Jonas on a Farm in Winter

"Yes;—a boy that hasn't some efficiency, isn't good for much."

As he said this, Jonas had got one of the oxen yoked. He then went to bring up the other.

When the other ox was up in his place, Jonas raised the end of the yoke, and put it over his neck.

"You see," continued he, "your uncle wants all those rafters got down. It will be a little harder getting them, in the storm; but I care nothing for that. It will be a great satisfaction to him to have them all safe down here before it drifts. He doesn't require me to go; but if I go voluntarily and bring them down, don't you think that, to-morrow morning, when he finds two feet of snow on the ground, he'll be glad to think that all his rafters are safe in the yard?"

"Why, yes," said Josey. "I've a great mind to go with you."

"Do just as you please," said Jonas.

"Well, do you want me to go?"

"Yes, I should like your company very well; and, besides, perhaps you can help me."

"Well," said Josey, "I'll go."

He accordingly followed Jonas as he drove the oxen along to the sled. Jonas held up the tongue, while Josey backed the oxen, so that he could enter the end of the tongue into the ring attached to the lower side of the yoke. He then put the iron pin in, and all was ready.

Jonas drove the oxen along, till he came to the great gate in the back yard, and then he stopped to go and get some chains. The chains he fastened to the stakes, which were in the sides of the sled. Then he opened the great gate, and the oxen went through; after which he seated himself upon the sled by the side of Josey, and so they rode along up into the woods.

The storm increased, though very slowly. The road into the woods, which had become well worn, was now beginning to be covered, here and there, with little white patches, wherever new snow, driven along by the wind, found places where it could lodge. At length, however, they came to the woods; and there they were sheltered from the wind, and the snow fell more equally. Josey had found it quite cold riding in the open ground, for the wind was against them; but under the shelter of the trees he found it quite warm and comfortable.

The forest appeared very silent and solitary. It is true they could hear the moaning of the wind upon the tops of the trees, but there was no sound of life, and no motion but that of the fine flakes descending through the air in a gentle shower. The whole surface of the ground, and every thing lying upon it, was covered with the snow; for the branches, and the stumps, and the stems trimmed up for timber, and the places where the old snow had been trampled down by the oxen and by the woodcutters, were now all whitened over again and concealed.

"Who would think," said Jonas, "that there could be any thing alive here?"

"Is there any thing?" said Josey.

"Yes, thousands of animals, all covered up in the snow,—mice in the ground, and squirrels in the hollow logs, and millions of insects, frozen up in the bark of the dead trees."

"And they'll be covered up deeper before morning," said Josey.

"Yes," said Jonas, "and so would our rafters, if we didn't get them out. We could not have found half of them, if we had left them till after this storm."

The rafters were lying around upon the old snow, wherever small trees, from which they had been formed, had fallen. They could be distinguished very plainly now, although covered with an inch of snow.

Jonas and Josey immediately went to work, getting them together, and placing them upon the sled. When they had been at work in this way for some time, Jonas said,—

"We shall not get half of them, at this load."

"Then what shall you do?" said Josey.

"O, come up again, and get the rest."

"But then it will be dark before you get home."

"That will be no matter," said Jonas.

"Only you'll get lost, and buried up in the snow."

"No," said Jonas; "there might be some danger to-morrow evening, after it shall have been snowing four and twenty hours; but not to-night. The snow will not be more than a foot deep at midnight."

When they had got as many of the rafters upon the sled as Jonas thought the oxen could conveniently draw, he secured the load by the chains, and collected the rest of the sticks together a little, on the ground. Then he told Josey to climb up to the top of the load and ride. He said that he would walk along by the side of the oxen. Josey found it more comfortable going back, than it was coming up, for the wind was now behind him, and the snow did not drive into his face. Jonas walked along in the snow, which was now nearly ankle deep, and after they had got out of the woods, there were some places where it had drifted much deeper.

"Do you suppose that uncle has got his frame done?" said Josey.

"I presume he has left it, if he hasn't finished it," said Jonas.

"Why? Why couldn't he stay out in the storm to work, as well as we?"

"Because," said Jonas, "the snow would wet his tools, and fill up his mortises, and so trouble him a great deal more than it does us. You can't do carpenter's work out of doors in a snow-storm."

"Do you mean to go after the other load?" asked Josey.

"Yes," replied Jonas.

