CHAPTER XXV
THE RESCUE--CONCLUSION
For a few moments after the collapse of the cave, and thedestruction of the airship, on which they depended to take them fromthat desolate land, no one spoke. The calamity had been tooterrible--they could hardly understand it.
The snow had ceased, and, over the frozen plain, in full retreat,could be seen the band of attacking Indians. They had fled in terrorat the manifestation of Nature. And Nature, as if satisfied at themischief she had wrought, called a halt to the movement of the ice.The roaring, grinding sounds ceased, and there were no morecollapses of caves in that neighborhood.
"Well, we are up against it," spoke Tom, softly. "Poor old REDCLOUD! There'll never be another airship like you!"
"We are lucky to have escaped with our lives," said Mr. Parker."Another moment and it would have been too late. I was expectingsomething like this--I predicted it."
But his honor was an empty one--no one cared to dispute it with him.
"Bless my refrigerator! What's to be done!" exclaimed Mr. Damon.
"Start from here as soon as possible," decided Abe.
"Why, do you think the natives will come back?" asked Ned.
"No, but we have only a small supply of food, my lad, an' it's hardto git up here. We must hit th' trail fer civilization as soon as wekin!"
"Go back--how; without the airship?" asked Tom, blankly.
"Walk!" exclaimed the miner, grimly. "It's th' only way!"
They realized that. There was no hope of digging through that massof fantastically piled ice to reach the airship, and, even if theycould have done so, it would have been crushed beyond all hope ofrepair. Nor could they dig down for more food, though what they hadhastily saved was little enough.
"Well, if we've got to go, we'd better start," suggested Tom, sadly."Poor old RED CLOUD!"
"Maybe we can get a little more gold," suggested Ned.
They walked over to the hole whence they had taken the yellownuggets. The "pocket" was not to be seen. It was buried out of sightunder tons of ice.
"We'll get no more gold here," decided Abe, "if we get safely out ofth' valley, and t' the nearest white settlement, we'll be lucky."
"Bless my soul! Is it as bad as that!" cried Mr. Damon.
Abe nodded without speaking. There was nothing else to do. Sadly andsilently they made up into packs the things they had saved, andstarted southward, guided by a small compass the miner had with him.
It was a melancholy party. Fortunately the weather had turned alittle warmer or they might have been frozen to death. They trampedall that day, shaping their course to take them out of the valley ona side well away from where the hostile natives lived. At night theymade rude shelters of snow and blocks of ice and ate cold victuals.The second day it grew colder, and they were slightly affected bysnow-blindness, for they had lost their dark glasses in the cave.
Even the gold seemed too great a burden to carry, and they foundthey had more of it than at first they supposed. On the third daythey were ready to give up, but Abe bravely urged them on. Towardthe close of the fourth day, even the old miner was in despair, forthe food they could carry was not such as to give strength andwarmth, and they saw no game to shoot.
They were just getting ready to go into a cheerless camp for thenight, when Tom, who was a little in advance, looked ahead.
"Ned, do I see something or is it only a vision?" he asked.
"What does it look like?" asked his chum.
"Like Eskimos on sleds."
"That's what it is," agreed Ned, after an observation. "Maybe it'sthe Fogers, or some of the savage Indians."
They halted in alarm, and got out their guns. The little party ofnatives kept coming on toward them.
Suddenly Abe uttered a cry, but it was one of joy and not fear.
"Hurrah!" he yelled, "It's all right--they're friendly natives!They're of the same tribe that helped me an' my partner! It's allright, boys, we're rescued now!"
And so it proved. A few minutes later the gold-seekers were on thesleds of the friendly Eskimos, some of whom remembered Abe, and theweary and hungry adventures were being rushed toward the nativevillage as fast as the dogs could run. It was a hunting party thathad come upon our friends just in time.
Little more remains to be told. Well cared for by the kind Eskimos,Tom and his friends soon recovered their spirits and strength. Theyarranged for dog teams to take them to Sitka, and paid their friendswell for the service, not only in gold, but by presenting what wasof more value, the guns they no longer needed. Tom, however,retained his electric rifle.
Three weeks after that they were on a steamer bound forcivilization, having bidden their friends the Eskimos good-by.
"Homeward bound," remarked Tom, some time later, as they were in atrain speeding across the continent. "It was a great trip, and thegold we got will more than repay us, even to building a new airship.Still, I can't help feeling sorry about the RED CLOUD."
"I don't blame you," returned Ned. "Are you going to build anotherairship, Tom?"
"Not one like the RED CLOUD, I think. But I have in mind plans for asort of racing craft. I think I'll start it when I get back home."
How Tom's plans developed, and what sort of a craft he built will berelated in the next volume of this series, to be called "Tom Swiftand His Sky Racer; or, the Quickest Flight on Record." In that willbe told how the young inventor foiled his enemies, and how he savedhis father's life. Our friends arrived safely at Shopton in dueseason. They learned that the two Fogers had reached there shortlybefore them. Tom and his party decided not to prosecute them, andthey did not learn the identity of the men who tried to rob Tom ofthe map.
"But I guess Andy won't go about boasting of his airship any more,"said Ned, "nor of how he got our gold mine away from us. He'll singmighty small for a while."
The store of gold brought from the North, proved quite valuable,though but for the unforeseen accidents our friends could havesecured much more. Yet they were well satisfied. With his share AbeAbercrombie settled down out West, Mr. Damon gave most of his goldto his wife, Mr. Parker bought scientific instruments with his, Nedinvested his in bank stock, and Tom Swift, after buying a beautifulgift for a certain pretty young lady, used part of the remainder tobuild his Sky Racer.
And now, for a time, we will take leave of Tom and his friends, andsay good-by.
Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice, or, the Wreck of the Airship Page 25
