CHAPTER XV

SHELTER FROM THE BITING NORTH WIND

"I AM glad to hear you say that, Dick; you always have some good news when it gets bleak and black. And from the way I'm shivering I think the sooner we make a move the better."

Mayhew had also heard the proposal with interest. Unfruitful though his own search had proved, the news that one of the boys had made some sort of discovery likely to benefit them sounded good to him.

"Where are going, Dick?" asked Roger, after they had started. "Unless I'm mistaken we seem to be on the back trail."

"Where else could I take you, except to some place I had seen before?" demanded the new guide. "But I know you must want to hear about it, so listen. As we came along I happened to notice what looked like the mouth of a cave. If it should turn out that way we can find shelter within. It might even be possible for us to light a fire there."

"Caves are all right on a bad night, too," assented Roger. "We know, for haven't we made use of one when overtaken by a storm? I only hope it turns out to be something besides a little hole in the side of the hill."

"I have hopes that it will prove to be much better than that."

"Is it far away?" continued the other, a little uneasily, for after their late bitter experience, when the earth slide robbed them of their packs, Roger had come to eye their surroundings with considerable suspicion, and did not much fancy prowling around there in the darkness.

"Only a few minutes' walk," Dick assured him. "I want to make sure that we do not pass it by, that is all."

He devoted himself to the task of keeping track of the trail as they made their way along. Even Roger used his eyes the best he knew how, hoping that he might be of some assistance.

"Here it is!" he was glad to hear Dick say, presently.

Both the others surveyed the spot with considerable interest. The rock formation was peculiar in many ways. It looked as though at some remote period, when the continent was in process of formation, upheavals had forced numerous minor ridges of stone to assume the shape of "hogbacks," as Mayhew called them.

It was toward one of these that Dick now pointed. Looking closely, Roger fancied he could just detect what looked like a dark spot near its base. He knew then that Dick must have noted some other land-mark in order to find the place. No doubt the habit of observation which the young pioneer cultivated, much as modern Boy Scouts are taught to do in these days, had come in handy again, as he had often known it to do in the past.

They pushed closer. There was an opening without any doubt. Just what it led to, of course none of them could more than guess; but they had hopes.

"One thing let us notice," ventured Roger. "Here is a dead tree, and if we find it possible to build a fire inside we know where to come for fuel."

"Good for you, Roger," the other lad hastened to say. "And now to try and find out what awaits us here."

Dick insisted on being the leader. The discovery had been all his, and it was therefore up to him to be the guide.

On hands and knees Dick crept carefully into the hole. He held his gun in such a way that if it became necessary he could make quick use of it. So far as he knew there was no peril hanging over their heads; but it always pays to be ready.

Their progress was very slow, because they had to grope their way along. Dick put out a hand and felt of the rock before trusting himself to advance. He had no desire to find himself whirling through space, after the manner of their lost packs, in case an unseen abyss yawned in front of him.

This went on for several minutes. They had pushed some little distance into the gaping aperture, and so far as could be ascertained there was as yet no limit to the cave.

Dick arrived at the conclusion that they had gone far enough to admit of a change in their method of procedure.

"I am going to strike a light, so keep still, please, both of you," he announced.

Dick was always prepared for anything like this. His tinder, flint and steel were handy, and he even had a small piece of tallow dip that hardly deserved the name of candle, but which had a wick, and would give out a faint glow if ignited.

To the boy of to-day this awkward means of producing a light would have presented almost insurmountable difficulties, and ultimate success might well be hailed as a wonderful feat. To the pioneer lads it was of such daily occurrence that they thought nothing of accomplishing it.

In a very brief period of time Dick had clipped his flint and steel together so as to send a shower of sparks into the tiny bit of inflammable tinder, which began to smolder. This was blown until it flamed up, when the wick of his tallow candle-end was thrust into the blaze.

Looking around after they had obtained this sorry means of illumination, the intruders could see that they were in a good-sized cave. Ahead of them lay more dense gloom, which would seem to indicate that the aperture amidst the rocks extended for an unknown distance beyond.

"Well, this is a pretty good place to put in the night, when it's getting cold enough out there to freeze your toes," said Roger.

"It's really comfortable in here," agreed Mayhew.

"That's because the rock is warm, if you have thought to notice it," Dick explained.

"Now that you mention it," remarked Roger, as he again dropped on all fours to find out for himself, "I see it is a fact. Queer that I didn't seem to notice it before. We really need no fire here, except that this darkness could almost be cut with a knife."

