by Jacob Abbott
CHAPTER VI.
THE RESCUE
Jonas found, when he reached home, that it was about dinner-time. Thefarmer said that the storm was coming on sooner than he had expected,and he believed that they should have to leave the rafters where theywere. But Jonas said that he thought he could get them without anydifficulty, if the farmer would let him take the oxen and sled.
The farmer, finding that Jonas was very willing to go, notwithstandingthe storm, said that he should be very glad to have him try. And Josey,he said, might accompany him or not, just as he pleased.
"I wouldn't go, Jonas," said Josey, "if I were you. It is going to be agreat storm."
He, however, walked along with Jonas to the barn, to see him yoke theoxen. The yard was covered with a thin coating of light snow, which madethe appearance of it very different from what it had been when they hadleft it. The cows and oxen stood out still exposed, their backs whiteneda little with the fine flakes which had fallen upon them. Jonas went tothe shed, and brought out the yoke.
"Jonas," said Josey, "I wouldn't go."
"No, I think it very likely that you wouldn't. You are not a veryefficient boy."
"What is an _efficient_ boy?" asked Josey.
"One that has energy and resolution enough to go on and accomplish hisobject, even if there are difficulties in the way."
"Is that what you mean by being efficient?" said Josey.
"Yes;--a boy that hasn't some efficiency, isn't good for much."
As he said this, Jonas had got one of the oxen yoked. He then went tobring up the other.
When the other ox was up in his place, Jonas raised the end of the yoke,and put it over his neck.
"You see," continued he, "your uncle wants all those rafters got down.It will be a little harder getting them, in the storm; but I carenothing for that. It will be a great satisfaction to him to have themall safe down here before it drifts. He doesn't _require_ me to go; butif I go voluntarily and bring them down, don't you think that, to-morrowmorning, when he finds two feet of snow on the ground, he'll be glad tothink that all his rafters are safe in the yard?"
"Why, yes," said Josey. "I've a great mind to go with you."
"Do just as you please," said Jonas.
"Well, do you want me to go?"
"Yes, I should like your company very well; and, besides, perhaps youcan help me."
"Well," said Josey, "I'll go."
He accordingly followed Jonas as he drove the oxen along to the sled.Jonas held up the tongue, while Josey backed the oxen, so that he couldenter the end of the tongue into the ring attached to the lower side ofthe yoke. He then put the iron pin in, and all was ready.
Jonas drove the oxen along, till he came to the great gate in the backyard, and then he stopped to go and get some chains. The chains hefastened to the stakes, which were in the sides of the sled. Then heopened the great gate, and the oxen went through; after which he seatedhimself upon the sled by the side of Josey, and so they rode along upinto the woods.
The storm increased, though very slowly. The road into the woods, whichhad become well worn, was now beginning to be covered, here and there,with little white patches, wherever new snow, driven along by the wind,found places where it could lodge. At length, however, they came to thewoods; and there they were sheltered from the wind, and the snow fellmore equally. Josey had found it quite cold riding in the open ground,for the wind was against them; but under the shelter of the trees hefound it quite warm and comfortable.
The forest appeared very silent and solitary. It is true they could hearthe moaning of the wind upon the tops of the trees, but there was nosound of life, and no motion but that of the fine flakes descendingthrough the air in a gentle shower. The whole surface of the ground, andevery thing lying upon it, was covered with the snow; for the branches,and the stumps, and the stems trimmed up for timber, and the placeswhere the old snow had been trampled down by the oxen and by thewoodcutters, were now all whitened over again and concealed.
"Who would think," said Jonas, "that there could be any thing alivehere?"
"Is there any thing?" said Josey.
"Yes, thousands of animals, all covered up in the snow,--mice in theground, and squirrels in the hollow logs, and millions of insects,frozen up in the bark of the dead trees."
"And they'll be covered up deeper before morning," said Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas, "and so would our rafters, if we didn't get them out.We could not have found half of them, if we had left them till afterthis storm."
The rafters were lying around upon the old snow, wherever small trees,from which they had been formed, had fallen. They could be distinguishedvery plainly now, although covered with an inch of snow.
Jonas and Josey immediately went to work, getting them together, andplacing them upon the sled. When they had been at work in this way forsome time, Jonas said,--
"We shall not get half of them, at this load."
"Then what shall you do?" said Josey.
"O, come up again, and get the rest."
"But then it will be dark before you get home."
"That will be no matter," said Jonas.
"Only you'll get lost, and buried up in the snow."
"No," said Jonas; "there might be some danger to-morrow evening, afterit shall have been snowing four and twenty hours; but not to-night. Thesnow will not be more than a foot deep at midnight."
