CHAPTER XXXVII
_Down the Mountain_
By this time the boys were excessively tired. Climbing down over bluffsis weary work. So after dinner they stretched themselves out for a napwith their bundles under their heads in lieu of pillows.
An hour later they roused themselves and set out again upon theirtoilsome journey, carrying their packs as best they could, andscrambling through underbrush and over fragments of rock that had fallenfrom the cliffs and hills above and now seriously obstructed thepassage.
At last they came to the shelving rock, mentioned in a precedingchapter. This was a perfectly bare stretch of rock, extending down thehill for nearly a quarter of a mile, at an angle which made walking uponit impracticable.
"Now, fellows," said Tom, "get your parcels together and slide them downthe hill. The thick woods and bush tangle at the bottom of this rockyincline will bring them to a halt. Then I'll go down alone and find outif the way is practicable. If I get down in safety the rest of you canfollow, doing precisely as you've seen me do."
"But, Tom, I protest," said the Doctor. "You mustn't take all the risk."
"Oh, you'll have risk enough for your own share," answered Tom, "afterI've done the trick. It's only that I've done this sort of thing before,and can show you fellows how. In the meantime, send the parcels down."
Then one after another, the shoulder packs were started and wentspeedily down the rocky incline and into the woodlands at its foot. Theguns, of course, were not risked in this fashion, but were securelystrapped upon the shoulders of those who were to carry them.
When all the luggage had been sent down, Tom began his descent, callingto the others:
"Now watch me carefully, boys, and see just how I do it."
He went down, face to the ground, and feet first, sliding, with legs andarms spread out, to offer all possible resistance to gravity, and withhis toes clinging close to the rock to catch every little inequality andthus check his speed. Now and then he would encounter an obstructionthat brought him to a full stop. When that happened, he rested awhile,and then resumed his slide. It was hard work, accompanied by no littleperil, and the boys did not breathe freely till Tom reached the bottom,stood up and waved his hat in token of his victory over the difficulty.
Then one by one--for Tom had forbidden any two of them to start down atthe same time--they all made the descent in the same way, "withoutgiving the Doctor a single job to do," said Tom, when all was over. Buttheir clothing was very badly damaged in the descent, and the hands andknees of some of them were considerably torn.
They were now in a very thick woodland, crowning a gently declininghillside, and, after gathering their properties together, they marchedforward for an hour, descended another bluff, and decided to encampthere for the night. The distance to the foot of the mountain was nowcomparatively small, but the surface was badly broken and precipitous,and as darkness was not far off, it was deemed better to wait untilmorning before completing the journey.
On the way through the woodlands, the Doctor had surprised and shot aturkey, and it must of course be roasted, so the first thing to do wasto cut some wood and build a fire. For that a spot was selected justunder a slate rock bank that formed a cliff near where they had decidedto camp. The water which oozed out at the bottom of this slate rockbank on its western border, and formed a convenient pool there, did notprove to be good. It tasted of various minerals, iron and sulphur amongthem, and was distinctly unpalatable. Fortunately, Jim discovered aspring at a little distance, however, which was found to be good.Springs were everywhere on this steep face of the mountain, bearing tothe surface the water from the snows that fell in the higher landsabove, sank into the ground, and percolating through rock fissures,found its way to daylight again wherever a crack or seam in the rockpermitted.
So the coffee pot was soon ready for the fire where the turkey wasalready roasting, and by the time that night fell, the supper of roastturkey, hot biscuit and steaming coffee, was ready, and the weary boyswere looking rather eagerly forward to the time when the meal should beso far past as to permit them to lie down again to sleep.
As they ate they chatted, of course. The home-going had begun, andindeed its most serious difficulties had already been overcome. Theirenthusiasm was again aroused and they again felt interest in whateversubject might come up for discussion. But first of all, they made Jackfigure up their winter's earnings--exclusive, of course, of Tom'sskins--and they were very well satisfied indeed with the results of hisfiguring. Their outfit in the autumn had cost them very little, andsince then they had been at no expense whatever except that they owedthe Doctor their several small shares of the money he had given to BillJones and of the two dollars he had advanced to Tom for the purchase ofmeal on the mountain; for, of course, they all insisted upon sharingthat expense, and Tom had no reasonable ground for refusing.
An hour after supper all lay down to sleep, after replenishing the fireunder the slate rock bank, for there was no danger from moonshiners downhere so near the foot of the mountain.