"No danger, that I can see, of the light being observed out there," Mayhew told them, thus proving that he, too, was much in favor of adding to their comfort, if it was to be accomplished at such a trifling expenditure of time and labor.

"Shall I crawl out and fetch in some of that wood, Dick?" asked Roger, and there was such pleading in his voice and manner that Dick could not have refused him, even had he wanted to.

Accordingly Roger crawled away. Since there was a dim light in the cave he did not find it so difficult to make his way toward the exit. Later on he came back, with his arms full of fuel.

"You get the fire started where you think best, Dick, while I make another trip for a second lot. We could keep ten fires supplied, and not use half the supply outside."

"Could you see our light out there?" asked Dick.

"Not a thing," replied Roger. "The fact is, I had to do half of my crawling in the dark, and only got the first glimpse of the light after I was pretty well inside."

That took away the last doubt Dick may have been entertaining with regard to the wisdom of having a fire.

"It will be easier for you the next time, if I get things going," he told the fuel gatherer.

Mayhew, as though feeling that he ought to have a share in the labor, this time followed the boy out of the cave, and also picked up a load of the scattered wood. The tree must have been struck by lightning at some time in the past, since the branches covered so much ground.

Dick had the fire well started by the time the others returned. They could see the light plainly after passing the mouth of the cave, although there seemed so little chance of it betraying their presence that it was hardly worth considering.

How different things looked, with that cheery blaze going! The gloom seemed much further removed than before. And, like the careful boy that he was, Dick had extinguished his precious candle-end as soon as its faint light was no longer needed. Time might yet make that worth its weight in gold to him, since its like could only be obtained in some settlement.

An hour later Dick, wishing to find out how the wind-storm might be progressing, made his way to the opening and passed out. When he returned he reported that the stars were still shining, and it was getting very cold; as for the wind, it continued to roar across the open country furiously, now coming out of the north.

"And let me tell you," he wound up by saying, "I builded better than I knew at the time I happened to notice this cave mouth. In here it is so comfortable one finds it hard to believe the cold is so intense outside."

"For folks who have no blankets a cave is a very fine thing, I must say," was Roger's comment.

Of course, almost all of their conversation was connected with the immediate past, and the hope they entertained concerning a successful termination of their hunt for Jasper Williams.

"You did not see anything to tell you the Indians might be camped near here, I suppose, Dick?" Roger asked, as the other took his place once more near the fire.

"No, although I looked in every direction," was the reply. "There is a strange light over toward the west. You can see it in the sky. I do not know how to describe it, except that once, when the forest was afire down on the Missouri, we saw the same reflection. It may be there is a prairie burning somewhere down that way. It would be a fearful sight, I should think."

"And picture the buffalo, and the deer, and everything that runs, fleeing from the flames!" added Roger, who possessed a lively imagination. "I heard one of our men by the name of Fields tell about the time he was caught in such a fire when far out on the open prairie, hunting buffalo, and what a narrow escape he had."

"Yes, I remember what a strange thing he did to escape being burned to death," Mayhew continued. "It seems that, as running was out of the question, and the wall of fire was rushing toward him, Fields discovered a little hollow in the surface of the prairie. Into that he crawled, first dragging the buffalo he had just slain so that it would cover his body, and serve as a shield against the passing fire."

"And did he escape without being badly burned?" asked Dick, deeply interested, since it happened that he had never heard this story before.

"Nothing worth mentioning, he told me," the guide continued. "Few men would have been so wise as to think of such a thing; but then Fields is as bright as a button. They say you can never catch a weasel asleep, and I expect that would apply to him just as well."

This man, whom they were talking about, was one of those whose names have been inscribed in history on the roll of fame, along with those of Lewis and Clark, for he accompanied them on their wonderful journey through thousands of miles of utterly unknown country, to the far-distant Pacific, and return.

"How can we find a soft place to lie down on, please tell me, Dick?" Roger asked, a little while later, as he ran his hand over the hard rock, and shook his head as though the prospect were not very alluring.

Perhaps Dick meant to reply, even though he could hardly have suggested any amelioration of the conditions; but, he was not given the chance to open his mouth, as it happened, for just then an angry roar sounded close at hand that made Roger suspect one of those terrible water-spouts must be about to overwhelm them. He saw a bulky object come sweeping toward them from the unexplored interior of the cave, and then scatter the burning brands as it plowed through the little fire.