The boys found, when they reached the yard, that it was as Jonas had predicted. The farmer and Amos had left their work and gone in. They were in the shop grinding their tools. The farmer asked Jonas if he had got all the rafters.

"No, sir," said Jonas; "there is another load."

"Well, we'll let them go," said the farmer. "I'm very glad you've got one load down."

"I think, sir," said Jonas, "if you have no objection, I'd better go and get the rest. I know just where they are, and I can get them all down here before night."

"You won't have time to get down before it will be dark," said the farmer.

"Just as you think best, sir," said Jonas, "but I think I can get out of the woods before dark; and it is of no consequence about the rest of the way."

"Very well," said the farmer, "you may go. Don't you want Amos to go with you?"

"No, sir, it isn't necessary."

"No, sir," said Josey, "I can go with him."

So Jonas threw off his load, and then turned his team about, and once more set out for the woods. He and Josey sat upon the sled, talking by the way,—the storm continuing without much change. The snow gradually increased in depth, but the oxen walked along without difficulty through it. Sometimes they came to a drift where the snow was so deep as to come in a little upon the bars, where the boys were sitting; but in general the sled runners glided along through it very smoothly.

The woods appeared still more somber and solitary than they had done before. The new snow was deeper, and it was falling faster; and, besides, as it was now nearly sundown, there was only a gloomy sort of twilight, under the trees. Jonas and Josey loaded the sled as fast as they could. They put on the last of the rafters, which Jonas had collected, with great satisfaction. Josey, especially, began to be in haste to set out on his return.

"Now," said Jonas, "I'll look around a little, just to see that there are none left behind."

"O, no, I wouldn't," said Josey; "let us go. We've got them all, I know."

"I want to be sure," said Jonas, "and make thorough work of it."

So saying, he began wading about in the snow, to see if he could find any more rafters. He, however, soon satisfied himself that they were all upon the sled. He then secured his load carefully, with the chains, and they set out upon their return, as before.

It grew dark rapidly, and the wind and storm increased. When they came out of the woods, they found that the air was very thick with the falling flakes, and the drifts had begun to be quite large, so that sometimes, in plunging through them, the snow would bank up quite high, before the sled, against the ends of the rafters. Jonas said that, if they had been two hours later, they could not have got along.

"You said that the snow wouldn't be a foot deep by midnight," said Josey.

"It is coming faster than I thought it would," said Jonas. "It is almost a foot deep now."

The road by which the boys were advancing, led along the bank of the brook, until it reached nearly to the shore of the pond, and then it turned off, and went towards the house, at a little distance from the shore. When they reached this part of the road, the storm, which here swept down across the pond, beat upon them with unusual fury. The wind howled; the snow was driven through the air, and seemed to scud along the ground with great violence; and the drifts, running diagonally across the road, were once or twice so deep, that the oxen could hardly get the load through. It was now almost dark, too, and all the traces of the road were obliterated,—though Jonas knew, by the land and fences, how to go.

Just at this time, when the wind seemed to lull for an instant, Jonas thought he heard a cry. He stopped his oxen to listen.

"No," said Josey, "I don't believe it is any thing; let us go on."

In fact, Josey was afraid, and wanted to get home as soon as he could.

"Wait a minute," said Jonas. He listened again, and in a moment he heard the cry again. It seemed to be a cry of distress, but he could not distinguish any words.

"It is somebody off upon the pond," said Jonas.

"Is the pond out that way?" asked Josey.

"Yes," said Jonas, "and I verily believe somebody is out on it, and has lost his way."

"Well," said Josey, "let us go home as fast as we can, and tell uncle."

"No," said Jonas, "that won't do."

Jonas turned in the direction from which the sound appeared to come, and, putting his hands up to his mouth in the shape of a speaking-trumpet, he called out, as loud as he could call,—

"Hal—loo!"

He listened after he had thus called, but there was no answer. In a few minutes, the cry which he had heard first was repeated, in the same tone as before.

"They don't hear me," said Jonas.

"Hal—loo!" cried out Josey, as loud as he could call.

There was no answer; but, in a few seconds afterwards, the cry was repeated, as at first.

"You see," said Jonas, "that the wind blows this way, and they can't hear us. We must go out after them."

Josey tried to dissuade Jonas from this plan; but Jonas said he must go, and that, as they had oxen with them, there would be no danger. "First," said he, "we must throw off our load."

