CHAPTER IX
"THE LAKE! IT'S THE ONLY CHANCE OF ESCAPE!"
The sun went down and the coming darkness warned the three boys, vainlysearching for Dave MacLester, that they must hurry if they were to findtheir way to camp. If no success had attended them by daylight, theycertainly could hope to do nothing after nightfall, and they turned backtoward the lake.
All afternoon Phil, Billy and Paul had tramped the woods. Except for thethree tracks in some soft earth, as earlier mentioned, not one certainclue to the direction taken by Dave and his unknown companion had thefriends found.
Quite worn out in both body and mind, they took careful note of theirbearings, then headed by what they thought a bee-line for Opal Lake.On and on they hurried. The twilight deepened and they kept to a directcourse with difficulty. And still they reached neither the lake nor anyfamiliar spot.
"Fine boat we're in if we've gone and got lost," gasped Paul, bringingup the rear. The boys were pushing forward at a slow run, Phil Way in thelead.
"We didn't pay close enough attention to the distance, when we were goingthe other way; but we'll be out of this in a little while now," came Way'shopeful answer.
"I smell smoke. It might be from our own camp. Chip would be firing uplike mad to make a bright blaze," came Billy's voice above the steadypatter of feet upon the needle-strewn ground.
"There's some breeze picking up, but not quite from that direction," saidPhil, though he paused not a moment.
Paul was first to discover that the course Way was taking could not beright. "I can catch the smell of the swampy ground, at the west end ofthe lake, in the wind," he said. "We've got to head right against thisbreeze."
A brief pause, and the lads agreed that Paul was right. And soon the proofwas positive. Ten minutes of rapid walking brought the chums to the water,but it was at the east end of the lake, not the north shore, at whichthey found themselves. Another half mile or less would have taken thementirely beyond the familiar sheet of water, and have led them, hopelesslylost, undoubtedly into the woods to the south. Their course had beensteered too far easterly in the beginning.
Glad, indeed, to be so near their camp once more, despite the weight upontheir hearts concerning Dave, the boys agreed to continue on around theupper end of the lake on foot rather than return now for the skiff onthe more distant shore. So did they come presently to their shack andthe bright blaze Chip Slider had burning as a beacon light for them.
The ray of hope the young searchers held out to one another on theirhomeward way, that they might find MacLester safe and sound in camp upontheir own arrival there, was quickly turned to disappointment. Chip hadno news--not one word of information, good or bad, to report. He hadremained faithfully in camp and had seen nothing, heard nothing unusual.
"Exceptin'," said he, "there's bad fires somewheres in the woods. Ismelled smoke the minute the wind began blowin'. All day there wasn'thide nor hair of air a stirrin'. It was just after sundown that it startedin, real gentle, an' it's gettin' higher. You take a fire in the woods,and a stiff gale, and you've got something to look out for, I tell you."
"We've got to rest and think a little, and have something to eat," saidPhil, paying scant attention to Slider's words. "We've done what we canin one direction, now we must start out on some other plan."
"I knowed you'd be hungry and I've got the coffee hot. I boiled someeggs and cooled 'em this afternoon and them are ready, too. Just youall rest and I'll get some kind of supper," announced Slider, almostbashfully. But his friends were truly glad to do as he suggested. Thesimple, hasty meal of cold, hard-boiled eggs with plenty of bread andbutter, crackers and cheese and coffee would have been most enjoyabletoo, had there been no absent one.
For an hour or two the three Auto Boys rested and sought to find the bestplan to pursue toward finding Dave MacLester. They could not do better,they at last felt sure, than to report their mystery to the authorities atStaretta.
From the town, also, inquiries among the villages lying beyond the greatwoods could be made by telegraph or, even better, by telephone, perhaps.If Dave had been foully dealt with, as seemed only too probable, the law'sofficials could not be any too quickly informed.
It was drawing on toward midnight when the Thirty's lamps were lighted,the engine started and all made ready for a rapid run to the town. Philtook the wheel. Telling Slider to keep a bright blaze shining and hisears wide open for any signal from over the lake, he threw in the gear,let the clutch take hold, and the three boys began this last bit ofservice they were ever to have from their much beloved car.
Way was usually a conservative driver but tonight his foot at no timeceased to press the pedal that increased the gas. Over the smooth spotsand over the rough ones, ruts, roots and hummocks of the hard-bakedearth, the automobile whirred. Rarely did the speedometer show less thanfifteen miles and often the indicator touched twenty-five, and thiswhile the road was still but the woodland trail.
Luckily the lights were clear and bright, but more fortunate still, Philwas every moment alert and earnestly attentive to every inch of the roadand every throb of the machine.
