“With a big tramp ahead of us,” added Brick. “I’m so tired I could drop right down and go to sleep. Say, wouldn’t this slope make an elegant toboggan slide?”
“Well, I should say so,” replied Hamp, in a tone of great enthusiasm.
The boys were right—at least, as far as appearances went. From some natural cause the mountain side was bare of timber and rocks. Its smooth surface of crusted snow fell at a steep but regular angle, and seemed to be unbroken until it was merged with the timber of the bottom of the valley.
As the boys looked, the same idea took root in the mind of each.
“Do you think it would be safe to shoot down on the sled?” asked Brick, doubtfully. “It would save an awfully long walk.”
There was a moment of silence and hesitation. Then all choice was summarily taken out of the lads’ hands. The heard a snapping of twigs behind them, and, when they wheeled around to look, there stood Kyle Sparwick. A rifle was strapped over his shoulder, but he made no attempt to use it.
“I’ve got you ag’in,” he cried, harshly. “Up with your arms, now. I’m a-goin’ ter tie them, an’ then we’ll start for the meetin’-place. It was purty smart of you lads ter travel in the right direction.”
Sparwick enjoyed the consternation of the lads. He watched them with keen satisfaction. The certain prospect of the ransom money made him more lenient and good-humored than he would have been under other circumstances.
“Well,” he said, finally. “Are you goin’ ter lift your arms?”
It was just then that Hamp remembered the sled, and the long slope of frozen snow. No thought of danger entered into his calculations now. Like a flash, he jerked the sled forward to the verge of the descent.