Her tears blinded her eyes, but she dashed them away, and took firm hold upon Aleck's collar, while Tug scrambled out. Then, while Katy held his head above the curling, gurgling little waves that the wind was chasing, Tug slipped one end of the rope under Aleck's arms, and made a loop about his body, by which they were able to drag his lifeless form out upon the ice, as though he were a fish or a seal.
"Now let's have the sled!" screamed Tug, minding neither his own freezing garments nor Katy's anguish; and having pulled this from the water, he and Katy lifted Aleck upon it, and set off as fast as they could for the tent, whither the miserable Youngster had already started in a staggering trot, with many groans and rough tumbles. The others overtook him, and all went on together; but Jimkin got no comfort, for Aleck might be drowned—they did not know; while Jim, though certainly miserable, was alive and active, enough so, at least, to look after himself.
"THEY WERE ABLE TO DRAG HIS LIFELESS FORM
OUT UPON THE ICE."
"How fortunate that there happened to be a kettle of hot water on the fire!"
"Yes. Now here we are. We'll have to drag him through the low doorway heels first. Help me lift him off the sled, Katy."
Laid on straw and overcoats by the warm fire, Tug quickly stripped off the Captain's wet clothes, while Katy brought warm blankets, and wrapped him in them.
"Didn't you say you had a little bottle of brandy, Katy?"
"Yes; Miss Marshall told us we ought never to go on a long journey without it, and I brought it along for fear something like this might happen. Here it is."
Taking the bottle, Tug forced a few drops between Aleck's lips and saw them trickle down his throat. A minute later there was a stronger throb of the fluttering heart, a quiver of the eyelids, and a faint, sighing groan, which the anxious watchers could just hear. At this sign of returning life they rose and grasped each other's hands. The tears Katy had so bravely kept back when she had had work to do and no time to cry came now in an unrestrained shower; but they were tears of joy, for the Captain was waking up all right.
Now poor little Jim got some attention, and Katy left them to themselves while the three boys helped each other to get rid of their icy clothes and crawl into the blankets and warm straw of their bedrooms, as they called the hull of the boat. This done, Katy came back and made hot tea for her three tucked-up patients, which so revived them that Tug and Jim begged to be allowed to get up as soon as their clothes had been dried; but Aleck said he wanted to sleep two weeks, and so would stay in bed a little longer.
As for Rex, whose heroism in bringing back Aleck's floating coat, when he was unable to aid his drowning master himself, had been forgotten until now, he was content to lie in a snug corner and wait for the half-frozen fish his mistress had promised him should presently be the reward of his faithfulness.
That eventful day came to an end without anything further to disturb their peace. Aleck rose towards evening, and went out fishing with Jim and Tug, catching two or three pickerel. The night passed in unusual quiet, for the wind, though steady, was not a whistling gale, nor did the grinding roar of moving ice come to their ears, as it had sometimes during the previous daytime.
In the morning the same clouds were overhead, the same vague haze hid the horizon, the same waste of ice and water surrounded their lonely camp, the same quiet breeze breathed steadily across the lake, and, but for occasional noises of their own making, the whole world seemed profoundly still. This was depressing, and the spirits of each one of our young adventurers sank to a level with the flat ice and the dull gray sky; yet it was evident that nothing could be done except to wait as patiently as possible for some change.
"If yez can't be aisy, be as aisy as ye can," remarked Tug, quoting an excellent Irish rule of life under adverse circumstances; but the pleasantry met with only a faint smile from his disheartened companions. All thought that any active perils would be better than this motionless, objectless gloom, so threatening because so still and uncertain.
"I wonder if we haven't stopped drifting," said Katy, as they were pretending to eat a bit of luncheon, for which nobody had much appetite; and, more for the sake of doing something than because it seemed to make much difference whether they had come to a standstill or not, they took a few chips to the edge of the floe, and threw them into the water. These tossed up and down on the gentle waves, but did not change their position at all, so our navigators concluded their floe to be at last stationary.