So he and Josey went to work, and threw off the rafters, as fast as they could. Jonas reserved four or five rafters, which he left upon the sled. Then he turned the oxen in the direction from which the cry had come. They continued to hear it at moderate intervals.

They descended gradually a short distance across the field, and then they came to the shore of the pond. Here Jonas took off one of his rafters, and laid it upon the shore, with one end raised up out of the snow.

"What is that for?" said Josey.

"To show us the way back to our road," said Jonas. "I place it so that it points right back,—the way we came."

"We can tell by our tracks," said Josey.

"No," said Jonas; "our tracks will all be covered up before we come back."

Jonas then drove down upon the pond, guiding his oxen in the direction of the cry. He kept Josey upon the sled, so as not to exhaust his strength. He rode himself, too, as much as he could; but he was obliged to jump off very frequently, to keep the oxen in a right direction. He stopped occasionally to put down a rafter, placing it so that its length should be in the line of his road, and taking care to sink one end into the snow, so as to leave the other out as far as possible, to prevent its being all buried up before they should return. Every now and then, too, he would answer the cry, as loud as he could call.

At last, after they had toiled along in this way for some time, Jonas thought that he succeeded in making the travellers hear; for, immediately after his call, he would hear a calling from them, following it, and speaking in a different way, though Jonas could not understand what was said. He kept pressing forward steadily, and, before long, he found that the travellers were silent, excepting immediately after he called to them,—when there was a sound as if intended for a response, though Jonas could not tell what was said.

"We shall get to them, Josey," said he.

"Who do you suppose it is?" said Josey.

"I don't know; very probably some travellers lost upon the pond."

Jonas was right in his conjecture: as they came nearer and nearer, the sounds became more distinct.

"Hal—loo!" vociferated Jonas.

"Hal—loo!" was the answer. "Can—you—come—and—help—us?"

"Ay, ay," said Jonas; "we're coming."

"Ay, ay," shouted Josey, in his loudest voice, which, being more shrill than that of Jonas, was perhaps heard farther.

Still nothing was to be seen. Besides being dark, the atmosphere was thick with snow. So it was not until they got very near to the travellers, that they could see them at all. They saw at last, however, some dark-looking object before them. On coming up to it, they found that it was a horse and sleigh. The horse was in a very deep snow-drift, and was half lying down. There was a woman in the sleigh, with a small child in her arms, and a boy, about as large as Josey, standing at the horse's head.

"O, I am so glad you have got some oxen, sir!" said the woman. "We couldn't have got out without oxen."

"I don't see how the snow happens to be so deep just here."

"Why, it's that island," said the woman; "I suppose there is an island off there. I told Isaiah it would be drifted under this island; and now the horse is all beat out; and, besides, we don't know the way."

"Well," said Jonas, "I'll hook the oxen on, and we'll soon get you to the land. Isaiah, you take your horse out of the sleigh."

So Isaiah went to work to unhook the traces and the hold-backs, in order to get the horse free from the sleigh.

"I'll get out," said the woman.

"No," said Jonas; "you sit still, and keep your child warm."

As soon as Isaiah had taken the horse out, Jonas told him to lead him around behind the sleigh, while he turned the shafts over back against the dasher, and then he brought the oxen up in front of the sleigh. He first, however, drove the oxen out of the road with the sled, so as to leave that where it would not be in the way. Then he took two chains from the sled, and attached the oxen, by means of them, to the forward part of the sleigh. When all was ready, he put Josey in with the woman, and let Isaiah lead his horse behind. He then started the oxen.

"Are you going to leave the sled here?" said Josey.

"Yes," said Jonas, "we can come and get it after the storm is over."

The oxen drew the sleigh along very easily. The snow was quite deep for a little distance, and then it became less so; but it was very dark, and it was difficult for Jonas to follow his track. The snow blew across it with great violence, and was fast filling it up.

However, Jonas soon came to his first rafter, and this encouraged him. It was a good deal covered with snow, but the end was out, and the direction of it showed him which way to go, in order to find the next one. After he had passed this guide, the path was no more to be distinguished. He went on, however, as nearly as he could in the direction indicated by the rafter; and, after going the proper distance, he began to look out before him for the second. He began to be a little anxious lest he had missed it, when he observed something dark in the snow, at a little distance on the right. He went to it, and found that it was the rafter.

Thus he was upon his track again; but his having so narrowly escaped missing it, made him afraid that he should not be able to follow the train very far. His fears proved well grounded. All his efforts to discover the third rafter were entirely unavailing.