When they had got as many of the rafters upon the sled as Jonas thoughtthe oxen could conveniently draw, he secured the load by the chains, andcollected the rest of the sticks together a little, on the ground. Thenhe told Josey to climb up to the top of the load and ride. He said thathe would walk along by the side of the oxen. Josey found it morecomfortable going back, than it was coming up, for the wind was nowbehind him, and the snow did not drive into his face. Jonas walked alongin the snow, which was now nearly ankle deep, and after they had gotout of the woods, there were some places where it had drifted muchdeeper.
"Do you suppose that uncle has got his frame done?" said Josey.
"I presume he has left it, if he hasn't finished it," said Jonas.
"Why? Why couldn't he stay out in the storm to work, as well as we?"
"Because," said Jonas, "the snow would wet his tools, and fill up hismortises, and so trouble him a great deal more than it does us. Youcan't do carpenter's work out of doors in a snow-storm."
"Do you mean to go after the other load?" asked Josey.
"Yes," replied Jonas.
The boys found, when they reached the yard, that it was as Jonas hadpredicted. The farmer and Amos had left their work and gone in. Theywere in the shop grinding their tools. The farmer asked Jonas if he hadgot all the rafters.
"No, sir," said Jonas; "there is another load."
"Well, we'll let them go," said the farmer. "I'm very glad you've gotone load down."
"I think, sir," said Jonas, "if you have no objection, I'd better goand get the rest. I know just where they are, and I can get them alldown here before night."
"You won't have time to get down before it will be dark," said thefarmer.
"Just as you think best, sir," said Jonas, "but I think I can get out ofthe woods before dark; and it is of no consequence about the rest of theway."
"Very well," said the farmer, "you may go. Don't you want Amos to gowith you?"
"No, sir, it isn't necessary."
"No, sir," said Josey, "I can go with him."
So Jonas threw off his load, and then turned his team about, and oncemore set out for the woods. He and Josey sat upon the sled, talking bythe way,--the storm continuing without much change. The snow graduallyincreased in depth, but the oxen walked along without difficulty throughit. Sometimes they came to a drift where the snow was so deep as to comein a little upon the bars, where the boys were sitting; but in generalthe sled runners glided along through it very smoothly.
The woods appeared still more somber and solitary than they had donebefore. The new snow was deeper, and it w
as falling faster; and,besides, as it was now nearly sundown, there was only a gloomy sort oftwilight, under the trees. Jonas and Josey loaded the sled as fast asthey could. They put on the last of the rafters, which Jonas hadcollected, with great satisfaction. Josey, especially, began to be inhaste to set out on his return.
"Now," said Jonas, "I'll look around a little, just to see that thereare none left behind."
"O, no, I wouldn't," said Josey; "let us go. We've got them all, Iknow."
"I want to be sure," said Jonas, "and make thorough work of it."
So saying, he began wading about in the snow, to see if he could findany more rafters. He, however, soon satisfied himself that they were allupon the sled. He then secured his load carefully, with the chains, andthey set out upon their return, as before.
It grew dark rapidly, and the wind and storm increased. When they cameout of the woods, they found that the air was very thick with thefalling flakes, and the drifts had begun to be quite large, so thatsometimes, in plunging through them, the snow would bank up quite high,before the sled, against the ends of the rafters. Jonas said that, ifthey had been two hours later, they could not have got along.
"You said that the snow wouldn't be a foot deep by midnight," saidJosey.
"It is coming faster than I thought it would," said Jonas. "It is almosta foot deep now."
The road by which the boys were advancing, led along the bank of thebrook, until it reached nearly to the shore of the pond, and then itturned off, and went towards the house, at a little distance from theshore. When they reached this part of the road, the storm, which hereswept down across the pond, beat upon them with unusual fury. The windhowled; the snow was driven through the air, and seemed to scud alongthe ground with great violence; and the drifts, running diagonallyacross the road, were once or twice so deep, that the oxen could hardlyget the load through. It was now almost dark, too, and all the traces ofthe road were obliterated,--though Jonas knew, by the land and fences,how to go.
Just at this time, when the wind seemed to lull for an instant, Jonasthought he heard a cry. He stopped his oxen to listen.
"No," said Josey, "I don't believe it is any thing; let us go on."
In fact, Josey was afraid, and wanted to get home as soon as he could.
"Wait a minute," said Jonas. He listened again, and in a moment he heardthe cry again. It seemed to be a cry of distress, but he could notdistinguish any words.
"It is somebody off upon the pond," said Jonas.
"Is the pond out that way?" asked Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas, "and I verily believe somebody is out on it, and haslost his way."
"Well," said Josey, "let us go home as fast as we can, and tell uncle."
"No," said Jonas, "that won't do."
Jonas turned in the direction from which the sound appeared to come, and,putting his hands up to his mouth in the shape of a speaking-trumpet,he called out, as loud as he could call,--
"Hal--loo!"
He listened after he had thus called, but there was no answer. In a fewminutes, the cry which he had heard first was repeated, in the same toneas before.