"How far do you think we have drifted?" Jim asked his brother.
"Well," Aleck replied, "I've been studying over that. We don't know just when we started nor exactly when we stopped—if we have stopped—nor whether we have gone steadily on. I have seen something of drifting ice, and I should say we had gone probably between twenty and twenty-five miles, all right out into the middle of the lake."
"Then you have some idea of where we are?"
"Oh, yes; that's quite easily calculated by 'dead-reckoning,' as sailors say."
The west wind now began to subside, and before long the air became still and the mists thicker, with dense, low clouds massing close overhead. On land it must have been a warm, thawing day. Out here it was always chilly, but the four persons were not uncomfortable, even when their overcoats were unbuttoned, partly, however, because they had become accustomed to constant exposure.
Before the sun went down the air grew much cooler, and the fog thinned out, while the wind freshened and worked around until it blew briskly and very cold from the north. This soon swept away the mists, but not the clouds; yet light enough remained just before dusk to give Aleck a brief look to the northward. He could see a great field of rough ice, apparently made up of broken pieces crushed and jammed together, stretching in that direction to the horizon. This horizon was broken in one place, however, by a darker patch, that looked as though it might be land; but before he could examine it more carefully it had become lost in the darkness.
Returning to the house, the Captain ordered every preparation to be made for a possible removal. While Katy cooked their evening meal, the boys worked with axe and shovel until they had freed the runners under the boat, so that she could be dragged away quickly. Then the wall was taken down, and the boxes stowed carefully. Several of them had been emptied during the long halt, and it made the lads feel very grave to notice how low their stock of provisions and lamp-oil had run. Jimmy refused to see the use of all this hard work when everything seemed as safe as ever it was, and Aleck confessed that he had no better reason for his precautions than that the weather had changed, and it was best to be on the safe side—in which he showed himself a good commander.
"We won't take the tent down, Jim, nor throw in the mess kit, nor roll away our good beds, till we find we have to; but, if the ice should drop from under our feet at this moment, we could scramble into the boat, and have our necessary property with us."
Katy, meanwhile, had set half a ham boiling—they had only one more left after this—and was only waiting for it to be done before going to bed, for it was late in the evening, and much colder than usual, since the hummock no longer sheltered them from this new wind, which blew in under the boat where the snow had been shovelled away, and threatened to tear the frail hut to pieces. Finally the ham was done, and the girl crept shivering to Jim's side amid the straw and quilts, thoroughly frightened and weary.
She had not been there five minutes when there came a quick series of crashing reports, such as she had heard before. The ice was breaking up again. Tug was quickest to jump out, calling to all to stay in the boat till he came back. They could feel the ice shake and tip under them—or, at any rate, imagined they could—while the wind was blowing snow-flakes in their scared faces. It seemed an age, though really it was hardly a minute, before Tug came back and said they were afloat upon a small piece—a piece only a few yards square.
"Then," said Aleck, decisively, "we must take to the boat and get off this cake, for the wind is blowing us right back into the
open lake, and we couldn't live out there. I think I saw land just north of us, and we must try to reach it, or, at any rate, to get upon the big ice-field in front. It's our only hope."
He and Tug were buttoning their overcoats and tying tippets about their heads and necks, but talking at the same time.
"Now for our orders, Captain."
"Well, then, listen. Katy and Jim must not step out of the boat unless I say so. They must light the lantern, ship the rudder, roll up the bedding and stow it under the thwarts, and fix everything as snug as they can. Jim's place will be forward; Katy will stay by the tiller; and remember, whatever happens, that the compass direction is due north. Now, Tug," he continued, "you and I will throw this kitchen stuff aboard, and let The Youngster pack it away the best he can. Then, down with the oars and mast and canvas. We must hurry."