Like some swift phantom the blaze of the lamps sped on and on amongthe ever retreating shadows and utter blackness of the night. Likeblack-hooded spectres the trees at either side seemed to glide ever tothe rear, silent and ghostly except as their branches were tossed bythe rising wind.
It was not until they were far past the bleak, dark house of NelsAnderson, that Billy shouted his opinion that inquiry should have beenmade there. No, Phil called with emphasis, the time for giving heedto uncertain, unknown persons had passed. He was sorry the arrest ofMurky and of Grandall had not been brought about when first it wassuggested, he said. A lot of things might have turned out differentlyif it had been done, and he, at least, believed----
"Look! There's sure fire yonder!" It was Paul's voice interrupting.
The car was fairly clear of the woods and the road now led among theblackened stumps and rough undergrowth of the district where flames hadraged in time long past.
Far to the west and north the sky was blazing red. The whole distanthorizon of the direction named seemed as if the doors of some mighty,seething furnace, miles in width, stood open. A rank odor of burningwood came stronger and stronger on the gusts of wind.
"It's a good ways off and maybe isn't burning much this way," shoutedWorth above the rush of air and whir of the auto's wheels.
"The wind, man! It's sweeping right into the heart of the woods," Philanswered loudly. But not for a moment did the car slacken speed. The roadwas getting better. Staretta was but five miles distant.
"Still, there's not much danger of the fire coming our way. It will goway north of the lake," Worth replied.
"And that's just the direction Mac's in," echoed Paul Jones in tones ofalarm.
"Yes!"
Phil cut the word quick and short. His tone and the instantly stillgreater speed of the car told all too plainly where his fears were running.
There was no need to rouse Link Fraley or the officers of Staretta. Theywere astir watching the progress of the distant flames. Scores of men hadalready gone to join the fire fighters, who, it was reported, had reachedthe scene from Jacques' Mills, a settlement to the northwest that lay ingreat danger, should the wind change.
The fire had been noticed only as clouds of smoke during the day, LinkFraley said. In the afternoon messengers arrived saying that the blazewas gaining great headway. It might yet be confined to a certain swampydistrict, thick with dead trees and grass and a rank undergrowth ofrushes, now dry as tinder from the long drouth. It was here the firehad started. Many men returned with the bearer of the news to aid in thebattle.
With sundown came the wind. There could be no stopping of the terribledestruction so long as the gale increased, Link Fraley stated. The bestthat any could hope for was that the blaze could be kept within a narrowlimit as it swept onward into the wholly unsettled country so saving thelittle towns and mills along the railroad
line.
But about MacLester--the hearts of the three boys sank like lead. EvenSheriff Larsen said nothing could be done for him while so great a numberof lives were in jeopardy and every hand was needed to preserve them. Hewas sorry--very sorry; but he believed and hoped Dave would escape insafety, somehow, though there was not a thing that anyone could do atonce to help him or to aid his friends in finding him.
Perhaps he had been lured into the woods for purposes of robbery, or byMurky, in a spirit of revenge; but even the much-needed attention of thelaw to that dangerous character must wait, the sheriff said, until thegreat fire could in some degree be overcome.
Awed and alarmed, their every nerve tense with a depth of interest andanxiety such as few ever experience, the three friends listened to theconversation of those about them. The principal crowd had gathered beforeFraley's store. Suddenly, from the partially lighted interior, LinkFraley came. With a nod of his head he beckoned the Auto Boys aside.
"An Indian fellow--Doughnut Dan, they call him--has just come in fromup the line," said he, "and brings word that the fire will get south ofOpal Lake and no stoppin' it. Hadn't ye better go? Right now you'll beahead of it to the lake and no danger. Later on--and ye've got that Sliderchap on your hands back at your camp. Get him and get your stuff, andget 'em quick."
"But MacLester! We can't----" began Way hurriedly.
"You've _got_ to! What can't be helped, can't be helped, but what _can_be--that's what you got to think about and _right off_!"
"He's dead right, Phil, bad as it is," murmured Billy sorrowfully.
"It may be, but we'll----"
Whatever Way had meant to say, he spoke no further but quickly startedfor the car. Paul and Billy followed and the latter took the wheel whilePhil re-lighted the gas lamps and Jones gave the crank a quick, quarterturn.
When but little north of Staretta the three boys could see that allthe Indian had reported was true, and more than true. If the high windcontinued the whole district south of Opal Lake would be swept by thefire within the next few hours.
But even in this estimate they were falling far short of the truth.Every hour the wind blew harder. Great brands of fire were being carriedforward, starting constantly, and in hundreds of places, fresh burstsof flame.