"They don't hear me," said Jonas.
"Hal--loo!" cried out Josey, as loud as he could call.
There was no answer; but, in a few seconds afterwards, the cry wasrepeated, as at first.
"You see," said Jonas, "that the wind blows this way, and they can'thear us. We must go out after them."
Josey tried to dissuade Jonas from this plan; but Jonas said he must go,and that, as they had oxen with them, there would be no danger. "First,"said he, "we must throw off our load."
So he and Josey went to work, and threw off the rafters, as fast as theycould. Jonas reserved four or five rafters, which he left upon the sled.Then he turned the oxen in the direction from which the cry had come.They continued to hear it at moderate intervals.
They descended gradually a short distance across the field, and thenthey came to the shore of the pond. Here Jonas took off one of hisrafters, and laid it upon the shore, with one end raised up out of thesnow.
"What is that for?" said Josey.
"To show us the way back to our road," said Jonas. "I place it so thatit points right back,--the way we came."
"We can tell by our tracks," said Josey.
"No," said Jonas; "our tracks will all be covered up before we comeback."
Jonas then drove down upon the pond, guiding his oxen in the directionof the cry. He kept Josey upon the sled, so as not to exhaust hisstrength. He rode himself, too, as much as he could; but he was obligedto jump off very frequently, to keep the oxen in a right direction. Hestopped occasionally to put down a rafter, placing it so that its lengthshould be in the line of his road, and taking care to sink one end intothe snow, so as to leave the other out as far as possible, to preventits being all buried up before they should return. Every now and then,too, he would answer the cry, as loud as he could call.
At last, after they had toiled along in this way for some time, Jonasthought that he succeeded in making the travellers hear; for,immediately after his call, he would hear a calling from them, followingit, and speaking in a different way, though Jonas could not understandwhat was said. He kept pressing forward steadily, and, before long, hefound that the travellers were silent, excepting immediately after hecalled to them,--when there was a sound as if intended for a response,though Jonas could not tell what was said.
"We shall get to them, Josey," said he.
"Who do you suppose it is?" said Josey.
"I don't know; very probably some travellers lost upon the pond."
Jonas was right in his conjecture: as they came nearer and nearer, thesounds became more distinct.
"Hal--loo!" vociferated Jonas.
"Hal--loo!" was the answer. "Can--you--come--and--help--us?"
"Ay, ay," said Jonas; "we're coming."
"Ay, ay," shouted Josey, in his loudest voice, which, being more shrillthan that of Jonas, was perhaps heard farther.
Still nothing was to be seen. Besides being dark, the atmosphere wasthick with snow. So it was not until they got very near to thetravellers, that they could see them at all. They saw at last, however,some dark-looking object before them. On coming up to it, they foundthat it was a horse and sleigh. The horse was in a very deep snow-drift,and was half lying down. There was a woman in the sleigh, with a smallchild in her arms, and a boy, about as large as Josey, standing at thehorse's head.
"O, I am so glad you have got some oxen, sir!" said the woman. "Wecouldn't have got out without oxen."
"I don't see how the snow happens to be so deep just here."
"Why, it's that island," said the woman; "I suppose there is an islandoff there. I told Isaiah it would be drifted under this island; and nowthe horse is all beat out; and, besides, we don't know the way."
"Well," said Jonas, "I'll hook the oxen on, and we'll soon get you tothe land. Isaiah, you take your horse out of the sleigh."
So Isaiah went to work to unhook the traces and the hold-backs, in orderto get the horse free from the sleigh.
"I'll get out," said the woman.
"No," said Jonas; "you sit still, and keep your child warm."
As soon as Isaiah had taken the horse out, Jonas told him to lead himaround behind the sleigh, while he turned the shafts over back againstthe dasher, and then he brought the oxen up in front of the sleigh. Hefirst, however, drove the oxen out of the road with the sled, so as toleave that where it would not be in the way. Then he took two chainsfrom the sled, and attached the oxen, by means of them, to the forwardpart of the sleigh. When all was ready, he put Josey in with the woman,and let Isaiah lead his horse behind. He then started the oxen.
"Are you going to leave the sled here?" said Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas, "we can come and get it after the storm is over."
The oxen drew the sleigh along very easily. The snow was quite deep fora little distance, and then it became less so; but it was very dark, andit was difficult
for Jonas to follow his track. The snow blew across itwith great violence, and was fast filling it up.
However, Jonas soon came to his first rafter, and this encouraged him.It was a good deal covered with snow, but the end was out, and thedirection of it showed him which way to go, in order to find the nextone. After he had passed this guide, the path was no more to bedistinguished. He went on, however, as nearly as he could in thedirection indicated by the rafter; and, after going the proper distance,he began to look out before him for the second. He began to be a littleanxious lest he had missed it, when he observed something dark in thesnow, at a little distance on the right. He went to it, and found thatit was the rafter.
