"Not on your life!" declared the irrepressible Isadore.
But just then Madge Steele got up and declared she had had enough. "This hole in the ice is filling up with snow. We"ll lose the fish we"ve already caught if we don"t look out. Come on, Bobby, and get mine."
So it was agreed to cut the fishing short for that day, although The Fox declared she could have beaten them all in another hour.
However, they had a great load of the frozen fish. Besides what they had eaten for dinner, there were at least a hundred handsome fellows, and the boys had strung each fisher"s catch on a birch twig which they had cut and trimmed while coming down to the lake that morning.
Tom and Ruth, left at the campfire to clean up after the mid-day meal, were shouting for them to come in. The girls left the boys to wind up the fishlines and "strike camp," as Ralph called taking down the pieces of canvas, and all hustled for the sh.o.r.e. They crowded around the fire, threw on more fuel, danced to get their feet warm, and called to the boys to hurry.
The five boys had their hands full in retrieving all the chairs, and canvas sheets, and fish lines, and sacks. When they got them all in and packed upon the bobsled for transportation, the snow was a foot deep on the ice and it was snowing so fast that one could not see ten feet into the swirling heart of the storm.
"I declare! it looks as though we were in a mess, with all this snow,"
complained Tom Cameron.
"And with all these girls," growled Ralph Tingley. "Wish we"d started an hour ago."
"I don"t know about starting _at all_," observed Bobbins. "Don"t you see that the girls will give out before we"re half-way there? We can"t use snowshoes with the snow coming down like this. They clog too fast."
"Oh, they"ll have to wade the same as we do," said Isadore.
"Yah! Wade! And us pulling this sled, too? I wish Preston had stayed with us. Don"t you, Ralph?" asked his brother.
"Hush! don"t let the girls hear you," was the whispered reply.
Already the girls were comparing notes in a group around the fire. Now Madge turned and shouted for them:
"Come here, boys! Don"t be mumbling together there. We have an idea."
"If it"s any good, let"s have it," answered Tom, cheerfully.
"It is good. It was born of experience. Some of us got all the tramping in a blinding snowstorm that we wanted a year ago. Never again! Eh, girls?"
"Quite right, Madge," said Ralph. "It is foolish to run into danger. We are all right here----"
"Why, the snow will drown out your fire in half an hour," scoffed Isadore.
"And there isn"t so much dry fuel."
"I know where there is plenty of wood--and shelter, too!" cried Ruth, suddenly.
"So do I. At the lodge," scoffed Belle.
"No. Nearby. Tom and I were just talking about it. Up that ravine yonder is the place where I fell over the cliff. And Jerry"s cave is right there--one end of it."
"A cave!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Helen. "That would be bully."
"If only we could have a good fire and get dry and warm again," quoth Lluella, her teeth already chattering.
"I believe that would be best," admitted Madge Steele. "We never could get back to the lodge through this snow. The sh.o.r.e is so rough."
"We can travel on the ice," ventured Ann Hicks, doubtfully.
"And get turned around," put in Tom. "Easiest thing in the world to get lost out there on that ice without a compa.s.s and in such a whirlwind of snow. Ruth"s right. Let"s try to find the cave."
"I"m game!" exclaimed Heavy. "Why, with all this fish we could live a week in a cave. It would be bully."
""Charming" is the better word, Miss Stone," suggested The Fox.
"Don"t correct me when I"m on a vacation," exclaimed the plump girl. "I won"t stand for it----"
Just then she slipped and sat down hard and they all laughed.
"Lucky you weren"t on the ice. You"d gone right through that time, Jennie," declared The Fox. "Now, let"s come on to the cave if we"re all agreed. I guess Ruth has the right idea."
"We"ll drag the sled and break a path for you girls," announced Tom. "All ready, now! Bring your snowshoes. If it stops snowing, we can get home on them to-night."
"Oh, dear, me! I hope so," cried Belle Tingley. "What will mother and father say if we"re not home by dark?"
"They"ll be pretty sure we wouldn"t travel far in this storm. Preston and the other men will find us, anyway."
"I expect that is so," admitted Ruth, thoughtfully, "And they"ll find Jerry"s cave. I hope he won"t be mad at me for taking you all there."
However that might be, it seemed to the girl of the Red Mill, as well as to Tom Cameron, that it was wisdom to seek the nearest shelter. The ravine was steep, but it was sheltered. There were not many big drifts until they reached that great one at the head of it, into which Ruth had fallen when she slipped over the brink of the precipice.
Nevertheless, they were half an hour beating their way up the gully and out upon that ledge which led to the mouth of Jerry"s cave. The boys found the laden sled a good deal of a load and the girls had all they could do to follow in the track the sled made.
"We never _could_ have reached home safely through this storm," declared Madge. "How clever of you to remember the cave, Ruthie."
"Ruth is always doing something clever," said Helen, loyally. "Why, she even falls over a cliff, so as to find a cave that, later, shelters us all from the inclement elements."
"Wow, wow, wow!" jeered Isadore. "You girls think a lot of each other; don"t you? Better thank that Jerry boy for finding the cave in the first place."
They were all crowding into the place by this time. It was not very light in the cave, for the snow had already veiled the entrance. But there was a great store of wood piled up along one side, and the boys soon had a fresh fire built.
The girls and boys stamped off the clinging snow and began to feel more comfortable. The flames danced among the sticks, and soon an appreciable sense of warmth stole through the cave. The crowd began to laugh and chatter. The girls brushed out the cave and the boys rolled forward loose stones for seats.
Isadore found Jerry"s shotgun, ammunition, bow and arrow, and other possessions.
"He must have taken the rifle with him when he went to the other end of the tunnel," Ruth said.
"Say!" exclaimed Ralph Tingley. "You could find the way through the hill to where you came out of the cave with Jerry; couldn"t you, Ruth?"
"Oh! I believe so," cried Ruth.
"Then we needn"t worry," said the boy. "We can go home that way. Even if the storm doesn"t stop to-night, we ought to be able to find the lodge from _that_ end of the cave."
"We"ve nothing to worry about, then," said Madge, cheerfully. "We"re supplied with all the comforts of home----"
"And plenty to eat," sighed Heavy, with satisfaction.