sides. Ironhide caught one of them and Schwartz switched horses without even slowing dpi. avenue through the trees opened up and in the Pounding g rain they went up the mountain toward the gray clouds.
Brian topped out on a bench almost at timberline. There was a flash of lightning that seemed like the light of a thousand bombs bursting at once, then a shattering roar of thunder. The others came up behind him, their faces weirdly lit by a more distant flash, and then he was leading off around the mountain, gray. running the big He turned a shoulder of the mountain and steed east, skirting the pines, dipped down into a hollow, and slowed the gray to let the others catch up. He was the only one wearing a slicker, the only one with any kind of protection.
None of the gear had been removed from the horses in the short space of time after their arrival at the caMP, and now, waiting in the hollow, Mary dug into her pack for a raincoat, and Belle did the same. Ironhide cut a hole in the blanket from the captured horse and Put his head through it.
There was no trail for them here. A dim game trail showed along the mountain, but such trails are often made by animals that can go under low-hanging boughs, and they cannot always be trusted. Yet it pointed a way, and they took it, anxious to get off the summit where lightning might strike at any time.
Down the game trail they went, through a maze of boulders fallen from a shattered cliff, around a bulging rock, and into a scattering of trees with many blowdowns.
Brian pulled up alongside Ironhide.
"We've got to find some shelter-a cave or something."
The Cherokee nodded. He had been looking for something of the sort. Through the slanting rain they saw a vast sweep of open country, a plain reaching away to lose itself in the gray rain and the gathering night.
Only moments were left to them. He was looking for something-a space between fallen slabs, a natural shelter created by blown-down trees .. . anything that would suffice.
Mary caught his arm. "There!"
It was up the slope, a tiny cleft of blackness against the rain-wet rock. He turned in his saddle.
"No use all of us going up. I'll have a look." The gray took the slope easily, and against the face of the rock he found what seemed like an ancient trail. It was a hopeful sign. He was almost to the spot before he drew up in disappointment. It was not a break in the rock, but a pine tree growing there close against the face, with no other pines close by. When he started to turn there was not room enough and he went on to the tree, and turned there. He had swung the gray and cast one last quick look around, when he saw the opening of a cave that had been hidden by the tree.
He rode down a slight slope to the entrance, which was all of thirty feet wide and not over eight feet high at the highest. It was a cave, and it was shelter.
He turned back and motioned the others on, but they could scarcely see him, so he rode back and led them to the cave.
It was dry inside, and was about fifty feet deep, although at one time it might have been much deeper. Now it was blocked off by a rock-fall.
He gathered sticks from the debris around the entrance and broke the smaller lower limbs, all dead, from the pine, and kindled a fire. There was a good-sized shelf before the cave, close to the pine, and there they let the horses graze, after stripping the gear from them. The fire blazed up, crackling cheerfully. Mary held her hands out to it, and looked up at Ten, smiling. "It takes very little to make one comfortable, after all," she said.
He nodded. "But when you have it, there's nothing like it.
A little shelter, a little fire . . . a little food, a corner away from the wind. Sometimes I think the further a man gets from the simple basic needs the less happy he is. Out there is the storm, and beyond the storm, enemies . . . but there is nothing that seems as good as this when you need it."
Ironhide came in and squatted near the fire,
Brian topped out on a bench almost at timberline. There was a flash of lightning that seemed like the light of a thousand bombs bursting at once, then a shattering roar of thunder. The others came up behind him, their faces weirdly lit by a more distant flash, and then he was leading off around the mountain, gray. running the big He turned a shoulder of the mountain and steed east, skirting the pines, dipped down into a hollow, and slowed the gray to let the others catch up. He was the only one wearing a slicker, the only one with any kind of protection.
None of the gear had been removed from the horses in the short space of time after their arrival at the caMP, and now, waiting in the hollow, Mary dug into her pack for a raincoat, and Belle did the same. Ironhide cut a hole in the blanket from the captured horse and Put his head through it.
There was no trail for them here. A dim game trail showed along the mountain, but such trails are often made by animals that can go under low-hanging boughs, and they cannot always be trusted. Yet it pointed a way, and they took it, anxious to get off the summit where lightning might strike at any time.
Down the game trail they went, through a maze of boulders fallen from a shattered cliff, around a bulging rock, and into a scattering of trees with many blowdowns.
Brian pulled up alongside Ironhide.
"We've got to find some shelter-a cave or something."
The Cherokee nodded. He had been looking for something of the sort. Through the slanting rain they saw a vast sweep of open country, a plain reaching away to lose itself in the gray rain and the gathering night.
Only moments were left to them. He was looking for something-a space between fallen slabs, a natural shelter created by blown-down trees .. . anything that would suffice.
Mary caught his arm. "There!"
It was up the slope, a tiny cleft of blackness against the rain-wet rock. He turned in his saddle.
"No use all of us going up. I'll have a look." The gray took the slope easily, and against the face of the rock he found what seemed like an ancient trail. It was a hopeful sign. He was almost to the spot before he drew up in disappointment. It was not a break in the rock, but a pine tree growing there close against the face, with no other pines close by. When he started to turn there was not room enough and he went on to the tree, and turned there. He had swung the gray and cast one last quick look around, when he saw the opening of a cave that had been hidden by the tree.
He rode down a slight slope to the entrance, which was all of thirty feet wide and not over eight feet high at the highest. It was a cave, and it was shelter.
He turned back and motioned the others on, but they could scarcely see him, so he rode back and led them to the cave.
It was dry inside, and was about fifty feet deep, although at one time it might have been much deeper. Now it was blocked off by a rock-fall.
He gathered sticks from the debris around the entrance and broke the smaller lower limbs, all dead, from the pine, and kindled a fire. There was a good-sized shelf before the cave, close to the pine, and there they let the horses graze, after stripping the gear from them. The fire blazed up, crackling cheerfully. Mary held her hands out to it, and looked up at Ten, smiling. "It takes very little to make one comfortable, after all," she said.
He nodded. "But when you have it, there's nothing like it.
A little shelter, a little fire . . . a little food, a corner away from the wind. Sometimes I think the further a man gets from the simple basic needs the less happy he is. Out there is the storm, and beyond the storm, enemies . . . but there is nothing that seems as good as this when you need it."
Ironhide came in and squatted near the fire,
Similar Books