Thus he was upon his track again; but his having so narrowly escapedmissing it, made him afraid that he should not be able to follow thetrain very far. His fears proved well grounded. All his efforts todiscover the third rafter were entirely unavailing.
"'Tis of no consequence," said Jonas; "we can't be far from the shore.I'll keep straight on, and we shall strike the land somewhere, not farfrom the house."
But it is much easier to get bewildered in a storm than Jonas hadsupposed. The darkness, the obscurity produced by the falling snow, theperfect and unvarying level of the surface, in every direction the same,and the agitation of mind which even the most resolute must experiencein such a situation, all conspired to make it difficult, in a case likethis, to find the way. Jonas drove on in the direction which he thoughtwould have led to the shore; but, after going amply far enough to reachit, no shore was to be seen. The fact was, that he had insensiblydeviated just so far from his course, as to be going along parallel withthe shore, instead of in the direction towards it. Jonas began to besomewhat concerned, and Josey was in a state of great anxiety and fear.
He rose up in the sleigh, and attempted to look around; and his fear wassuddenly changed into terror, at seeing a large black animal, like abear, coming furiously up behind them, bounding over the snow. Joseyscreamed aloud.
"What is the matter?" said the woman.
"Why, Franco! Franco!" said Jonas, "how could you get here?"
It was Franco, true enough. He came swiftly along,leaping and staggering through the deep snow; and he seemed delighted tohave found Jonas and his party at last. Jonas patted his head. BothJonas and Franco were overjoyed to see each other.
"'That can't be the way, Franco,' said Jonas."]
Jonas patted Franco's head and praised him, while the dog wagged histail, whisked about, and shook the snow off from his back and sides.
"What dog is that?" said the woman.
"This is Franco," said Jonas. "Franco Ney is his name. Now we shall haveno trouble in getting out."
Franco turned off, short, from the road in which Jonas was going. Heknew by instinct which way the shore lay from them. Jonas at firsthesitated about following him.
"That can't be the way, Franco," said he.
But Franco, after plunging on a few steps, looked round and whined.Then he came back towards Jonas again a few steps, looking him full inthe face, and then whisked about again, and went on farther thanbefore,--and then stopped and looked back, as if to see whether Jonaswas going to follow him. Jonas stood just in advance of the oxen,hesitating.
"That must be the way," said Jonas. "Franco knows."
"No, that isn't the way," said the woman; "the dog don't know any thingabout it. We must go straight forward."
"No," said Jonas, "it will be safest to follow Franco." And so saying,he began to turn his oxen in the direction indicated by Franco.
The woman remonstrated against this with great earnestness. She saidthat they should only get entirely lost, for he was leading themaltogether out of their way. But Jonas considered that theresponsibility properly belonged to him, and that he must act accordingto his own discretion. So he pushed forward steadily after Franco.
But his progress was now interrupted by hearing another loud call behindhim, back upon the pond.
"What's that?" said Josey.
"Somebody calling," said Jonas.
"More travellers lost," said the woman.--"O dear me!"
He listened again, and heard the calls more distinctly. He thought hecould distinguish his own name. He answered the call, and was himselfanswered in return by men's voices, which now seemed more distinct andnearer.
"I know now who it is," said Jonas. "It is your uncle and Amos, comingout after us. Franco was with them."
Jonas was right. In a few minutes, the farmer and Amos came up, and theywere exceedingly surprised when they saw Jonas with his oxen, drawing asleigh, with a woman in it, off the pond, instead of a sled load ofrafters from the woods.
"Jonas," said he with astonishment, "how came you here?"
"I came to help Isaiah get off the pond," said Jonas. "But how did youfind out where we were?"
"Franco guided us," said the farmer. "He followed the road along sometime, and then he wanted to turn off suddenly towards the pond. Wewouldn't follow him for some time; but he _would_ go that way, and noother. When he came to the shore of the pond, we found your rafter laidthere, and that made us think you must have gone upon the ice, but wecouldn't imagine what for. At last, we found where you had left thesled, and then we began to halloo to you."
"But, uncle," said Josey, "didn't you see our heap of rafters, by theroad where we turned off?"
"No," said his uncle.
"We put a load there."
"Then they must have got pretty well covered up," said he, "for wedidn't observe them."
The whole party followed Franco, who led them out to the shore theshortest way. They took Isaiah and his mother to the house, and gavethem some supper, and let them stay there that night. The next morning,when Jonas got up, he found that it was clearing away; and when, afterbreakfast, he looked out upon the pond, to see if he could see any thingof his sled, he observed, away out half a mile from shore, two shortrows of stakes, sticking up in the snow, not far from on island. Thebody of the sled was wholly buried up and concealed from view.
