THE ROVER BOYS Boxed Set: 26 Illustrated Adventure Novels. Stratemeyer Edward

      It was almost nightfall when the snow stopped coming down, and then it was too dark to attempt the journey to Bear Pond.

      "We'll have to make another night of it here," said John Barrow. "Then, if it's clear, we can start for the pond early in the morning."

      "Hark!" cried Tom, rousing up. "Did you hear that?"

      "Hear what?" came from the others.

      "I thought I heard somebody calling."

      All listened. For a few seconds silence reigned, then came an uncertain sound from a considerable distance.

      "There it is!"

      "That's somebody calling, sure," said the guide. "Must be down along the river. I'll go out an' look."

      "Can I go along?" asked Dick. "You may want help — if somebody is in trouble."

      "All right. Bring your gun with you."

      In another minute they had started out, each with his gun, and with his trouser legs tied up with bits of cord, to keep the deep snow from reaching up to their boot-tops. Their course was directly for the river.

      It was so dark they could see little or nothing, saving the whiteness which spread in all directions.

      "Hullo! hullo!" yelled John Barrow, when the river was gained.

      "Help!" came back faintly. "Help!"

      "Somebody over thar!" said the guide, and pointed a short distance up the stream. "Guess he's in a peck o' trouble, too."

      He started in the direction, and Dick came close behind. The party in distress was a man, whose cries for aid were gradually becoming weaker and weaker. Before they reached the individual his voice ceased entirly.

      "He has fainted from exhaustion," said John Barrow, as he reached the wayfarer.

      "Why, it's Jasper Grinder, our old teacher!" ejaculated Dick.

      The eldest Rover was right. The unfortunate man was indeed the former teacher of Putnam Hall, but so pinched and haggard as to be scarcely recognized. He had fallen on a bar rock, and this had cut open his left cheek, from which the blood was flowing.

      CHAPTER XXVI

       AN UNWELCOME COMRADE

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      "He's in a bad way, that's certain," was Dick's comment, as he surveyed the prostrate form. Even though Jasper Grinder was an enemy, he could not help but feel sorry for the man.

      "We must get him up to our shelter as soon as possible," replied John Barrow. "It is easy to see he is half frozen — and maybe starved."

      "Shall we carry him?"

      "We'll have to; there is no other way."

      Slinging their guns across their backs, they raised up the form of the unconscious man. He was a dead weight, and to carry him through that deep snow was no light task. Less than half the distance to the shelter was covered when Dick called a halt.

      "I'll have to rest up!" he gasped. "He weighs a ton."

      But in a few minutes he resumed the journey, and now they did not stop with their load until the shelter was reached. Tom and Sam were watching for them.

      "Jasper Grinder, by all that's wonderful!" burst out Tom.

      "Was he alone?" questioned Sam.

      "He was, so far as we could see," answered Dick. "I can tell you, he's almost a case for an undertaker."

      This remark made everyone feel sober, and while the two younger Rovers stirred up the fire, Dick and the guide did all in their power to bring the unconscious man to his senses. Some hot coffee was poured down his throat, and his hands and back were vigorously rubbed.

      "Oh!" came faintly, at last, and Jasper Grinder slowly opened his eyes. "Oh!"

      "Take it easy, Mr. Grinder," said Dick kindly. "You are safe now."

      "But the bear! Where is the bear?" murmured the dazed man.

      "There is no bear here."

      "He is after me! He wants to chew me up!"

      With this Jasper Grinder relapsed into unconsciousness once more.

      "I reckon a b'ar chased him and he lost his reckonin'," was John Barrow's comment. "Bring him up to the fire. He wants warmin'."

      Yet, with all the care they were able to bestow, it was a good hour before Jasper Grinder was able to sit up and relate what had occurred to him. He was very hungry, and eagerly disposed of every scrap of food they had to offer him.

      "I have been lost in the timber since yesterday," he said. "Oh, it was awful, the wind and the snow, and the intense cold. Sometimes I could not feel my feet, and I knew I was freezing to death. And I hadn't a mouthful to eat!"

      "But where are the others?" questioned Dick.

      "I don't know — back to that cave, I suppose. We were out looking for some trace of — ahem — of Tom and Sam, when I became separated from the others. Then, in trying to find my way back to the cave, I fell in with a big black bear. The ugly creature came after me, and I ran for my life, through the brushwood and the snow, until I came to a cliff. I fell over this, landed on an icy slope, and rolled and rolled until I struck the river. Then I got up and tried to get back to the cave, but it was out of the question. I found an opening in the cliff, on going back, and remained there until morning, when that bear, or another like him, roused me and caused me another roll down to the river."

      "Didn't the bear follow you?" asked Tom.

      "He followed as far as the river. But I ran with all my might through the deep snow, and presently he gave up the pursuit. Then I went on and on until I happened to catch a glimpse of your camp-fire, and set up a cry for help. I slipped on a rock and hit my cheek, and the loss of blood and the shock made me dizzy. The next I knew I was here."

      "You may be thankful that we found you and brought you in," was the remark made by John Barrow. "If you had remained out there this night, you'd 'a' been a corpse by mornin', sure!"

      "I suppose that's true," said Jasper Grinder, with a thoughtful look. His experience had humbled him greatly. He was so exhausted that he soon fell asleep, breathing heavily. The boys and John Barrow gazed at him curiously.

      "His being with us presents a problem," said Dick. "What are we to do with him?"

      "I'm sure I don't want him along," answered Sam promptly. He had not forgotten the treatment received at Putnam Hall.

      "None of us want him, I take it, Sam. But we can't leave him behind to starve. And I doubt if he can find his way back to the Baxter camp alone."

      "No, he can't do that," put in the guide. "It is easy to see he knows nothing of the woods and mountains. He was a fool to come here."

      "If we take him along, we ought to make him do his share of the work," said Tom. "But I don't like it. He'll be forever spying on us, and if we find that treasure he'll try to get ft away, mark my words."

      "The only thing we can do is to watch him, and not let him have any gun or pistol," said Dick. "He won't dare to leave us, unarmed, especially if we tell him of all the wild animals that are around."

      The subject was discussed for fully an hour, but no satisfactory conclusion was reached, and presently one after another dropped off to sleep; the guide being the last to lie down, after fixing the camp-fire for the night, so that a share of the warmth might drift into the shelter.

      On the following day the sun came up bright and clear. It was still bitterly cold, and they were loath to leave the vicinity of the camp-fire. But John Barrow urged that they make good use of the clear weather, and so they started up the river as soon as they had disposed of their breakfast of fish and birds.