Part 37 (1/2)
Say, Sam, I wonder if I've got time to write that theme I didn't do last night. Songbird said he would give me a few pointers, but I reckon he forgot all about it. Say, what makes it so cold in this room? It's time old Muggs turned on the steam heat.”
”Tom! Tom!” said Sam. ”Do you know me? Don't you know where you are?”
”Don't I know you? What are you talking about, Sam. Of course I know you. And d.i.c.k! Say, how did you get back to college, d.i.c.k? And why in thunder----? Well, I declare!” Tom sat up and stared at the campfire and the snow. ”How in the name of Was.h.i.+ngton's sword did I get here?” he gasped.
”Never mind that now, Tom,” answered d.i.c.k, taking him by the hand.
”How do you feel? You had a bad tumble, if you'll remember.”
”Tumble? Where did I tumble from? Oh I remember--that moving picture show! Say, that Alaskan scene was great, wasn't it? I thought I'd like to go to Alaska after some of those nuggets. Funny, wasn't it?”
And poor Tom grinned broadly. ”But how did I get here, in the snow and cold. Say, have I been sick again, d.i.c.k?” And now the sufferer looked sharply at his brothers.
”Yes, Tom, you've been--very sick,” answered d.i.c.k, slowly. ”How do you feel now? You had a bad tumble, and we were afraid you had been killed.”
”Where did I tumble from, the roof of the dormitory?”
”No, you fell down the mountain side.”
”Eh? What mountain side?”
”The one right back of you. But don't bother about that now. Just take it easy and rest yourself,” went on d.i.c.k, soothingly.
”Are you sure no bones are broken?” asked Sam, anxiously.
”I don't remember anything about a tumble,” said Tom, slowly.
”I--I--thought I was in our room at Brill, old number twenty-five. And it wasn't winter either. Say, I can't understand all this. Are we out in the woods back of Brill? Hadn't we better get back? See how it's snowing.”
”We won't go back to-night, Tom,” answered d.i.c.k. ”You just take my advice and lie down and keep quiet. If you are hungry you can have something to eat.”
”I don't want anything to eat--I had a bang-up supper, the last I can remember. But I seem to be in a fog. I don't remember anything about how I got here. And my head hurts to beat the band! Feels as if a lot of boiler makers were working inside of it!” Tom put his hand up as of old. ”I guess I'll--I'll have to--to leave it all to you!” he went on faintly, and then fell back on the blanket, completely exhausted.
CHAPTER XXV
THE SHELTER UNDER THE CLIFF
Despite the fact that they were caught in a furious snowstorm, and that there was no telling how long the downfall would last, Sam and d.i.c.k felt very happy as they crouched by the campfire in the shelter of the cliff. They had found their brother, and he did not seem to be seriously hurt by the long tumble he had taken.
”I guess we had better let him rest quietly, Sam,” whispered d.i.c.k, as both bent over the sufferer. ”It will probably do him more good than anything.”
”Just what I think, d.i.c.k. But tell me, do you think he is in his right mind now?”
”I can't tell, exactly. One thing is sure, he doesn't seem to remember anything of his trip to this out-of-the-way spot.”
”Isn't it queer! I never thought a fellow's mind could play him such tricks!”
”Oh, men have been known to wander away and then come to themselves and not remember a thing about how it happened. Maybe that tumble did him good.”
The two boys stirred around the shelter, fixing the fire and making the barrier of brushwood more secure. Tom continued to rest, occasionally muttering to himself.