The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound Part 26

"Now watch my smoke!" remarked Tom Betts, as he took the shovel in his turn and proceeded to show them what he could do. "I've made up my mind to keep everlastingly at it till I strike solid rock. And I'll do it, or burst the boiler."

He had hardly spoken when they heard the plunging metal shovel strike something that gave out a positive "c.h.i.n.k," and somehow that sound seemed to spell success.

"Guess you've gone and done it, Tom!" declared Jud, with something like a touch of chagrin in his voice, for Jud had been hoping he would be the lucky one to show the first results.

There was no slackening of their ardor, and the boys continued to shovel the snow out of the hole at a prodigious rate until every one could easily see the crevice in the rocks.

"Listen!" exclaimed Jud just then.

"Oh! what do you think you heard?" asked Bobolink.

"I don't know whether it was the shovel sc.r.a.ping over the rock or a human groan," Jud continued, looking unusually serious.

They all listened, but could hear nothing except the cold wind sighing through some of the trees not far away.

"Let me finish the work for you, Tom," suggested Paul, seeing that Tom Betts was pretty well exhausted from his labors.

"I guess I will, Paul, because I'm nearly tuckered out," admitted the persistent worker, as he handed the implement over, and pushed back, though still remaining in the hole.

Paul was not very long in clearing away the last of the snow that clogged the entrance to the old bears' den. They could then mark the line of the gaping hole that cleft the rock, and which served as an antechamber to the cavity that lay beyond.

"That does it, Paul," said Jack, softly; though just why he spoke half under his breath he could not have explained if he had been asked, except that, somehow, it seemed as though they were very close to some sort of tragedy.

The shovel was put aside. It had done its part of the work, and could rest. And everybody prepared to follow Paul as he pushed after the guide into the crevice leading to the cave.

The smell of wood smoke was now very strong, and all of them could catch it.

So long as the entrapped boys had a fire there was no fear that they would perish from the cold. Moreover, down under the rocks and the snow the atmosphere could hardly be anything as severe as in the open.

Indeed Paul had been in many caves where the temperature remained about the same day in and day out, through the whole year.

Coming from the bewildering and dazzling snow fields it was little wonder that none of them could see plainly at the moment they started into the bears' den. By degrees, as their eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness that held sway below, they would be able to distinguish objects, and make discoveries.

Stronger grew the pungent odor of smoke. It was not unpleasant at all, and to some of the scouts most welcome, bearing as it did a message of hope, and the a.s.surance that things had not yet come to the last stretch.

Half turning as he groped his way onward, the guide pointed to something ahead--at least Paul who came next in line fancied that Tolly Tip was trying to draw his attention to that quarter.

In turn he performed the same office for the next boy, and thus the intelligence was pa.s.sed along the line, from hand to hand.

They could, by straining their eyes, discover some half huddled figures just beyond. A faint light showed where the dying fire lay; and even as they looked one of the partly seen figures was seen to stir, and after this they noticed that a little flame had started up.

Paul believed that the very last stick of wood was on the fire and nearing the end.

Bobolink could not help giving a low cry of commiseration. The sound must have been heard by those who were huddled around the miserable fire, for they scrambled to their knees. As the tiny blaze sprang up just then, it showed the scouts the four Stanhope boys looking pinched and wan, with their eyes staring the wonder they must have felt at sight of the newcomers.

Hank was seen to jab his knuckles into his eyes as though unable fully to believe what he beheld. Then he held out both hands beseechingly toward the newcomers. They would never be able to forget the genuine pain contained in his voice as he half groaned:

"Oh! have you come to save us? Give us somethin' to eat, won't you?

We're starvin', starvin', I tell you!"

CHAPTER XXVII

"FIRST AID"

Possibly the case was not quite as bad as Hank declared, but for all that those four lads were certainly in a bad way.

Paul took charge of affairs at once, as became the acting scout-master of the troop.

"It's a good thing we thought to pick up some wood as we came along,"

he remarked. "Fetch it in, boys, and get this fire going the first thing. Then we'll make a pot of coffee to begin with."

"Coffee!" echoed the four late prisoners of the cave. "Oh, my stars!

why! we went and forgot to bring any along with us. Coffee! that sounds good to us!"

"That's only a beginning," said Bobolink, as he came back with his arms filled with sticks, which he began to lay upon the almost dead fire. "We've got ham and biscuits, Boston baked beans, potatoes, corn, grits, and lots of other things. Just give us a little time to do some cooking, and you'll get all you can cram down."

Paul knew the hungry boys would suffer all sorts of tortures while waiting for the meal to be cooked. On this account he saw that they were given some crackers and cheese, to take the keen edge of their voracious appet.i.tes off.

It was a strange spectacle in that hole amidst the rocks, with the fire leaping up, Bobolink bending over it doing the cooking with his customary vim, the rest of the scouts gathered around, and those four wretched fellows munching away for dear life, as they sniffed the coffee beginning to scent the air with its fragrance.

As soon as this was ready Paul poured out some, added condensed milk, and handed the tin cup to Hank.

He was really surprised to see the rough fellow turn immediately and give it to Sid Jeffreys and hear him say:

"I reckon you need it the wust, Sid; git the stuff inside in a hurry."

Then Paul remembered that Sid had recently been injured. And somehow he began to understand that even such a hardened case as Hank Lawson, in whom no one seemed ready to place any trust, might have a small, tender spot in his heart. He could not be _all_ bad, Paul decided.

Hank, however, did not refuse to accept the second cup, and hastily drain it. Apparently, he believed the leader should have first choice, and meant to impress this fact upon his satellites.

What to do about the four boys had puzzled Paul a little. To allow them to accompany him and his chums back to Deer Head Lodge would make the remainder of their outing a very disagreeable affair. Besides, there was really no room for any more guests under that hospitable roof; and certainly Tolly Tip would not feel in the humor to invite them.

So Paul had to figure it out in some other way. While Hank and his three cronies were eating savagely, Bobolink having finished preparing the odd meal for them, Paul took occasion to sound the one who occupied the position of chief.

"We've brought over enough grub to last you four a week," he started in to say, when Hank interrupted him.

"We sure think you're white this time, Paul Morrison, an' I ain't a-goin' to hold back in sayin' so either, just 'cause we've been sc.r.a.ppin' with your crowd right along. Guess you know that we come up here partly to bother you fellers. I'm right glad we ain't had a chance to play any tricks on you up to now. An' b'lieve me! it's goin'

to be a long time 'fore we'll forgit this thing."

Paul was, of course, well pleased to hear this. He feared, however, that in a month from that time Hank was apt to forget the obligations he owed the scouts, and likely enough would commence to annoy them again.

"The question that bothers me just now," Paul continued, "is what you ought to do. I don't suppose any of you care to stay up here much longer, now that this blizzard has spoiled all of the fun of camping out?"

"I've had about all I want of the game," admitted Jud Mabley, promptly.