Part 30 (1/2)

”We'll go that way anyhow--if we can make it,” said Whopper.

It was slow traveling, and they had to rest frequently, for the wind seemed to fairly take the breath out of their bodies. Once they came up to a clump of bushes and were half tempted to make a prolonged stop there. But Snap demurred very strongly.

”It won't do, fellows,” he said. ”The snow is piling up fast and the bushes will be snowed under in another hour or two. We have got to reach the timber somehow. It's our only chance of safety.”

Again they struggled on, so out of breath and weak they could scarcely draw one snowshoe after the other. Giant fell down and had to be raised up.

”I--I am afraid I ca--can't go another step!” he blurted out. ”I am as we--weak as a--a cat!”

”We'll help you,” said Snap, kindly. ”Come, Shep, you take one arm and I'll take the other. Whopper can go in front, to break the force of the wind for us.”

At the end of ten minutes more all were ready to drop. They were numbed with the cold and their breath came in quick, short gasps. It looked as if they must give up and perish.

”Oh, if only we were back at camp!” sighed Whopper.

”Don't give up!” urged Snap. He stopped and gazed over his left shoulder. ”Am I mistaken, or is that a tree yonder?”

”I'll soon see,” answered Shep and turned in that direction. ”Yes, it's a tree and the timber is back of it!” he cried in delight.

This announcement put renewed courage in the young hunters, and once again they struggled on against the fierce wind, which was now blowing little short of a hurricane. The trees came into sight dimly through the swirling whiteness, and a minute later they sank down under the overhanging boughs of a big spruce.

”Safe at last!” murmured Shep.

”Oh, how glad I am of it!” added Giant. ”I--I thought we'd be lo--lost sure!”

”We must have a fire, first of all,” said Snap. ”My feet are half frozen already!”

”I brought some carbide along, so we can easily start a blaze,” added Whopper. ”But we've got to be careful in such a wind as this. Just listen!”

They listened, and it made them s.h.i.+ver to hear the shrieking of the wind as it went ploughing through the forest, often snapping off a bough here or a tree top there. The spruce they were under bent and swayed, but it was strong and healthy and it did not give way.

Leaving his companions for a few minutes, Snap did his best to look around the vicinity. He could see but little, but made out three big trees growing somewhat close together on the edge of the marshland. At one side of the trees was an irregular rock five or six feet in height.

”That will have to do,” he told himself, and called for his companions to join him. But they did not hear, owing to the raging of the storm, and he had to go after them.

”We'll fix up some sort of shelter among the trees,” he said. ”And we can build a fire against that rock. Let us get to work at once, before it grows colder and the snow gets worse.”

The brief respite had rested them, and while Whopper and Giant cut some wood and built a fire, Snap and Shep broke down some spruce branches and piled them up around the clump of trees. Then they kicked up the snow into something of a wall leading from the side of the rock to the nearest tree.

”There, now we can keep fairly warm if nothing else,” said the leader of the Gun Club.

It was still very dark and the fire did little to dispel the gloom, the wind having a tendency to blow the smoke in several directions at once. But the fire kept them fairly warm and for that they were thankful.

”If this isn't a blizzard it is next door to it,” remarked the doctor's son, as he gazed at the display of the elements. ”And the worst of it is, there is no telling how long it is going to last.”

”Will we be snowed in?” asked Whopper.

”It looks like it.”

”And with nothing but a rabbit and two ducks!” cried Giant. ”Boys, it doesn't look as if Christmas was going to be such a cheerful day after all.”