  The boys who remained in the kitchen helping Coach Jordan with the dishes were not long in finishing the job. Kent and the coach did the washing, and as fast as they turned out the dripping, steaming plates, the other boys snatched them up and dried them. There was a lot of good-natured fun about it all, and it was plainly to be seen that the boys from Cloverfield were enjoying the whole trip. Coach Jordan kept them interested by his description of his travels and experiences, and at the time that Barry left the room on his way to the tool house he was telling of the days when he was a member of the great Fordson camp in the mountains of Kentucky. His account of the road-building and forest-ranging in the dense timber of the Southern upland was of great interest to the boys, and they laughed heartily at some of the rough experiences that he had encountered while staying in mountain log cabins and having to get up at three o’clock and shave with well water on frosty mornings. He told them of the great salt kettles rusting away in the mud of the little town that was at the time the shipping point for the Ford lumber and coal, a town which had at one time supplied all of the blue-grass state with salt. The boys listened with great attention. “What’s the difference between those mountains and these?” Tom Bailey asked. “These mountains are pretty well known,” the coach replied. “The people in them have been in contact with civilization for a long time, and tourist and the summer camper have come into them frequently. But in the Kentucky mountains we find an arrested civilization, and by that I mean that people poured into its hollows and gaps and then progress jumped clear over them and kept going west, while the mountaineer remained the same as he had been in the time of the Revolution. I have frequently seen old mountain women working the old-time spinning wheel, and many of them smoke a pipe all the time.” Kent had finished his work, and after drying his hands he went into the nearest bedroom to see how the fire was. Finding that it needed coal, he seized a bucket and flashlight and went out to get some. When he returned he met the twins in the hall. “Here you are,” Mac exclaimed. “We were wondering what had become of you.” “Just lugging in some coal,” Kent explained. He entered the bedroom and began to fix the fire. “What are the girls doing?” “They have toasted some marshmallows that melt right in your mouth,” Tim replied. “That’s where you want ’em to melt. Sounds like you have had some.” “We did,” Mac admitted. “Now that the dishes are done, we can all have some.” “Where is Barry?” Tim asked. “I don’t know,” Kent answered, straightening up. “The last I saw of him, he had gone out to the tool house to get a pail. I suppose he is in the kitchen now.” “I wonder if anything will happen tonight,” Mac said, in a low tone. “I don’t know, but we are going to keep our ears and eyes open,” Kent told him. “If anything does happen, we want to be on the job. Well, let’s get back in the living room.” They found all the young people gathered around the fire, and Coach Jordan and Bill Jefferson were taking off their hats and coats. “We put the horses in the barn,” the coach explained. Then he rubbed his hands and held them close to the fire. “After being out there, this heat feels good.” Kent and the twins looked around the room. “Anybody seen Barry?” Kent asked. Everyone looked around, and then one by one they shook their heads. “He brought that pail in and then left the kitchen,” Charlie announced. “He came in here and took his hat and coat,” one of the girls remarked. “Then he went out into that hall toward the front door.” The twins exchanged troubled glances, and Kent glanced involuntarily at Pearl, who looked suddenly alarmed. “Too bad Pearl knows anything about this place,” Kent thought. But he spoke carelessly: “Oh, well, he’ll be right back. Let’s have some of those marshmallows. What happened to those black ones?” “Fell in the fire,” Jennie Morrison explained. “But they’ll taste just as good as the others. They are just like some people, rough outside and sweet inside!” “Jennie is becoming quite a philosopher,” laughed Mrs. Jordan. “Tell us some more!” The girl laughed. “I can toast marshmallows better than I can give you philosophy,” she said. The talking went on in a good-natured way, but not all of them were joining in it. The three mystery hunters were quiet, and Pearl frequently looked at Mac, and she was plainly uneasy. Finally Mac leaned over to Tim. “Listen, I don’t like the looks of things,” he whispered. “Barry has been gone a long time. Suppose you go into the kitchen and look around. If you don’t see anything, I’ll go out on the front porch.” “What excuse will I give for going out?” Tim asked. “You don’t need—well, there isn’t any water in here, and there is some in the kitchen. Go ahead.” Tim nodded and got up from the footstool upon which he had been sitting. “These marshmallows are powerful sweet,” he smiled. “I’m going to get a pitcher of water and some glasses.” “That’s a good idea,” the coach approved. Tim took his flashlight and hurried to the kitchen. They had brought some large containers of drinking water with them, and just now this afforded him a convenient excuse for leaving. But as soon as he arrived in the kitchen he put out the light and walked across the room to the back door. He turned the key and looked out. All was quiet, and no one was around. He walked out on the porch and looked around the open clearing. The night was fairly dark, but because of the bright blanket of snow he was able to make out near-by objects. Barry was nowhere to be seen. Tim returned to the house, locked the kitchen door, and proceeded to pour some water in a pitcher by the light of his flash. When he had obtained some glasses he went back to the living room. Mrs. Jordan was reciting a humorous poem, and most of them paid little or no attention to Tim as he came back. But Pearl scanned his averted face anxiously and saw at once that he had not found her brother. Mac and Kent read the same answer. Nothing was said, and at last Mac began to work his way toward the hall door. Tim had passed him the flashlight, and with this in his back pocket he gradually moved over to the door that led into the front room. While the others were busy laughing at a joke that Charlie had told, Mac slipped out of the door. Few of them saw him go, and no one asked any questions. As soon as he got into the big square hall Mac turned on the beam of the light and hastily played it all around the box-like place. Barry was not there, and for a moment Mac trained the light on