Part 32 (1/2)

He went down, face to the ground, and feet first, sliding, with legs and arms spread out, to offer all possible resistance to gravity, and with his toes clinging close to the rock to catch every little inequality and thus check his speed. Now and then he would encounter an obstruction that brought him to a full stop. When that happened, he rested awhile, and then resumed his slide. It was hard work, accompanied by no little peril, and the boys did not breathe freely till Tom reached the bottom, stood up and waved his hat in token of his victory over the difficulty.

Then one by one--for Tom had forbidden any two of them to start down at the same time--they all made the descent in the same way, ”without giving the Doctor a single job to do,” said Tom, when all was over. But their clothing was very badly damaged in the descent, and the hands and knees of some of them were considerably torn.

They were now in a very thick woodland, crowning a gently declining hillside, and, after gathering their properties together, they marched forward for an hour, descended another bluff, and decided to encamp there for the night. The distance to the foot of the mountain was now comparatively small, but the surface was badly broken and precipitous, and as darkness was not far off, it was deemed better to wait until morning before completing the journey.

On the way through the woodlands, the Doctor had surprised and shot a turkey, and it must of course be roasted, so the first thing to do was to cut some wood and build a fire. For that a spot was selected just under a slate rock bank that formed a cliff near where they had decided to camp. The water which oozed out at the bottom of this slate rock bank on its western border, and formed a convenient pool there, did not prove to be good. It tasted of various minerals, iron and sulphur among them, and was distinctly unpalatable. Fortunately, Jim discovered a spring at a little distance, however, which was found to be good.

Springs were everywhere on this steep face of the mountain, bearing to the surface the water from the snows that fell in the higher lands above, sank into the ground, and percolating through rock fissures, found its way to daylight again wherever a crack or seam in the rock permitted.

So the coffee pot was soon ready for the fire where the turkey was already roasting, and by the time that night fell, the supper of roast turkey, hot biscuit and steaming coffee, was ready, and the weary boys were looking rather eagerly forward to the time when the meal should be so far past as to permit them to lie down again to sleep.

As they ate they chatted, of course. The home-going had begun, and indeed its most serious difficulties had already been overcome. Their enthusiasm was again aroused and they again felt interest in whatever subject might come up for discussion. But first of all, they made Jack figure up their winter's earnings--exclusive, of course, of Tom's skins--and they were very well satisfied indeed with the results of his figuring. Their outfit in the autumn had cost them very little, and since then they had been at no expense whatever except that they owed the Doctor their several small shares of the money he had given to Bill Jones and of the two dollars he had advanced to Tom for the purchase of meal on the mountain; for, of course, they all insisted upon sharing that expense, and Tom had no reasonable ground for refusing.

An hour after supper all lay down to sleep, after replenis.h.i.+ng the fire under the slate rock bank, for there was no danger from moons.h.i.+ners down here so near the foot of the mountain.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII

_Old King Coal_

It was nearly morning when the boys, wrapped in their blankets, began to stir uneasily and kick at their coverings. Every one of them was oppressed with heat, but for a time, weary as they were, they did not fully come to a consciousness of what it was that disturbed them.

After awhile Jim sat up, stripping off his blanket and giving vent to his feeling in the half word, half whistle, ”Whew!” He looked about him for an instant, and then hastily jumping up, called to his half-awake companions:

”I say, fellows, wake up, quick. The slate rock bank is afire!”

It was true enough. As the boys shook off the cobwebs of their dreams, they discovered what it was that had been overheating them in their sleep. The whole bank under which they had built their fire was ablaze and throwing out an intense heat.

The Doctor was the first to grasp the situation.

”Drag the fire away from the bank as quickly as you can, boys!” he cried. ”Fortunately the wood is nearly burned out.”

That done, the cliff continued to blaze and sputter and the Doctor, who had seized authority and taken control of affairs, called for water.

”Bring it in your hats, boys, or anything else that will hold water, but bring it quick!”

The boys obeyed with alacrity, and when the water came, the Doctor made them cast it only upon the lower parts of the burning cliff.

”We get a double advantage that way,” he explained. ”We put out the source of the fire, which originates at the bottom, and the steam that rises from water thrown there helps to dampen the fire above.”

But the burning had made such progress that it required quite two hours to put it out. When that was done, daylight having completely come, the boys addressed themselves to the work of getting breakfast, by a new fire kindled at some distance from the lately burning bank. The Doctor, meanwhile, was pottering around the bank, breaking off bits of the formation with his little geological hammer, and seriously burning his fingers in efforts to examine them critically.

Finally he seized his axe and with an entirely reckless disregard of its edge, he began chopping into the bank. Even when breakfast was announced, he would not quit his exploration for a time.

”The Doctor seems interested in that cliff,” said one of the boys.

”Yes, and he's ruining the edge of his axe upon it,” said another. ”I suppose he has found something of geologic interest there.”

Just then the Doctor quitted his work on the bank, removed his hunting s.h.i.+rt, tied it up by the neck and filled it full of the blocks he had chopped out of the bank. It held about half a bushel. Going to the fire, he emptied the ma.s.s upon it, and watched for results with eagerness. The slate rock, as the boys had called it,--burned slowly and gave out a good deal of heat.