In the gathering dusk they did not notice that a trail diverged from the main one that they had been traveling, and they turned into this side trail, straining their eyes through the whirling snow to catch a glimpse of their comrades.
They had gone on for about ten minutes, not talking in order to save their breath, when Frank put into words the growing uneasiness of all of them.
"Queer that we haven"t caught up to them yet!" he exclaimed, peering ahead, although he could not see more than twenty paces through the blinding snow.
"We certainly are traveling a good deal faster than they were when we saw them last," declared Bart.
"They must have got hold of some seven-league boots," grumbled Tom.
"Put on a little more speed," advised Billy. "Make it snappy now, and we"re bound to catch up with them."
They quickened their pace, but without result. There were no footprints to be seen, but that meant nothing, for the snow covered up all tracks almost as soon as they were made.
For twenty minutes more they hurried along as well as they could through the snow that clogged and clung to their feet, and at last the truth forced itself upon their unwilling minds.
"No use, fellows," said Frank, as he stopped and the others gathered around him. "There"s no use kidding ourselves any longer.
We might as well own up to it that we"ve taken the wrong trail."
"Guess you"re right, old man," said Tom disconsolately. "It simply wouldn"t be possible for us not to have caught up to them at the rate we"ve been going. We"re up against it for fair, and the question is, how we"re going to get out of it. Getting s...o...b..und in this wilderness doesn"t make any hit with me."
"There"s only one thing to do," said Frank decidedly, "and that is to right about face and try to find the place where we turned off."
"Swell chance," muttered Tom. "It"s getting dark now by the minute, and it"ll be as black as pitch in a little while."
"I know it"s a forlorn hope," admitted Frank, "but it"s the only thing to do just the same, and even forlorn hopes have a way of winning out sometimes. We can"t stand here and be frozen to death.
Perhaps we"ll find some of the fellows sent back to look for us.
Get a hustle on now."
He set the pace, and they followed with a speed that under other conditions they would not have thought possible.
But fast as they went, the snow and the darkness came faster, and despite all their efforts they were not able to find where the paths diverged. Everywhere was one bleak wilderness of snow. Soon they had all lost the path they were following and found themselves floundering through the woods among the tree trunks.
There was no use in going further, for in the dense darkness they were quite as likely to be going away from their comrades as toward them, and at last Frank called a halt.
"The storm"s got us, fellows," he declared, with a forced laugh that had little mirth in it.
"All my fault," remarked Bart gloomily. "I guess I"m a Jonah, I picked out the wrong moment to take a tumble. Now we"re in a fine mess."
"We"ve been in worse," said Billy cheerily, "and pulled through them just the same."
"That"s the way to talk!" exclaimed Frank heartily, giving Billy a slap on the back. "We"ll get out of this sc.r.a.pe as we have out of a lot of others. At the worst, it"s only a matter of having to wait till daylight. We"re worth a dozen dead men yet. At any rate we"ve got grub with us, so that there"s no danger of our starving."
"How about freezing to death?" said Tom, who was always inclined to see the dark side of things.
"We won"t do that either," replied Frank. "That is, if we keep moving, and that"s what we"ve got to do. It may not get us anywhere, but at least it will keep the blood circulating. Then too, there"s the odd chance of our stumbling upon some hut or other where we can find some kind of shelter."
"Better let me go first, then," put in Bart. "I"m good at stumbling. In fact it"s my long suit."
They all laughed and felt better.
"We don"t know where we"re going, but we"re on the way," sang out Billy, as they began to trudge forward.
They had plenty of rations with them, and they munched some food as they went along. It was cold comfort, but it was comfort just the same.
"Oh, you hot coffee!" murmured Billy, and at the picture that he conjured up the others groaned.
The snow was now knee deep and showed no signs of letting up, though the wind had abated somewhat in violence.
They plodded on through the heavy drifts that clutched at their tired legs like so many nightmare hands trying to hold them back to their destruction. They were young and hardy, but their physical strength was sorely tested by the battle with the elements. Their hearts were thumping as though they would burst through their ribs, and their breath came in gasps.
Suddenly Frank"s keen eyes caught sight of a dark ma.s.s that seemed to stand out even blacker than the darkness which was everywhere around them. He rubbed his eyes clear of the snow that clung to the lashes and looked again. Then he gave a shout.
"We"ve found it, boys!" he yelled. "There"s a building of some kind just ahead of us. See it? See it?"
They looked and saw, and with a joyful shout make a break for shelter.
CHAPTER IV
THE RUINED CASTLE
As the Army Boys drew closer, the building seemed to grow in size.
Wing after wing detached itself from the ma.s.s that seemed to cover fully an acre of ground. There were no fences to hinder their approach, but there were great ma.s.ses of broken blocks and masonry through which they had to wind their way before they found themselves before a frowning tower, whose peak rose above the top of a quadrangular group of buildings surrounding it.
"Why, it"s an old castle of some kind!" exclaimed Frank, as they paused at the foot of the tower, spent and breathless.
"I don"t care what it is," replied Bart. "It"s shelter of some kind, and that"s enough for me."
"Wonder if there"s any one living here," remarked Billy Waldon, his eyes sweeping the great ma.s.s for some sign of life. "Even the bark of a dog would be welcome to-night."
"Not a light anywhere," commented Tom. "If there"s anybody living here I guess they"re dead."
"There"s not even a door to knock at," said Frank Sheldon, looking into the yawning s.p.a.ce of what had evidently been an entrance to the tower. "I guess we"ll have to go on a little exploring expedition. Come along, fellows, and get out of the wind. Lucky that I have my flashlight along."
They crowded in on their leader"s heels, first, as a precaution, seeing that their weapons were ready, though there did not seem to be the faintest chance of their being required.
Frank drew his flashlight, and the streaming rays illuminated a long pa.s.sageway whose end they could not see. There were open s.p.a.ces in the roof and walls through which the snow had drifted in spots, but there were other parts that were clear and dry, and these were welcomed by the boys with immense relief after their long battle with the snow.
At a turning of the corridor they came upon a large room that, although mildewed and dilapidated and wholly bereft of furniture, was intact as far as the walls and ceiling were concerned. But what especially caught their eyes was a huge stone fireplace, and at once they decided to end their explorations for the present right there.
"Perhaps that hot coffee wasn"t such a dream after all," chuckled Billy. "We"ve got plenty of the stuff in our kits, and all we need is some hot water."
"There"s no end of broken branches about here," said Frank. "Let"s get a pile of them in here, and we"ll have a fire started in less than no time."
Though Tom said that the wood would probably be too wet to burn, he turned in heartily with the others, and in a few minutes they had a bigger pile of wood ready than probably the old room had ever seen before. Then by careful nursing of some chips and twigs a blaze was started that soon developed into a roaring fire, before which the boys stood and dried out their wet clothes and toasted themselves until they were in a glow.
The coffee problem was now a simple one, as all they had to do was to melt snow enough to furnish the hot water, and they used the cooking utensils that they had in their kits, for they had started out that afternoon in full marching order. Savory odors soon announced that the fragrant brew was ready, and they almost scalded their throats in the eagerness to partake of it.