hills, all hopes of finding them alive ceased. So hopeless was it considered, that few parties went out on the three following days; but on the fifth, when the snow-storm ceased and the sun shone out, numbers of men again tramped the hills in the vague hope of finding some sign of the missing boys; they returned disheartened. The snow was two feet deep everywhere, twenty in many of the hollows.
The next day but few went out, for the general feeling was, that the bodies could not be discovered until the thaw came, and at present it was freezing sharply.
Among those who still kept up the search were several of the boys’ school-fellows. They had not been permitted to join while the snow-storm continued, and were therefore fresh at the work. A party of four kept together, struggling through the deep snow-drifts, climbing up the hills, and enjoying the fun, in spite of the saddening nature of their errand.
On arriving at the brow of a deep valley five miles from home, they agreed that they would go no farther, as it was not likely that the missing boys could have wandered so far from their track. That they had in fact done so was due to a sudden change in the direction of the wind; it had been driving in their faces when they started, and with bent down heads they had struggled against it, unconscious that it was sharply changing its direction.
“Just let us have a look down into the bottom,” one of the boys said; “there may be a shepherd’s hut here.”
Nothing, however, was seen, save a smooth, white surface of snow.
“What is that?” one exclaimed suddenly. “Look, there is a little red flag flying down there – come along.”
The boys rushed down the hill at full speed.
“Don’t all go near the flag,” one said; “you may be treading on their bodies.”
They arrived within ten yards of the flag, in which they soon recognised a red pocket-handkerchief. They were silent now, awestruck at the thought that their companions were lying dead beneath.
“Perhaps it is not theirs,” the eldest of the party said presently. “Anyhow I had better take it off and carry it home.”
Treading cautiously and with a white face, for he feared to feel beneath his feet one of the bodies of his friends, he stepped, knee-deep in the snow-drift, to the flag. He took the little stick in his hand to pluck it up; he raised it a foot, and then gave a cry of astonishment and started back.
“What is the matter?” the others asked.
“It was pulled down again,” he said in awestruck tones. “I will swear it was pulled down again.”
“Oh, nonsense!” one of the others said; “you are dreaming.”
“I am not,” the first replied positively; “it was regularly jerked in my hand.”
“Can they be alive down there?” one suggested.
“Alive! How can they be alive after five days, twenty feet deep in the snow? Look at the flag!”
There was no mistake this time; the flag was raised and lowered five or six times. The boys took to their heels and ran and gathered in a cluster fifty yards away on the hill-side.
“What can it be?” they asked, looking in each others’ pale faces.
The behaviour of the flag seemed to them something supernatural.
“We had better go back and tell them at home,” one of them said.
“We can’t do that; no one would believe us. Look here, you fellows,” and he glanced round at the bright sky, “this is nonsense; the flag could not wave of itself; there must be somebody alive below; perhaps there is a shepherd’s hut quite covered with the drift, and they have pushed the flag up through the chimney.”
The supposition seemed a reasonable one, and a little ashamed of their panic the group returned towards the flag. The eldest boy again approached it.
“Go carefully, Tomkins, or you may fall right down a chimney.”
The flag was still continuing its up and down movement; the boy approached and lay down on the snow close to it; then he took hold of the stick; he felt a pull, but held fast; then he put his mouth close to the hole, two or three inches in diameter, through which it passed.
“Halloa!” he shouted; “is any one below?”
A cry of “Yes, yes,” came back in reply. “The two Jacksons and Humphreys.”
“Hurrah!” he shouted at the top of his voice, and his companions, although they had not heard the answer, joined in the cheer.
“Are you all right?” he shouted down again.
“Yes, but please get help and dig us out.”
“All right; I will run all the way back; they will have men here in no time; good-bye; keep up your spirits.”
“They are all there below!” he shouted to his friends. “Come on, you fellows, there is not a moment to lose.”
Wild with excitement the boys made their way home; they rushed down the hill-sides, scrambled through the drifts in the bottoms, in which they sometimes disappeared altogether, and had to haul each other out, struggled up the hills, and, panting and breathless, rushed in a body into Mr Humphreys’ farmhouse, that standing nearest to them, on their way to Castleton.
“We have found them; we have found them,” they panted out. “They are all alive.”
Mrs Humphreys had risen from her seat in a chair by the fire as the boys entered, and uttering a faint cry fell back insensible.
At this moment the farmer, who had but five minutes before returned, having been out since daybreak on the hills, hurried into the room; he was taking off his heavy boots when he heard the rush of feet into the house. “We have found them, sir; they are all alive!”
“Thank God! thank God!” the farmer exclaimed reverently, and then seeing his wife insensible hurried towards her, uttering a shout for the servants. Two women ran in. “Look to your mistress,” he said; “she has fainted; the good news has been too much for her – the boys are found alive.”
With mingled exclamations of gladness and dismay the servants raised their mistress.
“Now, boys, where are they?” Mr Humphreys asked.
The lads gave a rapid narrative of what had happened.
“Under the snow all this time!” the farmer exclaimed; “they must be, as you say, in a hut. Now, will one of you stay and show me the way back, and the others go on to Mr Jackson’s and other places, and bring a strong party of men with shovels on after us?”
The lad who had spoken with the prisoners remained to act as guide, the others hurried off.
“Come with me, my boy, into the larder. There, help yourself; you must be hungry and tired, and you have got to do it over again.”
Mr Humphreys then ran into the yard, and bade the four labourers provide themselves with shovels and prepare to accompany him at once.
He then went back into the parlour. His wife was just opening her eyes; for a time she looked confused and bewildered, then suddenly she