The car never traveled better than on this last night of its usefulness.In but little more than twenty minutes the boys were driving through densevolumes of almost stifling smoke. They were now well into the woods andwithin the path of the flames' fiercely rapid advance.
As they went forward they discovered that the fire's main path wouldprobably be midway between the lake and the desolate country burned overyears before. But it would be spreading constantly. Nothing could check it.
Suddenly a feeble glimmer of light loomed out of the smoke and thedarkness forward. It was the glow of the lamps at Nels Anderson's.
"They'll never get out alive," called Phil. "Hold up, Billy!"
By the lights of the car, and from the windows and open door of the low,unpainted house, the figures of Anderson and another man, and of Mrs.Anderson and their little girl could be seen moving hurriedly in and out.Phil sprang down to investigate.
The giant Swede, his family and their guest were carrying the householdgoods of every kind to the very center of the small clearing. What theyfeared was all too plain. But would their efforts count for anything?Would their very lives be safe in this small space?
"I tank she will go nort of us," spoke Anderson, excitedly, as Philapproached. "She must bane most at da lake now."
Obviously he referred to the fire. Before Phil could say more than thathe hoped the little clearing would escape the fire's main fury, at least,the other man came up. He was the person in the golfing cap. Way was sureof his identity instantly and his face grew hard.
"Have you been in town? How bad is this situation?" he asked calmly butwith a thoroughly business air.
"Ever so bad. You'll never be safe here," the boy answered with someexcitement. "You better----"
"No! the worst of it will be north of us," said the other quickly. "Itcame up as if the whole woods had caught fire at once. We smelled and sawthe smoke in the afternoon. Nels and I were 'way west of here to see whatthe danger was. We'd have been all right in this part but for the wind.But you boys--are any of your party at the lake now? Because--you'll haveto move fast! Get back here to this clearing. If the fire keeps tendingnorth you'll be far safer here than on the water. There's no telling howlong it might keep you hemmed in there."
Much disturbed by the thought that even now Chip Slider might be ingravest danger, Phil said hastily, "Thank you for all you say, at least,"and hurried to the car.
"The worst of this is ahead of us! Get to the lake, Billy, quick!"
Again the trusted Thirty shot forward. The fire was still too distant tobe clearly seen among the trees, but the sky reflecting its red fury sentdown a glow which, but for the dense smoke, would have been like earlytwilight. Still over ruts and roots, smooth spots and rough spots alike,Billy drove, not carelessly, but very fast. Still the smoke-filled airgrew denser.
"The man is crazy! The fire may reach the lake, but Anderson's place willbe squarely in the path of the worst of it," cried Phil Way excitedly.The boys were nearing their camp now, and the duller glow upon the skygave proof that the flames were more distant from here.
Poor Slider was found nearly beside himself with fear for the safety notof himself but his new-found friends. He was resolutely at his post, andthe blazing campfire showed that he had not forgotten to keep going asignal to Dave MacLester that the camp was not deserted, should he chanceto appear on the farther shore.
"We're the veriest blockheads!" said Phil Way, as he looked over the lakeand noted that here was the only place of real safety. "We've left theAndersons to be suffocated if they aren't burned up. Who'll go with meto bring 'em?"
"I'll go! Come on!" cried Paul, and Billy was not a second behind him.
"Wait!" Phil ordered. Then, "One of you stay here with Chip. Add all thelogs you can to the raft. Make it bigger, stronger! There'll be eight ofus, likely, that it will have to carry."
"Gee whiz! The car! The car, Phil! It'll be burned."
"No, it won't! Into the lake it goes. Water won't put it out of businesspermanently. Billy, will you stay?"
"Go ahead!" cried Worth and in five seconds Phil was driving theautomobile in a way he had never done before.
Even before Anderson's place was reached the raging flames to the westof the road lit up the narrow trail with a frightful glare. But on andon the car flew.
The little clearing was reached in the nick of time. Great sparks and evenflaming branches were raining down upon it. The smoke was stifling.
Huddled under some kind of an old canvas,--a tent cloth from someworkman's camp on the gravel road, perhaps, Mrs. Anderson and the littlegirl were trying to escape the smoke and terrific heat. The grass allabout the clearing was on fire. The little house must go, when the mainbody of the flames came closer, and very doubtful did it look that lifeitself could be saved in so exposed a place.
With a cry, "You can never come through the fire if you stay here,people! We've come for you in the car! The lake! It's the only chanceof escape!" Phil made his presence known.
The roar and crackle and all the dreadful noise of the ocean of flamethat, as far as eye could see, flooded the woods to the west seemed quiteto drown the boy's loud shout.