AN ASTONISHING REVELATION
The situation was certainly a disheartening one, and the boys huddled close together around the bobsled, both for protection and to talk the matter over.
"Can you tell us at all how far we really are from some sort of shelter—I mean the nearest shelter at hand?" questioned Jack of Uncle Barney, as the old lumberman came back to see what had happened.
"It's about a mile to my cabin," was the reply.
"And is that the nearest place?" asked Fred, who had sat down on the bobsled load to rest.
"No. The nearest place is a little hut that I put up at this end of the island several years ago. It isn't very much of a shelter, but it might do."
"Do you mean we could stay there all night?" queried Randy.
"Oh, yes. It's plenty large enough for all of us, and there is a rough fireplace where we could start a blaze and cook something."
"Then let's head for that place, by all means!" cried Jack. "This storm is getting worse every minute."
With the wind whistling keenly in their ears and blowing the snow across the ice and into numerous high drifts, the little party moved on once more, the boys doing their best to keep up with the old lumberman. This was comparatively easy, for even Uncle Barney was well-nigh exhausted by his exertions.
"If this snow keeps on, it will be one of the worst storms we ever had up here," he announced. "But, somehow, I don't think it will last; the sky didn't look heavy enough this afternoon."
"I hope it doesn't last," returned Jack.
"We don't want to be snowed in while we are up here," added Randy. "We want to have a chance to hunt."
To make progress against the fury of the elements was not easy, but presently the boys heard Uncle Barney give a cry of satisfaction.
"Here we are, lads, in sight of the island!" exclaimed the old lumberman. "Now it won't be long before we reach that shelter I mentioned."
By the aid of the two flashlights, the boys made out a number of trees and bushes ahead. The bushes were covered thickly with snow, and behind them were sharp rocks, also outlined in white.
"This is what I call Squirrel Point," explained the old lumberman. "It used to be a great place for squirrels."
"How much further to that shelter?" queried Fred. Just then he took no interest whatever in game. He was so tired he could scarcely place one foot in front of the other; and, to tell the truth, his cousins were little better off.
"We've got only a couple of hundred feet to go," was the reply. "Come ahead. I'll help you pull that bobsled," and now Uncle Barney took hold, and once again they started forward, this time skirting the lower extremity of Snowshoe Island. Here there were a great number of pines and hemlocks growing amid a perfect wilderness of rocks, now all thickly covered with snow.
"Now you'll have a little climbing to do," announced the old lumberman a few minutes later. "You might as well take off your skates, and I'll do the same. And we'll have to hoist that bobsled up the best we know how."
He had turned toward the island, and soon they were climbing up over the rough rocks and pulling the bobsled after them. In one spot they had to raise the sled up over their heads. The old lumberman assisted them in this task, and then pointed to a small, cleared space between a number of pines.
"Hurrah! I see the hut!" cried Jack in delight, and ran forward, followed by his cousins. Uncle Barney came with them, and an instant later had forced open a rude door. Then one of the lights was flashed inside.
The boys and Uncle Barney had expected to find the little cabin vacant. Consequently they were much surprised when they heard a queer little noise, not unlike the snarl of a dog.
"By gum! it's a wolf!" ejaculated the old lumberman in amazement.
Scarcely had he spoken when there leaped into view a full-grown wolf. As he confronted the boys and the old man, he snarled viciously, and his eyes appeared to gleam like two balls of fire.
"It's a wolf, sure enough!"
"Shoot him, somebody! Shoot him!"
"Where's my gun?"
"The guns are all strapped down on the bobsled!"
Such were some of the cries which came from the Rover boys when they found themselves confronted by the wolf. They fell back several paces, and Uncle Barney did likewise. The old lumberman had gone to Rockville armed, but he too had strapped his weapon fast on the bobsled, so that he might assist the boys in hauling the load.
As the little party fell back wondering what was best to do, the wolf gave another leap, thereby reaching the doorway of the little cabin. Then, with a snarl, he whirled around, leaped into the snow behind some hemlocks, and in a moment more had disappeared from view.
"Well, what do you know about that!" cried Fred faintly.
"And to think we weren't ready to shoot!" groaned Randy.
"We're a fine bunch of hunters, we are!" scoffed Andy.
