Part 13 (1/2)

”About what time was that, Conrad?” asked Elmer, in his methodical way, eager to grasp the full details so he could figure out the answer.

”Just about an hour before the storm came along,” the boy told him.

”Father said he believed it would hold off long enough for him to get there and back, but his leg must have kept him from walking as fast as he generally does. So the storm broke, and we kept watching through the window when we could see anything, for the rain and the flying leaves.

But night came, and oh! what a night we had, mother and I. It never seemed to end. I did fall asleep somehow, but I don't believe she once shut her eyes--poor mother.”

Elmer was fearful of the worst. A st.u.r.dy man like Jem Shock, accustomed to buffeting the rough storms to be met with in the woods of a summer, was not likely to stay away from those he loved unless something terrible had happened to him. Elmer s.h.i.+vered as he remembered those dreadful crashes in the depth of the forest, each signaling the collapse of some mighty tree that had breasted the gales of a century, perhaps, only to meet its fate in the end.

”And then your mother thought we might help find your father, did she?”

asked the sympathetic Lil Artha; while the others crowded around, listening with white faces to the conversation; for even the two tenderfeet could realize how serious the conditions must prove to be.

”Yes, that is why I am here,” said the manly little fellow, whose correct manner of speech astonished Lil Artha, himself apt to be more or less ”slangy,” and even ungrammatical, in his careless boyish way. ”She knew of no one else close by to turn to; and Elmer was so kind, she said. Oh! please come with me, and help find father. We are afraid that he was caught under one of the falling trees; or he may have tripped in the darkness, with that lame leg giving way under him, and fallen into some terrible hole.”

Elmer's mind was of course made up on the instant. Indeed, such an appeal never came to a scout camp without being immediately accepted; for every fellow who so proudly wears the khaki has it implanted in his heart that he must eagerly grasp such golden opportunities to prove his worth, and be of a.s.sistance to those who are in distress.

Elmer knew, too, that he could depend on his comrades to back him up.

Lil Artha, of course, must go along, for the tall scout's excellence as a tracker was well known, and this might come in very handy before their end was accomplished.

Then it would be of more or less benefit to the tenderfeet to have a share in his rescue work; Elmer hailed the opportunity to increase their fund of woodcraft knowledge with eagerness. They could pick up more valuable points through practical experience than by means of any books or technical advice.

As for George, he must stay by the camp. Elmer remembered just then that George had been limping, more or less, and complained of having stubbed his toe since breakfast. Then it would be best for him not to walk so far, or he might be lamed for the balance of their stay in camp.

The scout-master quickly explained his plan of campaign. George, of course, frowned at first, and took on the look of a martyr; but then that was his customary way, and Elmer paid very little attention to it except to say that ”a st.i.tch in time saves nine”; and that George might thank his lucky stars he did not _have_ to go along, but could rest himself, and let that injured foot have a chance to get well again.

Conrad was wild for them to get started, and so Elmer lost as little time as possible. Before he went, however, he made sure to carry along with him several things he thought might be needed in case they found Jem with a broken leg--he only hoped it would be no worse than that, for many a man had had his back broken by the fall of a tree.

”Lil Artha, be sure not to forget the camp ax,” he called out.

Of course that excited the curiosity of the two greenhorns, and seeing the look of bewilderment which they exchanged, Elmer took occasion to explain just a little.

”If Jem has been badly hurt in any way, and lies several miles away from home,” Elmer told them, ”we would want to make some sort of stretcher so as to carry him back to his cabin. A hatchet or an ax is indispensable under such conditions; and you may have a chance to see just how it's done.”

George saw them go away with a wry face, for he did not like to be cheated out of any pleasure; still, when he stepped around and found how his foot hurt if he made any unusual exertion, he must have realized on second thoughts that Elmer knew best.

Elmer had an idea at first of getting Conrad to head toward home, when they were well upon the trail leading toward the lake, and which the boy had said he could show them. Upon suggesting such a thing, however, he immediately met with a prompt refusal.

”No, mother told me to take you to the second lake, and I shall,” Conrad said firmly. ”Oh! I can stand much more than you would believe; I am stronger than I look. And I have been over the trail with father, many times. What does a few miles matter when father may be lying there, and suffering terribly? Besides, mother depends on me to take you there.

What if you went alone and could not find it, for, you see, it is hidden in the woods, and not at all easy to see if you haven't been over the trail before. He might lie there for hours if that happened. So I must go.”

Of course that settled it. Elmer could not have the heart to deny the lad the privilege he demanded. Besides, he knew that on the whole it would be much better for them to have some one along who was acquainted with the lay of the land. They might go astray, experienced though two of them were in the secrets of woodcraft; for confusing trails might deceive them, especially after the storm had washed away Jem's late footprints.

And so they hurried along. Little Conrad walked as though eager to even run; and more than once Elmer had to restrain the anxious lad. He saw that Conrad was worked up to a feverish pitch that was not good for him; and accordingly Elmer made it his business to try and rea.s.sure the little fellow.

”Depend on it we'll find your father, Conrad,” he went on to say in that steady tone of his that carried weight, and could soothe even the most troubled breast like ”balm of Gilead,” as Lil Artha slily told Rufus, trotting along at his side. ”And the chances are a broken leg will be the extent of his injuries. Why, he may not even be so badly off as that, you know. Perhaps he was called on to help some other unfortunate family in that storm, and has been held up on that account.”

But Conrad sadly shook his wise little head. He knew Elmer only meant to encourage him; and that even he could have little hope such a strange thing had happened.