So saying, he snatched the kettle, ham and all, from the fire, and tossed it into the boat, where it lit on Jim's foot, and was greeted with an angry howl. The other goods and the spare canvas followed. Then they began to tear down the roof, and in five minutes this had been piled in a stiff, frozen heap on the bow of the boat, for they thought there would be no time to bend and fold it into shape. It was all the united efforts of the four could do to hoist it over the low gunwale.
All these preparations took perhaps fifteen minutes—a quarter of an hour of terror, for now the great cake was plainly rocking under their feet. Then calling Jim out of the boat to help them, the three put their heads through the collars of the drag-ropes, and tried their best to move the boat, but it wouldn't budge an inch.
"We must throw off that icy canvas. I should think it weighs a hundred pounds," Tug remarked.
"Yes, off with it!" ordered Captain Aleck.
This done, they tried again, and slowly and laboriously worked the boat twenty or thirty paces towards the edge of the ice, when it became clogged with the fast-falling snow, and could be pushed no farther.
* * *
Chapter XX.
A NIGHT IN AN OPEN BOAT.
What should be done? Aleck was sure that their only chance for life lay in getting the boat afloat; but unless it could be brought nearer the edge this could not be done, and perhaps it was impossible, anyway. Yet to stay where they were meant destruction. Katy and Jim climbed into the boat, and crouched down out of the snow, while the larger lads stood outside trying to find some way out of their desperate situation. They must think fast; minutes were precious; but, cudgel their brains as they might, only darkness, a howling snow-squall, and crashing blocks of ice greeted their eyes or thoughts. One minute passed, two minutes passed, yet they could see no way to help themselves. The third minute was slipping by, when a huge ice-cake crowded its resistless way underneath the rear edge of their own raft, towards which the stern of the boat was pointing, and slowly lifted it above the level of the water.
At once the sledge began to feel this inclination, and started to move forward.
"Jump in!" shouted Aleck, and leaped aboard, with Tug beside him. "Try to steady her!" they heard him cry, and each seized an oar, or a boat-hook, or whatever was nearest. But it was of little use. Slowly but gently the hinder part of the ice-cake rose, and the front part tipped down. As the slant deepened, the speed of the sliding boat increased, until it went with a rush, and struck the water with a plunging splash that would surely have swamped them had it not been for the tight half-deck forward; this shed the water, and caused the little craft to rise upon an even keel as soon as she had fairly left the surface of the ice. It was evident in an instant, however, that she would sink in a very short time unless freed of the great sledge that was dragging upon her bottom. Already the water was pouring over her sides, and Aleck knew that they were in imminent danger of sinking or capsizing, or both. Tug had leaped in forward, and to him Aleck shouted, "Cut those bands!"
"Haven't any knife."
"Here's the hatchet. Hurry up!"
One stroke of Tug's arm parted one of the bands, and he raised his hatchet for the second one, for there were two straps forward. As it descended, Aleck drew his pocket-knife across the strained band astern, which parted with a loud ripping noise. The idea was that both straps should be severed at the same instant; but in the darkness Tug partly missed his aim, and the poor boat, held to the sledge by a single strap, began to yaw and jerk and ship water in a most alarming manner—a strain she could not have borne one moment had not the half-cut band of canvas broken, setting the boat free. Aleck had intended to hold to the strap and take the sledge aboard; but this struggle, which came so near wrecking them all, wrenched it out of his hand, and the first wave washed the bobs beyond recovery—a loss whose full force did not strike them at once, for they had too much else to think of.
"TRY TO STEADY HER!"
The weight and awkwardness of the sledge having been taken away, the boat rode much more lightly in the face of the ice-clogged sea, and showed how stanch and trim she really was, though much cold water splashed over her rails.
"Now," said Aleck, cheerfully, though it was fortunate the darkness could conceal how anxious was the expression of his face, "now we shall get along. Jim, get out your oars (the stroke); and look out for floating ice forward, Tug. Katy, my little steersman, are you very, very cold?"
"N-n-n-o!" the girl answered, bravely, but her teeth chattered dreadfully.
