The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound Part 23

Paul, knowing that he would not go for his camera until after broad daylight, had managed to so arrange it, with a clever attachment of his own construction, that an exposure was made just at the second the cord firing the flashlight was drawn taut.

It was a time exposure--the shutter remaining open for a score of seconds before automatically closing again. This was arranged so that pictures could be taken on moonlight nights as well as dark ones. He had tried it on several previous occasions, and with very good results.

Brushing the acc.u.mulated snow from his camera, he quickly had the precious article in his possession.

"Nothing else to keep us here, is there, Paul?" asked Jud.

"No, and the sooner we strike a warm gait for the cabin the better,"

said the scout-master. "You notice, if anything, that wind is getting sharper right along, and the snow strikes you on the cheek like shot pellets, stinging furiously. So far as I'm concerned we can't make the camp any too soon."

Nevertheless, it might have been noticed that Paul did not hurry, in the sense that he forgot to keep his wits about him. The warning given by Tolly Tip was still fresh in his ears, and even without it Paul would hardly have allowed himself to become indiscreet or careless.

Jack, too, saw that they were following the exact line they had taken in coming out. As a scout he knew that the other did not get his bearings from any marks on the ground, such as might easily be obliterated by falling snow. Trees formed the basis of Paul's calculations. He particularly noticed every peculiarly shaped tree or growth upon the right side while going out, which would bring them on his left in returning.

In this fashion the scout-master virtually blazed a path as he went; for those trees gave him his points just as well as though they represented so many gashes made with a hatchet.

"I'm fairly wild to develop this film, and see whether the bear paid for his treat with a good picture," Paul ventured to say when they were about half way to the camp.

"Do you know what I was thinking about just then?" asked Jack.

"Something that had to do with other fellows, I'll be bound," replied the scout-master. "You were looking mighty serious, and I'd wager a cookey that you just remembered there were other fellows up here to be caught in the blizzard besides our crowd."

Jack laughed at hearing this.

"You certainly seem to be a wizard, Paul, to guess what was in my mind," he told his chum. "But it's just as you say. Sim Jeffreys told us the other day that they had come up with only a small amount of food along. If they've stayed around up to now they're apt to find themselves in a pretty bad pickle."

"That's a fact, Jack, if this storm keeps on for several days, and the snow happens to block all the paths out of the woods. Let's hope they gave it up, and went back home again. We haven't seen a thing of them since then, you remember."

Jack shook his head.

"You know how pig-headed Hank Lawson always is," he told his chum.

"Once he gets started in a thing, he hates everlastingly to give up.

He came here to bother us, I feel sure, and a little thing like a shortage of provisions wouldn't force him to call the game off."

"Then it's your opinion, is it, Jack, they're still in that hole among the rocks Sim spoke of?"

"Chances are three to one it's that way," quickly replied Jack. "They have guns, and could get some game that way, for they know how to hunt. Then if it came to the worst perhaps Hank would try to sneak around our cabin, hoping to find a chance to steal some of our supplies."

A short time later they sighted the cabin through the now thickly falling snow, and both boys felt very glad to be able to get under shelter.

Tolly Tip did not return until some hours had pa.s.sed. By that time the snow carried by a furious wind that howled madly around the corners, was sweeping past the windows of the cabin like a cloud of dust.

Everybody was glad when the old woodsman arrived. He flung several prizes down on the floor, not having taken the time to detach the pelts.

"'Tis a screecher av a blizzard we're after havin' drop in on us, by the same token," he said, with quivering lips, as he stretched out his hands toward the cheerful blaze of the fire.

Being very eager to ascertain what measure of success had fallen to him with regard to the bear episode, Paul proceeded to develop the film.

When he rejoined the other boys in the front room some time later he was holding up the developed film, still dripping with water.

"The best flashlight I ever got, let me tell you!" Paul exclaimed. At this there was a cheer and a rush to see the film.

There was the bear, looking very much astonished at the sudden brilliant illumination which must have seemed like a flash of lightning to him.

All day long the storm howled, the snow drifted and scurried around the cabin. Whenever the boys went for wood they had to be very careful lest they lose their way even in such a short distance, for it was impossible to see five feet ahead. When they went to bed that night the same conditions held good, and every one felt that they were in the grip of the greatest blizzard known for ten years.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE DUTY OF THE SCOUT

When two days had pa.s.sed and the storm still raged, the scouts began to feel more anxious than ever. The snow continued to sweep past the cabin in blinding sheets. It was difficult to know whether all this came from above, or if some was s.n.a.t.c.hed up from the ground and whirled about afresh.

In some places enormous drifts abounded, while other more exposed spots had been actually swept bare by the wind.

The scouts had not suffered in the least, save mentally. The cabin proved to be fairly warm, thanks to the great fire they kept going day and night; and they certainly had no reason to fear for any lack of provisions with which to satisfy their ever present appet.i.tes.

Still, from time to time, murmurs could be heard.

"One thing sure!" Sandy Griggs was saying toward noon on this third day of the blizzard, "this storm is going to upset a whole lot of our plans."

"Knock 'em into a jiffy!" added Bluff.

"We'll never be able to skate down the creek to the lake, if it's covered with two feet of snow," Sandy growled.

"Oh! for all we know," laughed Paul, "this wind has been a good friend to us, and may keep the smooth ice clear of snow. We'd better not cry until we know the milk has really been spilled."

"But any way," Bluff continued, bound to find some cause for the gloomy feelings that clung like a wet blanket, "we'll never be able to run our iceboats back home. Chances are we'll have to drag them most of the way."

"All right, then," Paul told him, "we'll make the best of a bad bargain. If you only look hard enough, Bluff and Sandy, you'll find the silver lining to every cloud. And no matter how the storm upsets some of our plans we ought to be thankful we've got such a snug shelter, and plenty of good things to eat--thanks to Mr. Garrity."

"Yes, that's what I just had in mind, Paul," spoke up Bobolink. "Now, you all needn't begin to grin at me when I say that. I was thinking more about the fellows who may be shivering and hungry, than of our own well-fed crowd."

"Oh! The Lawsons!" exclaimed Bluff. "That's a fact. While we're having such a royal time of it here they may be up against it good and hard."

Perhaps all of the boys had from time to time allowed their thoughts to stray away, and mental pictures of the Lawson crowd suffering from hunger and cold intruded upon their minds. They forgot whatever they chanced to be doing at that moment, and came around Paul.

"In one way it would serve them right if they did get a little rough experience," observed Spider s.e.xton, who perhaps had suffered more at the hands of the Stanhope bully and his set than any of the other scouts.

"Oh, that sort of remark hardly becomes you, Spider," Paul reminded him. "If you remember some of the rules and regulations to which you subscribed when joining the organization you'll find that scouts have no business to feel bitter toward any one, especially when the fellows they look on as enemies may be suffering."

"Excuse me, Paul, I guess I spoke without thinking," said Spider, with due humility. "And to prove it I'm going to suggest that we figure out some way we might be of help to Hank and his lot."

"That's more like it, Spider!" the scout-master exclaimed, as though pleased. "None of us fancy those fellows, because so far we've failed to make any impression on them. Several times we've tried to make an advance, but they jeered at us, and seemed to think it was only fear on our part that made us try to throw a bridge across the chasm separating us. It's going to be different if, as we half believe, they're in serious trouble."