So Harry Hazelton started the ball rolling with a story. When it was finished Greg rose and went to the window at the rear of the cabin.
"I can"t see any lights in the shack," he called back. "I guess Fits must have turned in."
"I wish we had something better than gla.s.s windows between that scoundrel and ourselves," muttered Hazelton. "After we"re asleep all Fits would have to do would be to smash a light of gla.s.s and jump right in here on us. Chances are that we"d all go on sleeping soundly, too, while he gathered up the tools and then he"d have us by the hair when we did wake up."
"Well, then," proposed Darrin quietly, "we"ll fasten the shutters."
"Quit your kidding," begged Dan.
"I"m not kidding."
"But you talk of closing the shutters. There aren"t any--worse luck for us."
"Aren"t there?" challenged Dave. "Say, didn"t you fellows know that the cabin windows have shutters?"
"Have they?" asked d.i.c.k, jumping up.
"Surest thing going," Dave answered. "Come along and I"ll show you."
He went over to one of the windows, which was set to run sidewise in top and bottom grooves. On account of the snow and the cold the window stuck a bit, but at last Dave had it open. Then he reached out and tried to pull the outside shutter along in its own grooves.
"Stuck with a bit of ice," Dave reported. "Harry, just bring the kettle."
Darrin then poured some of the boiling water upon the sill, where the shutter stuck. At his next effort the shutter moved. Dave closed it and pegged it so securely that no trick from the outside could loosen that shutter.
This was done in turn to all the other windows. Feeling secure now, the Grammar School boys found themselves drowsy. Between them they fixed up the fire. Then blankets were spread in six bunks, after which the tired youngsters undressed and crawled in under the bedding.
Silence and slumber reigned in that cosy log cabin in the center of the forest that was in the grip of one of the biggest blizzards in years.
CHAPTER XI
SIX BOYS AND ANOTHER IN COLD STORAGE
When the chatter had ceased and the fellows were all dropping off to sleep, the interior of the tight old log cabin was still aglow from the light of the fire. That light was so bright that, one after another, the boys turned over, their faces to the wall.
And then no sound was heard, save the weird howling of the wind outside, with an occasional sputter as a stray gust of snow swept down the broad chimney to the roaring fire. Every Grammar School boy, as he dropped off to sleep, knew that a big blizzard was still in progress.
"I wonder if I"ll sleep a wink, for thinking of Mr. Fits, and what he may try to do to us in the night," thought Dan Dalzell, while his lids fell heavily. "If I do sleep, it will be to wake every little while with a start. Well, so much the better. If I wake often I"m likely to hear the scoundrel if he starts anything around here--when he--thinks--we"re--so drowsy that we"re dead to the world--and--_gullup_!"
That last exclamation was a snore. Dan was conscious of waking once, though at what time he did not know. He noted that the fire seemed to have burned very low, and that it was almost wholly dark within the cabin. Then he dozed. When he awoke once more he could see no glow whatever from the fire. The lantern that had been left lighted had flickered out. Dan felt oppressed by a sense of something awesome.
"What on earth can the time be?" Dan wondered, now quite wide awake and just slightly uneasy. As he peered about through the dark he made out what looked very much like a narrow ray of daylight through a crack in one of the closed shutters.
"It can"t be morning," muttered Dan. "And yet--why is the fire out? We left a bully one going."
Dan had thrown his jacket on to the bunk before retiring. Now, he sat up, reaching for the jacket.
"Gracious but it"s cold!" gasped Dan, as the chill struck him.
"Shut up!" growled Dave Darrin"s drowsy voice. "Don"t wake everybody."
"What"s the matter?" chimed in d.i.c.k Prescott sleepily.
"It"s--it"s cold," chattered Dan, as he sank back under the blankets.
Here he quickly warmed. And he had gotten what he had looked for, a battered old dollar watch and a box of matches.
"Keep under the clothes and you"ll be all right," returned d.i.c.k soothingly. "But, my! With that fire out some of the fellows are going to have a cold time getting up and building one in the morning."
Dan"s teeth chattered for a minute or two. Then he sat up once more, striking a match and holding up his watch. Dalzell stared incredulously at the hands and the dial before he tossed the extinguished match to the floor and sank back once more under the blankets.
"S-s-say, do you fellows know what time it is?" shivered Dan.
"What time?" called d.i.c.k and Dave softly.
"It"s half past nine."
"Nonsense," ridiculed Dave. "It was after ten when we went to bed."
"It"s after half past nine--in the morning," retorted Dan impressively.
"Glory, but I believe you"re right," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Prescott. "I can see just a tiny crack of daylight over by one of the shutters."
"It"s morning, all right," Dan insisted. "And the fire"s out. Wake up, fellows! Who"s going to start a new fire?"
"I will," volunteered Tom Reade. "Great Scott! No; I won"t, either," he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, after having thrust his legs out of his bunk preparatory to jumping up. "Oh, don"t I wish we could carry a million freight carloads of this cold air back with us! We could make our fortunes selling it to a cold storage company."
"I guess we"ll have to call for two volunteers," laughed d.i.c.k, after having thrust a foot out. "I"ll volunteer, for one. Who"ll be the other?"
"Hen Dutcher!" came with wonderful unanimity from the others.
"Not on your life I won"t!" retorted Hen with vigor. "I won"t freeze myself for any gang of fellows, and that"s flat. I"m going to dress by a warm fire when I dress."
"Well," said Dan ruefully, "as I woke all the others up, I guess it"s up to me to volunteer. Say when you"re ready, d.i.c.k."
"Now!" answered Prescott.
"Please don"t be so sudden," pleaded Dan. "Give a fellow just a bit of warning. Count three; no, make it ten."
So d.i.c.k counted. At ten both he and Dan leaped from their bunks. They were sorry, the instant their feet struck the floor, which seemed at least twenty degrees colder than ice. Both shook and shivered as they pulled on their underclothes, shoes which they did not stop to lace, then shirts, trousers, vests and jackets.
"Br-r-r-r-r! M-m-m-m--!" was all the sound Dan could make. He was trying to frame words, but his teeth wouldn"t stop long enough. d.i.c.k made a dive for a lot of excelsior that had come around some of their goods the day before. This he threw into the dead, cold fireplace. Dan, shaking as though with ague, brought a log and laid it across the excelsior. d.i.c.k brought some more firewood. In a short time they had it well heaped.
Then d.i.c.k poured coal oil over the whole, and Dan, with palsied fingers, made three attempts before he could open his match box and strike a match. The temperature in the cabin must have been around zero, for it was twenty below outside that same morning.
At last the lighted match reached the oil soaked excelsior, but before it could ignite, the cold wind that was roaring down the chimney blew it out.