The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island Part 7

"We've got to get some kind of pry and pry it up," announced Jack. "I wish we had brought a hatchet along. I meant to bring one, so that we could make firewood, but I forgot it."

"Help me! Help me!" moaned the man. "Don't leave me here pinned down like this;" and then he seemed to faint.

Alarmed by the condition of the sufferer, the boys ran around the spot looking for something which might aid them in releasing the man. They found several flat stones, and then discovered a sapling which they succeeded in pulling up by the roots. Piling up the flat stones close to the fallen tree, they placed the sapling upon them, using it as a lever, and by this means Jack and the twins managed to raise the fallen pine just high enough to allow Fred to haul the hurt man from under it. Then they let the pine slip back to its original position.

"Looks to me as if he might have his two legs broken, and maybe his arm," announced Jack, after they had placed the man on his back with his head raised on some pine boughs stripped from the trees. The sufferer's eyes were closed, and he breathed heavily.

"We ought to get a doctor for him just as soon as possible," said Randy.

"But where to go for one, excepting back to Haven Point, I don't know."

While the young hunters were wondering what they had better do, the man slowly opened his eyes and gave a gasp.

"Help me! Please help me!" he cried feebly.

"Don't excite yourself, you're all right now," answered Jack kindly.

"Take it easy. We'll do what we can for you."

The man had closed his eyes again, but now he opened them and tried to look around him.

"You got me clear of the fallen tree, did you?" he murmured. "Good! I was afraid I'd have to stay there until I froze to death."

"How about it? Can you use your left arm?" questioned Jack.

"I don't know. I guess so," answered the man, and then tried to raise the arm in question. He held it up for a few seconds, but then let it drop heavily by his side.

"It's pretty well lamed I reckon," he said. "You see, I had it right under one of the tree limbs."

"What about your legs? Can you move them at all?" went on the oldest Rover boy. He did not have the heart to mention that the man's lower limbs might be broken.

Feebly, the man raised up first one leg and then the other. The limbs had not been broken, but they were much bruised and swollen, and the movements caused the sufferer to give a groan.

"I'm afraid I'm done up so far as walking is concerned," he said dolefully. "You see, I'm getting old," he went on. "If I was a younger man, maybe this wouldn't affect me quite so much. But as it is----" He shook his head dismally.

"I guess you had better let us carry you out of the woods," said Jack.

"You can't walk, and you certainly can't stay here alone."

"Do you know where the nearest house is located?" questioned Randy.

"Let me see----" The man mused for a moment, shutting his eyes while he did so. "Unless I'm greatly mistaken, Bill Hobson lives on the edge of the woods just to the north of this spot."

"Is he a farmer?" questioned Fred.

"No, he's a lumberman, like myself," was the reply. The man looked from one to another of the youths. "May I ask who you are?"

"We're the Rover boys," answered the oldest of the four. "I am Jack Rover, and these are my cousins, Fred, Andy, and Randy."

"Glad to know you, boys; and doubly glad to think you were up in this section of the woods just when I had this accident. I sha'n't forget your kindness. My name is Stevenson, but most all the folks that know me call me Uncle Barney. I take it from your uniforms that you belong at Colby Hall."

"We do," answered Andy.

"I don't belong in this neighborhood. I just came over early this morning to see what the hunting looked like around here. My home is on Snowshoe Island, in the middle of Lake Monona, about ten miles north of here."

"I think you had better rest on some of these pine boughs while some of us try to locate the Bill Hobson you mentioned," said Jack. "Can you point out the general direction of his place?"

"It's up along this mountain stream," and Barney Stevenson indicated the Rick Rack River. "You just follow that watercourse for about a quarter of a mile, and I'm pretty sure you'll come to it."

"Well, if you're sure it's along this stream, we might as well try to get you there first as last," announced Randy. He turned to his cousins.

"Why can't we take turns in carrying him, either on our backs or on a litter?"

"I think we had better try to make some sort of litter of pine boughs,"

answered Jack. "It will be much easier for the four of us to do the carrying than for one."

"I've got a hatchet in my game bag, and you can cut some pine boughs with that. And you will find some cord in my game bag, too."

"How did the accident happen, if I may ask?" questioned Randy, while Jack began to trim several large boughs from the fallen pine.

"It came quicker'n lightning," was the old lumberman's answer. "I had just spotted a fine, fat rabbit, and was taking aim, when, without warning, the tree gave a sudden snap like the report of a gun, and down it came right on top of me. Of course, I tried to jump out of the way, but my foot caught on a tree root, or a rock, or something, and down I went, and the next minute the tree came down on top of me, right across my legs and my left arm, like when you found me. I tried to pull myself loose, but my legs and my arm seemed to be wedged down between the tree and some stones, and I couldn't budge nary a one of 'em."

"I guess you can be thankful that you didn't break your arm or your legs."

"I suppose that's true, my boy. Just the same, I suppose this will lay me up for a week or two, and maybe longer," answered Barney Stevenson, dubiously.

Having cut several pine boughs that looked as if they might answer the purpose, the four boys lost no time in twisting them together and then tying them into a rude litter. Across this they laid additional pine boughs, and upon these placed the form of the hurt man. When they moved him he shut his teeth hard, evidently to keep from crying out with pain.

"I know it must hurt you, Mr. Stevenson," said Jack kindly. "We'll be just as careful as possible."

"I know you'll be, my lads. I suppose I ought to have a doctor, but if I can get to Bill Hobson's cabin, I guess I'll be all right. Bill will most likely have some liniment, and that will fix me up."

With the old lumberman resting on the litter and the four youths carrying this as carefully as possible, the party made its way along the Rick Rack River, which at this point was little better than a mountain torrent. They had considerable difficulty in climbing over the rocks and in making their way through the heavy brushwood, but finally they came out to a cleared s.p.a.ce, beyond which there were only scattered patches of trees.

"I see some smoke!" cried Fred presently.

"That must be the smoke from Bill Hobson's place," announced the old lumberman, and then he closed his eyes once more and lay back on the litter, for the pain he was suffering was great.

Keeping on in the direction where they had seen the smoke, they soon came in sight of a fairly large cabin with a lean-to attached. They marched up to the place, and Jack rapped upon the door, which was opened a moment later by a burly man, well along in years.

"What do you want?" began the man, and then looked past Jack to the litter and the old lumberman lying on it. "What's this? Why, it's Uncle Barney, I declare! What's happened?"

"I got hurt by a falling tree, Bill," was the reply. "And if it hadn't been for these cadets, I might be layin' down in the woods yet."

"He is quite a bit hurt," explained Jack. "You had better let us carry him in and place him on a couch or a bed of some kind."

"Surest thing you know, young man," answered Bill Hobson. "Fetch him right in," and he turned to make a bunk ready for the sufferer.

Fortunately the cabin was well warmed, so that as soon as they had Barney Stevenson safe inside, they lost no time in taking off some of his clothing and examining his hurts. The other old lumberman, a.s.sisted by Jack, did this, and Hobson examined the condition of his friend with care.

"I can't see that anything is broken," he announced; "but those bruises are pretty bad. I think I'll bathe 'em with hot water, and then put on some liniment and bind 'em up."