CHAPTER XXXI
_Corporal Jenkins's March_
But the caravan did not come. A thaw had set in, reinforced by a rain,and all the mountain streams were torrents again--utterly impassable.
When Tom explained the case the lieutenant said:
"Nevertheless Corporal Jenkins will get here with the supplies. He maybe much longer in coming than we hoped for, but he will come. He is aman of resource and he never gives up."
In the meantime Corporal Jenkins was in a very bad way half way up themountain side. He had passed one torrent while yet it was only halffull, and now it was so full that he could not even retreat with hismule caravan. In front was another torrent that it would have been sheerinsanity to attempt to cross--a stream fifty feet wide, rushing downthrough a gorge with a violence that carried great stones with it, someof them weighing many tons, while the water was almost completely filledwith a tangled mass of whirling trees that had been torn up by theroots by the on rush of the waters.
"We'll have to go back, Corporal," suggested one of the men.
"We can't go back," he replied. "That last stream we crossed is as fullas this one now. Besides we must get these supplies to camp."
"But how?"
"I don't know how! Shut up and let me think the thing out."
After his thinking the corporal ordered the caravan to leave the trailand work its way up the mountain in the space between the two streams.It was a difficult and sometimes a perilous ascent. There were cliffs inthe way around and over which a passage was partly found and partlyforced by great labor. At some places the pathway was so steep that nomule could carry his load up it. Here the corporal divided the loads andled the mules up with only one-fourth or one-fifth of the burden uponeach. Then unloading that he took the animals back again and placedanother portion of their load upon their backs, repeating the journey asoften as might be necessary. As he had twenty mules in his pack train itsometimes took half a day to get over thirty or forty yards of distancein this tedious and toilsome fashion. But at any rate there wasprogress made.
Often, too, there were great detours to be made in order to get aroundobstacles that could not be overcome. Thus day after day was consumed inthe tedious climb up the mountain. The corporal knew how anxiously hiscommanding officer was awaiting his coming, but he could not hurry itmore than he was already doing.
"What's your plan, Corporal?" asked one of the men when a bivouac wasmade one evening.
"Simple enough," answered the corporal. "When you've served in themountains as long as I have, you'll know that every mountain torrent hasa beginning somewhere up towards the top of the mountain. I'm simplyfollowing this one up to find its head waters and go around them."
The raging stream had grown much smaller now, as the caravan neared itsplace of beginning, and the next morning the corporal found a place atwhich he thought it safe to attempt a crossing. It was perilous work,but after an hour or two of struggle all the mules and all the men weregot safely to the farther side.
The corporal knew that he was much higher up the mountain than the siteof Camp Venture. But it was no part of his plan to descend until he hadpassed the head waters of all other streams and reached a point directlysouth of the camp and above it. So he proceeded westward around themountain.
Without knowing what the trusty corporal's plans or proceedings wouldbe, the lieutenant felt that he was likely to have difficulty inlocating the camp. So he ordered a brush fire kept burning night andday, so that the smoke of it by day and the light of it by night mightbe seen from a great distance.
Finally, exactly ten days from the time of the corporal's departure, hiscaravan was seen slowly and toilsomely descending the mountain towardthe camp.
A great shout of gladness went up from all the men, who had tastednothing but meat for a week past, and Tom, seizing his rifle started upthe hill at a rapid pace to show the corporal the easiest way down thesteep mountain side.
When the corporal reached camp the lieutenant complimented him highlyupon his skill and success in overcoming difficulties, and declared hispurpose to make a commendatory report of his conduct of the expedition.
"But how did you happen to come to us from up the mountain instead offrom down the mountain?" asked the lieutenant, while eagerly devouringan ash cake.
"Why," said the corporal, "when I found my road up the mountain blockedby an impassable torrent, I remembered some of my old soldierexperiences and I turned them around. I remembered that when we camp onhills and set out in search of water the rule is to keep always goingdown hill, because that's the way water runs. If you keep on doing thatyou'll come to water after awhile. So, turning that around, I said tomyself, 'all this water comes from up the mountain. The only way to getpast it is to go clear up to where it comes from.' That's what I did,and then I marched straight around the high mountain till I saw yourbrush fire last night about midnight. I wanted to come right on, butboth the men and the mules were exhausted by a terrific day's work andbesides it was too dark to see the difficult way; so I bivouacked forthe night and started down the hill between daylight and sunrise. There,Lieutenant, that's the whole story, and it isn't much of a story, atthat."
"Well, I don't know," said the lieutenant, meditatively. "It's enough ofa story at any rate to make a sergeant out of Corporal Jenkins, if myrecommendations carry any weight at headquarters. Corporal, you haveconducted this affair in a masterly manner, with zeal, skill anddiscretion. My report will mention these facts."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," was all that the soldier could say. But it wasquite enough.