“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.