The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island Part 30

"I wish it wasn't so dark!"

"Uncle Barney, are you sure you know the way?" questioned Randy, as all came to a halt for a moment to turn their backs to the wind and catch their breath.

"Oh, yes, my lad! I know the way well enough," was the old lumberman's reply. "But, believe me, I didn't expect any such snowstorm as this when I went after you. I thought it would be just an ordinary fall."

"It seems to be getting heavier every minute," declared Jack, as he sheltered his eyes with his hand and tried to peer forth into the darkness. "Why, the snow is coming down in regular chunks!"

The flakes were indeed both heavy and thick, and the wind sent the snow sweeping across the ice, forming new ridges in every direction.

"The first thing you know, we'll be blocked completely," declared Randy, after they had progressed another quarter of a mile. "Just look at that wall of snow, will you?" and he pointed ahead, where a snowdrift was all of five feet high and rapidly growing higher.

The Rovers could see by his manner that the old lumberman was growing much disturbed. He led the way first in one direction and then in another. Then presently he called a halt.

"It ain't no use," he declared flatly. "I thought I could work my way around these snowdrifts, the same as I did when I came over to town after you. But the darkness and this heavy fall of snow is bothering me tremendously."

"What do you think we ought to do?" questioned Fred anxiously. The situation was making the youngest Rover boy a little fearful.

"I guess about the best thing we can do is to strike a bee-line for the island," answered Uncle Barney. "It won't be much harder to break through these snowdrifts than it is to try to find our way around them in this wind and darkness."

"Are you sure you know the way to the island?" questioned Jack, who knew only too well that it was the easiest thing in the world to get turned around in such a situation as this.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I haven't lost my bearings," answered the old lumberman. "However, to make sure, maybe I had better have a squint at my compa.s.s."

"Oh, say! that puts me in mind!" burst out Randy. "What's the matter with using one of our flashlights?" for the boys had brought along two of those useful articles, which were now packed in the baggage on the bobsled.

"Yes, let's get out both of the flashlights," returned Fred. "In this darkness we'll want all the light we can get."

Sheltering themselves as best they could from the wind, which seemed every minute to be increasing in violence, the boys unstrapped part of their load and managed to bring forth the two flashlights. While this was being done, Uncle Barney brought from his pocket a small compa.s.s.

"Now, I think north is in that direction," he said, pointing with his hand. With the aid of one of the lights, the compa.s.s was inspected, and it was found that the old lumberman was almost right, he having pointed a little to the northwest.

"If we'd gone on the way I expected to go, we'd have struck the lower end of the island instead of the upper," he explained. "It wouldn't have made a great deal of difference, but we might as well take the straightest line we know how. Come on! Follow me, and I'll break the way for you."

Once more they started forward, and in a minute more the boys found themselves struggling through snow which was several feet deep.

"Gee! a fellow ought to have snowshoes instead of skates!" panted Fred, when in the midst of the drift. "This is the worst ever!"

"The drift isn't very wide, Fred," announced Jack, who was ahead of his cousin, flashing one of the lights around. "Here we come to the clear ice again," and a few seconds later they found themselves skating along as easily as before.

But this open patch did not last long. Soon they came to several more snowdrifts. The first was barely a foot high, but the second was almost up to their arm-pits. The old lumberman was still ahead, breaking a path for them as well as he was able. Hampered with the load of the bobsled, the boys made slow progress.

"It's no use!" groaned Andy at last. "I'm all out of breath. I've got to stop and rest."

"We had better not stop to rest here, Andy," answered Jack quickly. "We must reach some sort of shelter from this wind."

"I'm all out of breath myself," came from Fred. The exertion of plowing through the snowdrifts had tired him dreadfully, and he was trembling in the legs so that he could scarcely stand.

"Come on, boys! Don't stay here!" called back Uncle Barney to them.

"This snowstorm is getting worse every minute!"

The old lumberman had scarcely spoken when all the boys heard a strange whistling in the air. Then the wind tore down upon them harder than ever, sending the snowy particles in all directions, so that to make out what was ahead, even with the flashlights, was out of the question.

CHAPTER XXI

AN ASTONISHING REVELATION

The situation was certainly a disheartening one, and the boys huddled close together around the bobsled, both for protection and to talk the matter over.

"Can you tell us at all how far we really are from some sort of shelter--I mean the nearest shelter at hand?" questioned Jack of Uncle Barney, as the old lumberman came back to see what had happened.

"It's about a mile to my cabin," was the reply.

"And is that the nearest place?" asked Fred, who had sat down on the bobsled load to rest.

"No. The nearest place is a little hut that I put up at this end of the island several years ago. It isn't very much of a shelter, but it might do."

"Do you mean we could stay there all night?" queried Randy.

"Oh, yes. It's plenty large enough for all of us, and there is a rough fireplace where we could start a blaze and cook something."

"Then let's head for that place, by all means!" cried Jack. "This storm is getting worse every minute."

With the wind whistling keenly in their ears and blowing the snow across the ice and into numerous high drifts, the little party moved on once more, the boys doing their best to keep up with the old lumberman. This was comparatively easy, for even Uncle Barney was well-nigh exhausted by his exertions.

"If this snow keeps on, it will be one of the worst storms we ever had up here," he announced. "But, somehow, I don't think it will last; the sky didn't look heavy enough this afternoon."

"I hope it doesn't last," returned Jack.

"We don't want to be snowed in while we are up here," added Randy. "We want to have a chance to hunt."

To make progress against the fury of the elements was not easy, but presently the boys heard Uncle Barney give a cry of satisfaction.

"Here we are, lads, in sight of the island!" exclaimed the old lumberman. "Now it won't be long before we reach that shelter I mentioned."

By the aid of the two flashlights, the boys made out a number of trees and bushes ahead. The bushes were covered thickly with snow, and behind them were sharp rocks, also outlined in white.

"This is what I call Squirrel Point," explained the old lumberman. "It used to be a great place for squirrels."

"How much further to that shelter?" queried Fred. Just then he took no interest whatever in game. He was so tired he could scarcely place one foot in front of the other; and, to tell the truth, his cousins were little better off.

"We've got only a couple of hundred feet to go," was the reply. "Come ahead. I'll help you pull that bobsled," and now Uncle Barney took hold, and once again they started forward, this time skirting the lower extremity of Snowshoe Island. Here there were a great number of pines and hemlocks growing amid a perfect wilderness of rocks, now all thickly covered with snow.

"Now you'll have a little climbing to do," announced the old lumberman a few minutes later. "You might as well take off your skates, and I'll do the same. And we'll have to hoist that bobsled up the best we know how."