Phil Bradley's Snow-shoe Trail Part 16

"But how about me?" complained X-Ray; "there's another star up yonder that will set by five o'clock; you've got to promise to let me stand guard from then on to daylight. I refuse to be left out in the cold in any deal."

"And don't I have any show at all?" whined Lub, though rather faintly, as though he knew very well they would not consent; for he had a failing with respect to going to sleep on his post, having been tested on numerous occasions and found wanting.

It was presently arranged then that Phil would arouse X-Ray when the second star was about to disappear. He smiled faintly when making this concession, but X-Ray did not appear to notice it. The fact of the matter was Phil knew very well that there had been a serious miscalculation on the part of the ambitious sentinel, because that second star would still be half an hour from the horizon when the sun was due to send his flaming banners athwart the eastern sky to herald his approach.

The fire had scorched the back of their shelter but no serious damage had been accomplished. That was owing to the fact of smoke affecting the sensitive throat of X-Ray Tyson; a thing that may have caused him more or less discomfort in times past, but which certainly stood them all in good stead on this particular night.

On this account they could sleep just as well as before, granting of course that their nerves had not been too much disturbed by the sudden peril, and the fight they had had to put up in order to save their possessions.

The fire was now to be kept up without intermission, day and night.

Should any of those unprincipled men come over again from the other camp, bent on doing them an injury, they might well pause and abandon the attempt when they discovered how the boys maintained a constant watch, with arms in their hands, and sufficient light to discover a creeping figure, which they would be justified in firing at.

True to his promise Ethan aroused Phil when Jupiter was about to dip behind the horizon.

"All well, and getting colder right along, so that the fire feels bully!" was all the report the late sentry thought fit to make, after he had seen Phil take his place on the log, gun in hand, and blanket about his shoulders.

"Then crawl in, and go to sleep," advised the new guard, as he watched Ethan trying to smother a huge yawn.

"Guess I will, because it's quite some time to daylight, and there's little use for a pair of us to stand sentry duty."

So Ethan vanished inside the shack, and Phil was left to insure their safety, as the brilliant heavenly bodies kept up their steady western march, and the night breeze sang mysterious chants through the snow-covered branches of the firs.

CHAPTER XII

LAYING PLANS

"Is that the way you keep a promise, Phil?" asked X-Ray, reproachfully, as he came crawling out of the shack, to find it beginning to get daylight, and with the sentry busying himself before a cheery fire, where he meant evidently to forestall Lub in starting breakfast.

"Oh! the joke is on you, that's all," laughed Phil.

"I don't see how," complained X-Ray, who really felt hurt in that he had not been allowed to stand his share of the night watch after being told he might.

"You'll have to learn to figure better, that's all, my boy," the other told him.

"Figure; how's that, Phil?"

"Well, learn to judge distances that are millions of miles away, to be more definite. Look over there to the west; see that star just going down? Well, that's the one you told me would set in two hours after Jupiter disappeared. I've been watching it right along, and somehow it just refused to vanish. There, I believe it's just dropped out of sight.

If you were asleep, X-Ray, I'd think it my duty to go and get you on deck, because I promised I would."

X-Ray looked a bit foolish, and then laughed.

"Another time I'll see to it that I'm Johnny on the spot!" he declared.

"Chances are you knew I'd figured wrong at the time, Phil?"

"What if I did, it wasn't in the bond that I should take you to task for that blunder. A little thing of this kind is going to impress it on your mind better than any words of mine could ever do. You'll never forget again to prove your sums so as to make doubly sure."

And Phil was right. X-Ray would never look up at the stars and try to figure on how long it would be before a certain one would set, without remembering his error of judgment, and taking especial pains that it was not repeated.

The others soon made their appearances, hearing this talking outside.

"Whew! but it's sharp this morning!" exclaimed Ethan as he joined them.

"That blanket of mine isn't as warm as it might be, and I don't believe it's all wool and two yards wide. Where's the ax?"

"Going to cut some wood so as to get warm?" asked X-Ray Tyson.

"What, me?" cried Ethan, pretending to scoff at the idea; "why, fact is I want to chop a hole in the lake ice, and take a bath just to get my blood in circulation. They say there's nothing like it, you know."

All the same, after he had picked up one of the axes he was found to be cutting wood, which proved his daring a.s.sertion that had made Lub gasp to be pretty much in the nature of a great "bluff."

The boy was sitting by the fire where Lub had found him a place. Lub had insisted on Phil giving over the completion of breakfast into his charge.

"I've been elected chief cook by unanimous vote," he said, as he waved a big spoon about his head to emphasize his a.s.sertion; "and I expect you all to do what I tell you."

So he set them each one a task, Phil "spelling" Ethan at the woodpile, X-Ray to fetch plenty of fuel up, and Ethan something else when he had recovered his wind after his recent violent exertions.

As he cooked the breakfast Lub talked confidentially to the boy, who was looking quite contented and happy, as indeed who would not when finding such good friends, and being treated to such bountiful spreads?

"Are we going to try and take him back to his mammy to-day, Phil?" asked Ethan, later on, as they sat on the log, and discussed the eggs and bacon and coffee and flapjacks which had been produced so bountifully under the deft manipulation of the obliging Lub.

"Oh! what's the hurry?" the cook hastened to say; "it's threatening again, you can notice if you look at that bank of storm clouds coming up yonder. Better put it off a while. We've got oceans of grub, you know; and I like to feel him wrapped up in a blanket with me first-rate."

All of them looked to Phil to give the deciding word, though as a rule he always consulted his chums before saying anything, and tried to have it so that majority ruled the camp.

"I quite agree with Lub," he went on to say, quietly, as he gave that individual a smile, and then nodded his head toward the little chap.

"Good for you, Phil!" burst out Lub, clapping his hands together in delight.

"I don't altogether like the looks of things over there where those clouds are coming up," continued Phil. "It wouldn't be the nicest thing in the world to try to take this boy miles away, and then get caught in a howling blizzard. We'd do better to hold our horses and see what turns up."

"Oh! then you expect that some one may come along looking for him, do you?" asked X-Ray, jumping to conclusions.

"It's possible," he was told. "If they care at all for the child, when he's missed it seems to me there would be some stir; and one of the first things that ought to occur to his father would be to notify any campers around here, so they could be on the lookout for the kid as they trailed through the bush."

"Phil is right," a.s.serted Ethan Allen, hastily. "It's sure up to Baylay to get a move on him and do something, if he's lost his boy. He couldn't expect to stay at home and wait for others to find the lost child."

"We don't know," said Phil, "but the chances are the mother and father have been pretty near being distracted because by now they must feel there's no chance of the kid being alive, unless he was picked up by a roving hunter or trapper."

The boy listened to all they said, though of course it was not likely that he understood much of it. He could see nothing but friendly smiles on each one of the four faces by the fire; and he knew as well as anything could be known that his lines had fallen in pleasant places.

When this matter had been settled all of them seemed to be relieved of a weight. The fact of the matter was they had already taken a great fancy to the waif, and like Lub none of them wanted to see him depart.

It did begin to blow and snow heavily ere another hour had pa.s.sed. X-Ray declared that from the signs they were in for a fierce blizzard; and he told some fearful stories he had read concerning these dreadful storms.

Lo! and behold the treacherous weather played him a sly trick, for the sun came out even while he was in the midst of the most doleful yarn, and his chums gave him a merry laugh in consequence.