"Is it a blizzard or a tornado, Poll?" gasped Anne.
"Don"t know! Just race on as fast as you can!"
Then as they hurried across the icy slope, the sun seemed suddenly quenched and the daylight turned to sodden drab. Heavy drifts of snow could be seen falling headlong from the clouds hanging about the peak, making a wonderful if awesome sight.
"Girls, our lives are in jeopardy unless we reach the timber belt!"
shouted Polly, trying to outcry the wind that shrieked down the Slide.
Noddy, brave little burro, quivered in dread of the elements sweeping about them, but she responded to Polly"s call and fairly dragged the trembling Choko after her.
The hurricane was now screaming about the peak and howling horribly through the fissures in the ice. As the blizzard gathered fury and strength, the clouds, like rags torn from the sky, raged past the riders, every now and then sweeping the snow completely over them.
Still the full fury of the gale had not yet appeared.
Polly stopped momentarily and yelled back her orders: "Every one grab hold on the tail of the horse in front of you!"
They comprehended the sense of this advice, but could not manage to act upon it, as the drifts of snow and ice made it impossible to jump from the saddle, or lean over to hold to anything.
By this time, everything was hidden from sight and even the foremost rider looked ghostlike in the gray light and snow. The trail was obliterated by the drifts and the going was slippery and slow.
"We"ve simply _got_ to make that timber, girls!" shouted Polly, more to encourage than to urge, as she knew the beasts were doing their utmost.
The three other girls, too cold and frightened to speak, clung to their animals hopelessly. Noddy seemed imbued with supernatural powers, for she never made a miss-step or swerved from the trail, although it was invisible. This instinct of scent, so marvelous in these little burros, proved the salvation of the adventurers.
Then darkness fell completely and the storm broke loose in its fierce madness, so confusing the chain of horses that they stamped and turned until the rope was so tangled that the riders were threatened with being thrown. Even in that awful moment, Polly was glad she tied the beasts to-gether, for surely one or another of them would have bolted or strayed to doom with its rider.
Noddy seemed the only animal to keep her sense. As the other horses snorted and wheeled, Polly cried desperately:
"Noddy, Noddy! Can"t you help us out?"
With a tremendous spurt of strength the little burro pulled herself free from the tangle, dragging Choko along, too. The other horses soon calmed down again and followed in the wake.
A gla.s.sy surface had formed over everything, so that a slip would prove extremely dangerous on that steep slide, but Noddy plodded along as if she knew that the responsibility of all depended upon her accuracy in trailing. The girls had to trust blindly to the burro"s sixth sense, as no one could see whether a yawning chasm or a rocky projection was directly before them.
"Polly, I"m falling! I can"t stick on another moment!" cried Anne, her voice reaching Polly, as the wind blew in that direction.
"Anne Stewart--you _must!_ We"re right at the timber-line now, and I"d be ashamed to say you gave in before Barbara!" shrilled Polly, to give her friend new endurance.
"I"m all in, too!" wailed the plaintive voice of Eleanor.
"Oh, dear G.o.d, tell me what to do?" screamed Polly, as if she must _make_ the Almighty hear and help.
Just as all seemed at its worst, the wind suddenly died down, and the gloomy mantle of darkness lifted perceptibly. Polly felt sure the cessation of wind and sleet was but a lull before a second and worse cloud-sweep, but she made the most of the interval.
"One more step, girls, and we are safe! Keep up courage!"
To Noddy she crooned anxiously: "Now or never again, little one!"
Noddy turned momentarily to look into her beloved mistress"s eyes as if to plead for breath and a moment"s rest, and then she responded to the call of necessity and led the staggering line to the timber just as the gale began anew.
It was darker in the forest of lodge-pole pine than out on the ice-field, but the timber offered comparative refuge from the driving sleet and wind. Another difficulty presented itself, however, in the close growth of trees. To avoid collision with the crowded trunks, it became necessary to undo the rope that held the five beasts together.
Each was thus allowed to roam his own way, and this was the more hazardous, as the hurricane ofttimes tore up a smaller pine and, twisting it about like a cork-screw, flung it down like a straw.
Noddy seemed possessed to travel in a certain direction, so Polly, sure of a burro"s instinct for shelter and refuge, gave her her head.
Eleanor"s burro also seemed anxious to go in the same direction Noddy took, and followed in her footsteps. But Choko, freed from the detaining rope and not so worn by battling the gale with a rider to carry, made for a spot to the right of Noddy.
Suddenly Eleanor screamed and pointed at Choko. "Oh, look quick! Choko!
Choko!"
Even as she cried, Choko was seen frantically scrambling on the verge of a cliff, and suddenly vanished over its side.
CHAPTER XIII
A NIGHT IN THE CAVE
"Oh, my little Choko!" sobbed Polly, quickly turning Noddy to go down to the edge of the precipice where the burro had slipped over and down.
"Now we haven"t a thing to eat, and no blankets for the night! I knew this was a foolish outing," complained Barbara.
Eleanor failed to hear her sister"s selfish remark, for she was driving her burro closely upon Noddy"s heels. Anne was so impatient at Barbara that she urged her horse after Eleanor to keep herself busy.
"Good gracious! Am I to sit here alone and freeze! I"m sure I"m not such a fool as to have the same thing happen to me as it did to Choko,"
cried Barbara, but the wind carried her words back to Grizzly Slide.
Polly slid from her saddle and stretched out flat upon the brink to peer over the edge for a possible sight of the burro. As she did so, she saw a ma.s.s of baggage and burro scramble upright and shake itself violently. Then a plaintive whinny rose up to welcome the fearful girls.
"Whoa! Whoa, Choko!" shouted Polly, instantly.
Jumping up, she called to Eleanor: "Choko fell upon a ledge, but there"s a great hole behind him and should he back he will surely fall in and be lost. I"m going down to lead him out!"
"Oh, Polly, don"t risk your precious life for a burro!" screamed Barbara, hysterically.
"If Noddy can creep down, I"ll save Choko without risk to myself,"
declared Polly, climbing in the saddle.
"If Polly goes, I go too!" exclaimed Eleanor, turning her burro to follow Noddy.
"Don"t you dare! Nolla--think of mother grieving for you, and me left alone in Colorado, helpless!" cried Barbara.
"Now I"m going, anyway! I"d like mother to appreciate me," was Eleanor"s unexpected reply, but Anne caught an undaunted look in the girl"s eyes.
The combined persuasions of Barbara and Anne had no effect on Eleanor, who, truth to tell, exulted in this daring feat and would not have missed the thrill for anything. But her burro balked at the point where Noddy began the descent.
Noddy was making for a place where the ledge met the downward slope of the mountain-side. The burro felt about for sure footing and then took a step forward. Prodding carefully again, she took the next step, and so on. Sometimes, feeling suspiciously, she would essay a step and as suddenly bring back her hoof before breaking into the pit. Thus taking one a.s.sured step after another, she finally reached the beginning of the ledge where Choko had landed.