkness.

"It's a shame to turn the poor creatures out in this storm!" George declared. "Perhaps they were just entering upon their long winter's sleep."

"We didn't order them out!" grinned Thede. "It amounts to the same thing," George responded. "They've gone away, and are likely to freeze to death."

"If you think they've gone away," Thede replied, "just turn your light toward the entrance. They're not going to give up their warm nest without a sc.r.a.p, and I can't say that I blame them for it."

It was considerably warmer in the cave and, out of the tempest, the boys were quite comfortable in their thick clothing. They huddled together at the far end of the cavern, and George kept the light turned, on the two bears, who were now growling savagely.

"Why don't you shoot?" asked Thede.