CHAPTER XV
THE SNOWSLIDE
"Well," said Herb, philosophically, "'it is an ill wind that blowsnobody any good.'"
Bob, who had been shaking a tree for nuts and had shaken down moresnow than anything else, looked at Herb inquiringly.
"Now what's the poor nut raving about?" he asked slangily of Jimmy andJoe, who were also engaged in nut gathering.
"I was just thinking," said Herb, with an attempt at dignity, "howsorry I am for all those poor sick people in Clintonia."
"Oh, yes, you were," scoffed Jimmy, who was eating more nuts than hesaved. "You were thinking how lucky we are to be here picking nuts inthe woods instead of slaving away in Clintonia High."
"Gee, that fellow must be a mind reader!" exclaimed Herb, grinning,and Bob, coming near, made a pass at him.
"Say, get busy, old bluffer," he said. "You're getting slower thanDoughnuts here. You haven't got half the nuts that I have."
"But I'm having twice as much fun," countered Herb, unmoved "A fellowcan't work all the time."
"I wish I knew what was worrying Mr. Salper," said Joe, suddenly. "Iwonder if that Wall Street bunch, is really out after his money."
"Gee, he sure does know how to change the subject," murmured Herb, andBob threw a nut at him, which he successfully ducked.
"He seemed rather cut up about it, anyway," said Bob, in answer toJoe.
"I wouldn't trust those Wall Street sharpers out of my sight myself,"added Jimmy solemnly.
"Gee, listen to the financier," gibed Herb. "He's lost so manymillions in Wall Street himself."
"Not yet," said Jimmy, plaintively. "But wait, my boy, my life is allbefore me."
"Say," cried Joe, "if you two fellows don't look out I'll put you inmy pocket with the other nuts."
"Mr. Salper seems kind of a nut himself," said Joe, continuing withhis own reflections. "He seems to have a grouch on everything andeverybody."
"No wonder, with all the worries he's got," said Jimmy, addingdolefully: "You see the penalties of extreme wealth."
"One thing you'll never have to worry about," said Herb, and Jimmygrinned good-naturedly.
"I'd rather have my sweet disposition," he sighed, "than all ofSalper's wealth."
"I don't see why you think he's so wealthy," Bob objected. "Everybodywho trades in Wall Street isn't a millionaire, you know."
"Say, wait a minute!" cried Bob suddenly, with an imperative wave ofhis hand. "Did you hear anything?"
They listened for a moment in breathless silence and it came again,the call that Bob's sharp ears had first detected. In the distance itwas, surely, but a distinct cry for help, nevertheless.
"Come on, fellows! We're needed!" cried Bob, and, dropping his bag ofnuts in the snow, he started off at a swift pace in the direction ofthe sound.
The rest of the radio boys needed no second invitation. They startedafter Bob, pushing swiftly through the deep snow.
But as the seconds passed and they heard no further outcry, theythought that they must have been mistaken or that they had started inthe wrong direction.
However, as they stopped to consider what to do, the cries beganagain, louder this time, a fact which told them they had been on theright track all along.
They hurried on again, sometimes plunging into snowdrifts that reachednearly to their waists, but keeping doggedly on to the rescue.
It was enough for the radio boys that some one was in trouble. Evenroly-poly Jimmy, puffing painfully, but running gallantly along in therear, had but one thought in his head, and that to help whoever neededhelp.
As they came nearer the cries became louder, and they thought theycould distinguish three voices, and one seemed to be that of a woman.
Another minute they came upon a cleared space and stopped still for amoment to stare at the amazing scene which met their eyes.
A woman stood, nearly knee deep in snow, waving her arms wildly, andeven in that moment of astonishment they recognized her as Mrs.Salper. She was gesticulating toward something in front of her andcalling urgently to the boys to hurry.
Then the lads saw the cause of her distress. At the foot of a steeprise of ground, almost a small hill, was all that was to be seen oftwo girls. These latter had their heads above the snow that envelopedthem and they were trying desperately to work their arms free of theicy blanket. From their expressions and from their wild cries for helpit could be seen they were panic-stricken.
"A snowslide!" Joe, who was standing close to Bob, heard him mutter."Those girls had a narrow escape to keep from being buried entirely!"
The next moment he was dashing off in the direction of the twoprisoners, shouting encouragement to Mrs. Salper. The others wereclose at his heels.
"We'll get you out all right," he called to the frightened girls, whohad stopped their struggling and were looking at him hopefully. "Justkeep still for a moment and save your breath. We'll have you out ofthere in a jiffy.
"Dig, fellows, for all you're worth," he added to the boys, who, asusual, looked to him for directions. "These girls must be pretty coldby this time."
For answer the boys did dig manfully, the imprisoned girls helpingthem as much as they could with their numb fingers, and before manyminutes they had the snow cleared away sufficiently to be able tostruggle through it to a spot where it was not so deep. The girlswere, of course, Edna and Ruth Salper, the pretty daughters of theWall Street broker.
Edna and Ruth were trembling with cold and with the shock of theirrecent accident, and Mrs. Salper ran to them, putting an arm abouteach of them protectingly and pouring out thanks to the embarrassedboys.
"That's all right," said Bob, modestly. "We couldn't very well havedone anything else, you know. I hope," he added with a glance at theshivering girls, "that the girls won't take cold."
"They will if I don't get them home quickly," said Mrs. Salper,adding, with a worried frown: "I wish we hadn't come so far from thehouse."
It was then that Joe broke in.
"I tell you what," he said, eagerly. "It isn't far to MountainRest----"
"And there's sure to be a fire in the grate up there," Bob finishedfor him.
"And it's a fire that will warm you up in a jiffy," added Herb withhis most friendly smile.
"If we can only make it," sighed Mrs. Salper.
The radio boys knew of a short cut from this spot to Mountain Rest andalong this they led the others as swiftly as they were able to travel.And on the way they learned how it was that the girls had happened tobe in such a predicament.
"I shouldn't have let them do it." It was Mrs. Salper who told thestory. The two girls were still too shaken from their adventure to sayanything. All they could think of was the comforting shelter of a roomand an open grate fire.
"They wanted to climb up that little hill to see what was on the otherside of it," the lady went on to explain. "I didn't want them to, forI saw that the snow was deep. But they were in wild spirits, wouldn'tlisten to me, said I didn't need to come if I didn't want to--which Ididn't!--and off they went.
"When they had nearly reached the top Edna started to fall----"
"No, it was Ruth, Mother," corrected the girl, showing the first signof returning interest.
"Well, it doesn't matter," said Mrs. Salper, with a sigh. "The resultwas the same. One of them clutched at the other and they both toppleddown the hill. Their fall must have loosened a mass of the driftedsnow and it came down on top of them. Heavens!" she shuddered at thememory. "It seemed as if the whole mountain side were falling on topof them! I thought they would be completely buried!"
"Well, we were, almost," said Ruth, chafing her cold hands to bringthe circulation back into them. "Anyway," she added with a stiffsmile, "I feel almost as frozen as if I had been!"