"'Tis of no consequence," said Jonas; "we can't be far from the shore. I'll keep straight on, and we shall strike the land somewhere, not far from the house."

But it is much easier to get bewildered in a storm than Jonas had supposed. The darkness, the obscurity produced by the falling snow, the perfect and unvarying level of the surface, in every direction the same, and the agitation of mind which even the most resolute must experience in such a situation, all conspired to make it difficult, in a case like this, to find the way. Jonas drove on in the direction which he thought would have led to the shore; but, after going amply far enough to reach it, no shore was to be seen. The fact was, that he had insensibly deviated just so far from his course, as to be going along parallel with the shore, instead of in the direction towards it. Jonas began to be somewhat concerned, and Josey was in a state of great anxiety and fear.

He rose up in the sleigh, and attempted to look around; and his fear was suddenly changed into terror, at seeing a large black animal, like a bear, coming furiously up behind them, bounding over the snow. Josey screamed aloud.

"What is the matter?" said the woman.

"Why, Franco! Franco!" said Jonas, "how could you get here?"

It was Franco, true enough. He came swiftly along, leaping and staggering through the deep snow; and he seemed delighted to have found Jonas and his party at last. Jonas patted his head. Both Jonas and Franco were overjoyed to see each other.

Jonas patted Franco's head and praised him, while the dog wagged his tail, whisked about, and shook the snow off from his back and sides.

"What dog is that?" said the woman.

"This is Franco," said Jonas. "Franco Ney is his name. Now we shall have no trouble in getting out."

Franco turned off, short, from the road in which Jonas was going. He knew by instinct which way the shore lay from them. Jonas at first hesitated about following him.

"That can't be the way, Franco," said he.

But Franco, after plunging on a few steps, looked round and whined. Then he came back towards Jonas again a few steps, looking him full in the face, and then whisked about again, and went on farther than before,—and then stopped and looked back, as if to see whether Jonas was going to follow him. Jonas stood just in advance of the oxen, hesitating.

"That must be the way," said Jonas. "Franco knows."

"No, that isn't the way," said the woman; "the dog don't know any thing about it. We must go straight forward."

"No," said Jonas, "it will be safest to follow Franco." And so saying, he began to turn his oxen in the direction indicated by Franco.

The woman remonstrated against this with great earnestness. She said that they should only get entirely lost, for he was leading them altogether out of their way. But Jonas considered that the responsibility properly belonged to him, and that he must act according to his own discretion. So he pushed forward steadily after Franco.

But his progress was now interrupted by hearing another loud call behind him, back upon the pond.

"What's that?" said Josey.

"Somebody calling," said Jonas.

"More travellers lost," said the woman.—"O dear me!"

He listened again, and heard the calls more distinctly. He thought he could distinguish his own name. He answered the call, and was himself answered in return by men's voices, which now seemed more distinct and nearer.

"I know now who it is," said Jonas. "It is your uncle and Amos, coming out after us. Franco was with them."

Jonas was right. In a few minutes, the farmer and Amos came up, and they were exceedingly surprised when they saw Jonas with his oxen, drawing a sleigh, with a woman in it, off the pond, instead of a sled load of rafters from the woods.

"Jonas," said he with astonishment, "how came you here?"

"I came to help Isaiah get off the pond," said Jonas. "But how did you find out where we were?"

"Franco guided us," said the farmer. "He followed the road along some time, and then he wanted to turn off suddenly towards the pond. We wouldn't follow him for some time; but he would go that way, and no other. When he came to the shore of the pond, we found your rafter laid there, and that made us think you must have gone upon the ice, but we couldn't imagine what for. At last, we found where you had left the sled, and then we began to halloo to you."

"But, uncle," said Josey, "didn't you see our heap of rafters, by the road where we turned off?"

"No," said his uncle.

"We put a load there."

"Then they must have got pretty well covered up," said he, "for we didn't observe them."

The whole party followed Franco, who led them out to the shore the shortest way. They took Isaiah and his mother to the house, and gave them some supper, and let them stay there that night. The next morning, when Jonas got up, he found that it was clearing away; and when, after breakfast, he looked out upon the pond, to see if he could see any thing of his sled, he observed, away out half a mile from shore, two short rows of stakes, sticking up in the snow, not far from on island. The body of the sled was wholly buried up and concealed from view.