Meanwhile Roger had prepared the two already captured, and they were all soon being held over the red coals lying in the hole that served as a fireplace. Such experienced woodsmen as the adventurers were knew how to cook meat and fish without any necessity for a frying-pan. Nor would they miss salt with which to season it. A sharp appetite takes the place of these things in the woods.
Perhaps all of them could have eaten more had they been given a chance; for, although the trout had been of unusual size, they seemed to disappear most miraculously, once the hungry campers started in to make their supper.
This duty done, they faced another dilemma. How were they to keep warm as they slept? Accustomed to snuggling down inside their blankets when the wind whistled, it was not the nicest outlook to face a night in the open, with no protection from the chilly air.
The worst of it was that they could not build a roaring fire to warm them. Had that been possible, no one could have found any reason for complaint; but it would be next door to madness, in the estimation of the borderman, to have attempted it, with those hostiles not far away, and ready to creep upon them as they slept.
Dick noted the rising wind with uneasiness. It was gradually swinging around so as to come out of the northwest, too, and that was the point where the wintry storms came from. When a gale blew from that quarter, with a sting in its breath, wise people kept to their cabins, and declined to venture forth until the worst had passed.
What would become of them should they be caught in this open camp, without any fire, and destitute of robes or blankets? Dick expected to hear Roger make some remark bearing on this matter, at any moment now; for he knew the other must be beginning to shiver as he sat in uncomfortable silence, evidently brooding over the many troubles by which they were confronted, and trying to see a way out.
Mayhew was prowling about close by. It was not pitch dark, though one must possess good eyes in order to see with any degree of accuracy.
“He’s looking to see if we can better our condition,” thought Dick, when he had watched the guide examining a pile of rocks in the immediate vicinity that may have been heaped up for some purpose by Indians, years and years before.
Apparently Mayhew was not finding much encouragement in his search, for Dick could hear him muttering rather disconsolately to himself, though he did not seem disposed to give up entirely, being possessed of a stubborn nature.
Soon Roger was rubbing his hands one over the other, which indicated that he felt the cold. Dick’s mental figuring had produced results, and he believed a proposition he meant to offer would strike the others favorably. He was only waiting for Roger to open the subject.