"Better say you are, for you can't hide it, poor child. Wait a minute till I get this strap off my roll of bedding, and I will wrap a blanket around you."
Doubling a large blanket, he put it carefully over her head and shoulders like an immense hood. Then he buckled around her the strap which had held the roll together, leaving only a fold out of which she might grasp the tiller, and another crevice through which to peep and breathe.
"We've got to have that lantern lit, because you must see the compass."
Taking some matches from his pocket, he knelt down, placed the lantern under the skirt of Katy's blanket robe, crouched over it as close as he could, and struck a match. It went out. A second fizzed a while, which only warmed the wicking, but at the third the oil in the wick took fire, and the lantern was soon shining gayly into the bright face of the compass at Katy's feet.
"Now, Youngster, for the oars. Lie low, and let me crawl over you to my seat."
Aleck got there and was ready, but Jim was still fumbling about on each side, and feeling under the thwart.
"What's the matter? Why don't you go to work?"
"Can't find but one oar."
"Only one oar? Sure?"
Then the two searched, but to no purpose. It had been dropped overboard, evidently, during the excitement about losing the sledge.
"Well, Jim, it's your fault, but it can't be helped now. You take this quilt, and cuddle down as close to Katy as you can get, and try to keep each other warm. I'll row alone. Ready, forward?"
"Ay, ay, sir."
Then they began to move ahead through the water, which came in long rollers, not in breaking waves, because there was so much ice around them that the wind could not get hold of it. It was very cold. Occasionally Tug would fend away a cake of ice, or they would stop and steer clear of a big piece; but pretty soon he called out in a shaky voice that he was too stiff to stand there any longer, where the spray was blowing over him, and that he should be good for nothing in a few minutes unless he could row awhile to get warm. So Aleck took his place, fixing the spare canvas into a kind of shield to keep off the spattering drops. It was very forlorn and miserable, and to say that all wished themselves back on shore would be but the faintest expression of their distress.
Little was said. Pushing their way slowly through the cakes of ice, which had grown denser now; changing every little while from oars to boat-hook and back again, while Katy, protected from freezing by her double blanket and Jim's close hugging, kept the yawl's head due north; fighting fatigue, hunger, cold, and a great desire to sleep, these brave boys worked hour after hour for their lives and the lives in their care.
When they were beginning to think it almost morning they came squarely against a field of ice which stretched right and left into the darkness farther than it was possible to see. Whether this was the edge of a stationary field or only a large raft they couldn't tell; but they were too exhausted to go farther, and they decided to tie up and wait for daylight. Tug struck his hook into the ice until it held firmly, then lashed it to the bow. Aleck also stepped out and drove one of the short railway spikes into the ice near the stern, around which a rope was hitched. Then both the boys opened a second roll of bedding, and snuggled down as well as they could to get what rest they were able to while waiting for sunrise. Crowded together in the straw (though it was damp with snow), and covered with quilts and blankets, they could keep tolerably warm, and even caught little naps. The snow had stopped now, and the stars began to appear, first in the north, then overhead, then gradually everywhere. The wind still blew, but the boat rose and fell more and more slowly upon the rollers, until at last it stood perfectly still. This happened so suddenly, and was followed by so complete steadiness, that it aroused Tug's curiosity. Poking his head from under the covering, he said, "I think we are frozen in." Nobody answered him, for they were asleep, or too stupid to care; but the gray daylight which came at last showed that he was right. On their right hand was a great sheet of new, thin ice; on their left a mass of thick old ice, white with snow. Straight ahead, so well had Katy steered, towered the rocks and trees of a high, wooded shore, coming momently into greater and greater distinctness as the red streamers of the morning shot higher and higher into the eastern sky.
Tug was the first to catch this sight, and roused his fellows with a shout:
"Land!—land! Hurrah!"
* * *
Chapter XXI.
THE ESCAPE TO THE SHORE.
The Ice Queen Page 9
