"Get those in," called d.i.c.k. "While you"re at it I"ll pry more loose."
Hen Dutcher picked up the smallest of the logs, starting for the cabin, but Greg caught him by the shoulder.
"See here, Mr. Lazy, if you"re going to pick out such easy ones as that, take two at a time."
"I can"t," sputtered Hen.
"Then I"ll turn you over to Dave Darrin when you get inside."
Hen thereupon picked up another small log, though he pretended to stagger under the double burden. Greg also carried two logs, and he staggered with good reason, for the weight was more than he should have attempted in the deep snow.
In the very little time that had pa.s.sed the snow seemed to have grown much deeper. By the time the two wood-carriers reached the doorway and were admitted they felt as though they had done an hour"s work of the hardest kind.
Dave Darrin stood just inside, booted and capped.
"Good enough," muttered Dave, holding out the air rifle. "Now, Greg, you take this pill-shooter and let me go out for the next wood. We"ll send a new fellow every time."
"Then you can take my place, Darrin," proposed Hen readily. "Give me that air rifle."
"Humph!" was all Dave said, as he poked Hen outdoors before him, while Dalzell and Hazelton took the logs and stacked them at the further end of the cabin.
When Dave and Hen returned they carried but a log apiece.
"d.i.c.k says each fellow is to take only one log at a time," reported Dave. "In that way he thinks we"ll last longer and get in more wood.
Now, Hen will stay back. Tom, I see you"re in your overcoat and ready.
Come along with me. Dalzell get ready for the next trip, when I come back with my second log."
"And I"ll be ready to help d.i.c.k with the crowbar," called out Hazelton, running for his coat.
In this way the Grammar School boys worked rapidly and effectively. Hen was the only one in the crowd who made any objection to the amount of work put upon him. Yet it was an hour and a half, from the start, before d.i.c.k would agree that there was wood enough in the cabin.
"For it may snow for three days, and grow colder all the time," Prescott explained. "By morning it may be impossible to get out at all. We don"t want to freeze to death."
Truth to tell, the exercise had put all of the Grammar School boys in a fine glow. When, at last, the big lot of wood had been moved and stacked up inside, and they closed the door for good at last, not one of them, despite his hard work in the biting storm, felt really chilled.
"Now, what shall we do?" demanded Dave, his eyes dancing.
"Do you know what time it is?" asked d.i.c.k.
"Not far from ten o"clock."
"Yes; past bed time for all of us."
"Do you feel sleepy?" demanded Dave.
"I don"t," chorused four or five.
"Let"s sit up as late as we like, for once," proposed Greg Holmes.
"That"s part of the fun of camping."
"Humph! I want to go to bed," gaped Dutcher.
"Well, there"s nothing to stop you, Hen," responded d.i.c.k pleasantly. "If you"re really sleepy our chatting won"t keep you awake."
"What bed shall I take?" inquired Hen.
"Any one that you like best. There are eight bunks to only seven fellows, you know."
Hen took a look, finally deciding on one of the two that were nearest to the chimney.
"What blankets shall I use?" he asked.
d.i.c.k looked rather blank at that question.
"Use the ones you brought with you," advised Harry Hazelton.
"But I didn"t bring any with me," grunted Hen. "Hurry up, for I"m awful sleepy."
"Well, you see, Hen," d.i.c.k went on, "we"re in something of a fix on the blanket question. Each fellow brought his own, and on a night like this any fellow who lends any of his bedding is bound to catch cold when the fire runs lower and the place gets chilly."
"But I gotter have blankets," whined Dutcher. "I can"t freeze, either."
"I"ll tell you what you do, Hen," d.i.c.k went on. "There are seven overcoats in the crowd. They"ll keep you warm enough."
"But there"s snow on the coats, or where the snow has melted its water,"
objected Hen. "I"ll tell you what you do. You fellows are going to sit up and you can wait for the coats to dry. Let me have a set of blankets, and some other fellow take the coats when they"re dry."
"Well, of all the nerve!" gasped Tom Reade.
"Hen," spoke Dave sternly, "if you can"t wait for the coats to dry, then you can sit up in a chair by the fire and throw on another log or two every time you wake up with a chill!"
Finding that he couldn"t have his own selfish way, Hen, with much grumbling, arranged the coats on two chairs not far from the fire. When he considered the coats dry enough he crawled into his chosen bunk, grumbling at the coa.r.s.e tick filled only with dried leaves, and was covered by d.i.c.k and Greg. Then the other fellows, after replenishing the fire, sat down to spin stories.
"You tell the first yarn, d.i.c.k," proposed Tom.
"Too bad," replied d.i.c.k, with a shake of the head. "All I can think of is what the man on the clubhouse steps said."
"And what was that?" demanded Tom Reade, leaning forward.
"I can"t tell you, just yet," replied Prescott.
"Go on! Yes, you can."
"No; it"s a secret."
"What did the man on the clubhouse steps say?" insisted Dan, jumping up, seizing the crowbar and poising it over d.i.c.k"s head.
"Put down the curling iron, Danny," laughed Prescott. "What the man on the clubhouse steps said is a secret, and I"m not going to tell you, just yet, anyway. Some day I"ll tell you."