"Well, we didn't expect to find a wolf in possession of this hut," remarked Jack. "Just the same, I wish we had been able to get a shot at him," he added wistfully.
"I should have carried my gun," remarked Uncle Barney. "It was a mistake to put it on the sled. That's just my luck, confound it! Whenever I go out free-handed, I'm almost certain to see something worth shooting," and he shook his head grimly.
"You didn't say anything about wolves being on the island," said Fred, while the old man was looking around inside the cabin with both flashlights.
"There are very few wolves in this neighborhood," was the reply. "The last wolf I saw on the island, outside of this one, was two years ago."
As the door to the cabin had been closed, the boys wondered how the wolf had gotten into the place, but Uncle Barney showed them a small, broken-out window in the rear of the shelter. This window was now partly covered with snow.
"I suppose the wolf thought he couldn't get out that way on account of the snow, and consequently he had to come by way of the door," explained the old lumberman. "Well, I'm mighty glad he didn't go any damage."
An examination revealed the fact that no other living thing was in or around the cabin, and as soon as they were satisfied of this, the boys brought in the bobsled. In the meantime, Uncle Barney stirred around outside and managed to find some firewood which was fairly dry. Then a blaze was started in the rude fireplace, the door was shut, and a blanket was nailed up over the broken-out window.
"Now this is something like!" remarked Jack, when the cabin began to grow warm. The boys had unpacked the contents of the bobsled and brought forth a candle, which was lighted and placed in a rude holder on the wall.
Now that they were safe from the storm, all of the Rovers felt in better humor. Uncle Barney showed them how they could obtain water by melting some snow and ice, and soon they had enough to make a pot of chocolate and another pot of coffee. In the meantime, the old lumberman, assisted by Jack, opened up a box of sardines fried some bacon, and also warmed up a can of green corn which had been among the stores. They had no bread, so they used up one of the boxes of soda crackers which they had purchased.
"It's too bad we haven't got some game to cook," observed Randy.
"Let's be thankful that we've got some sort of a roof over our heads, and that we can rest," put in Fred. He had not yet gotten over the struggle to get through the snow.
With nothing else to do, the boys and the old lumberman took their time over the evening meal, and never had anything tasted better than did this first supper on Snowshoe Island to the Rovers.
Outside the wind was blowing as strongly as ever, and the snow still came down steadily. To make sure that they would not suffer from the cold, all of the lads went out with Uncle Barney and brought in a large supply of firewood. Then they built up a good blaze, around which they sat in a semicircle on the sled and the boxes brought along, and on a rude bench of which the little cabin boasted.
"When I first came to Snowshoe Island, twelve years ago, I thought I would locate at this end," remarked Barney Stevenson during the course of the conversation. "But after staying here a short while I concluded that it was nicer at the upper end, so I went there."
"Did you buy the island as far back as that?" queried Jack.
"Oh, no, lad. In those days I only leased the island. You see, it belonged to an old lady named Martinson. She had a son who drifted out to California, and then went to Alaska. When the old lady died, Luke Martinson came back home, and then he came to see me. He wanted to get rid of all his property around here so he could go back to Alaska, and he offered this place to me, and I bought it. That was several years ago."
"It's nice to own an island like this," observed Fred. "A fellow can have a regular Robinson Crusoe time of it if he wants to."
"When I bought the island I thought I'd have no difficulty in holding it," continued Barney Stevenson. "But since that time I have had a whole lot of trouble. Two men claim that Luke Martinson never had any rights here—that the old Martinson claim to the island was a false one. They have tried two or three times to get me off the place, but I've refused to go."
"Didn't you get a deed to the island?" questioned Jack, who had often heard his father and his uncles speak about deeds to real estate.
"Certainly, I got a deed! But they claim that the old Martinson deed was no good. But it is good—and I know it!" grumbled Uncle Barney.
"Who are the men who want to take the island away from you?" questioned Andy. "Some hunters around here, or lumbermen?"
"Oh no! They are two men from the city—a real estate dealer and a man who used to be interested in buying and selling property, but who lost most of his fortune and then went to teaching, or something like that."
"Teaching!" exclaimed Jack, struck by a sudden idea. "What is that man's name, if I may ask?"
"His name is Asa Lemm, and the name of the other man is Slogwell Brown," was the reply of the old lumberman, which filled the Rover boys with amazement.