the stairs leading to the loft. He wondered if his chum had gone up there, but at last he shook his head. The popular leader of Cloverfield High School had put on his hat and coat, and that clearly indicated that he had gone out-of-doors. For a moment Mac hesitated. He was not prepared to go out into the snow, and to go back and get his outer clothing would excite suspicion at once. “And yet,” he reflected, “the bunch is soon going to know that Barry has disappeared. If he doesn’t get back soon, we’ll have to go and look for him. We can’t fool them much longer. Pearl is getting more and more uneasy every minute. Hang it all, maybe we’re wasting valuable time. I’ll look outside, and if I don’t see him, I’m going back and get my hat and coat and go out and hunt for him.” He stepped out onto the front porch and walked to the edge, looking around toward the back of the lodge. No one was in sight, and then he glanced out over the lake, dim in the light of the stars and the white border of the dark timbered sides. At once his eyes narrowed as he saw signs of movement on the ice sheet of the lake. Something bulky and black shot out onto the ice, and two figures leaped from it and began to push it ahead of them. As Mac stared without comprehension, another bulky object shot out from the bank onto the ice. The Ford boy gasped and clenched his fists. “Our sleighs! Somebody is shoving them out onto the lake! Of all the——” A voice, low-pitched and yet penetrating, reached him, coming in from the lake. “Don’t send the other one down until I tell you! I want to get this one out of the way first!” A great light dawned upon Mac. “Carter Wolf and his gang!” he breathed, as he turned and raced softly back to the front door. “Running off with our sleighs! Going to hide them so we’ll have to hike home! We’ve got to put a stop to that!” Throwing all caution to the winds, the twin rushed through the hall and flung himself into the living room, startling them all and very nearly knocking one girl over. His staring eyes and excited manner alarmed them all and caused particular apprehension on the part of those who knew anything about the history of Bluff Lodge. “Listen!” he said, before anyone could speak. “Somebody is pushing our sleighs out on the ice and taking them off to hide them. I’m sure it is Carter Wolf and his bunch! If we don’t want to walk home tomorrow, we’d better get out there in a big hurry!” A medley of cries of surprise and indignation came in answer to his rapid announcement, and everyone sprang up in consternation. Coach Jordan seized his coat and hat. “Come on, boys,” he cried. “We’ll have something to say about this!” He turned to his wife. “You take care of the girls, Dorothy. Better not go out!” The boys were ready, and like a pack of hornets they dashed out of the front door on the heels of Coach Jordan. Kent sprinted in the lead because he knew the country better, and he led them across the clearing toward the Bronson cabin. They had left the sleds in front of that building when they had tied the horses to the back-porch rail. All of the sleighs were gone, and Mac led them down the slope toward where he had seen the sleighs slide out on the ice. They expected to find the vehicles scattered and the raiders gone. But to their astonishment they heard voices and saw a dark mass at the edge of the lake shore. “Keep his head above water!” a voice cried out. “We’ll try to pull this sleigh out. Keep a stiff upper lip, Carter!” “Get—get me out!” a voice gasped. “I told you not to let that sleigh go until I told you to!” By this time the boys and the coach had arrived on the spot, and Mac’s flashlight showed the scene before them. One of the sleighs was turned sideways, and another had run into it and was partly sunk under the ice. Caught under a runner, and immersed in water to his chin, was Carter Wolf. The sleigh had broken the ice, and he had gone in with a splash. The sleigh runner had pushed in on top of him and was pressing against his chest, while his five friends worked frantically to hold his head above water and at the same time to pull the winter conveyance back out of the break in the ice. “What happened here?” the coach cried, as they took in the scene. “These f-f-fellows let a sleigh come down the hill b-be-before I had moved the other one out of the way,” Wolf answered, with chattering teeth. “The ice was thin here and——” In his effort to talk he slipped slightly and swallowed some icy water. “Keep perfectly still,” the athletic coach commanded. “We’ll get you out.” He lay down flat on the ice and passed his gloved hands under Wolf’s armpits, feeling the shock of the cold water. It was a position of extreme peril for Coach Jordan if the ice broke away, but he did not allow his mind to dwell on the thought. “Now, the rest of you boys draw that sleigh up out of the hole.” The girls had followed and now stood on the shore, silent except for a few low-voiced exclamations, their faces white as they saw what had happened. Mac sprang up the bank and pressed his flashlight into Mrs. Jordan’s hand. “Keep this trained on us, please,” he requested, and then he was back with the others, lending a hand. The sleigh was a big one and had considerable weight to it, but by their united efforts they managed to move it backward. Coach Jordan had considered using some of the horses, but time was pressing, and he knew that Wolf must be rescued as soon as possible. The boys pulled and tugged steadily, and the sleigh was finally drawn up on the bank and off of the ice. “Now, two of you come here!” the coach called. “Only two, and come around in a circle back of me so as not to put too great a strain on the ice!” Two of Wolf’s companions quickly and carefully circled around the gaping hole and made their way to the coach. His friends were quiet and obviously frightened by the recent events. Also, they were quite willing to help, and although somewhat afraid to trust the ice, they knelt beside the athletic instructor and helped him lift Carter Wolf out of the icy waters of Lake Arrowtip. “Two of you boys race to the lodge and get some blankets,” Jordan directed. Tim started on the jump. “Come on, Mac,” he cried, and his brother joined him at once. Kent watched them run up the slope toward the lodge and then turned to look on as Coach Jordan and Wolf’s two friends guided him as he stumbled toward the shore. “This business is over with, and there is nothing to worry about on that score,” Kent thought. “But Barry is still missing, and if all this excitement didn’t bring him back, there is something decidedly wrong!” |
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