The sound of an airplane engine coming in low over the lodge drowned out her reply, if she made one, for Cheryl was turning away, her cheeks flushing, and if there was any sound from her, it must have been a muted sob.
"That must be Jim!" Nancy said enthusiastically, her face lighting up with a smile.
"Yeah! I was sort of hoping he'd fly into the side of a mountain… or something!" Gene said with a sarcastic tone.
Nancy shot him a nasty look and told him that she was going to go watch Jim land.
"Suit yourself!" Gene groused. "I'm going to fix myself a drink!"
Cheryl went on up the stairs. As she passed the Hardings' bedroom door, she couldn't help hearing Charlotte's voice. It was muffled, but she heard, clearly: "Frank, darling, it's Jim! He's back, now… and I think we'd better get dressed!"
OOOoohhh, God! It can't be… true…! But, she knew it was! Her ears hadn't deceived her. Frank's in there with her… and they must be… naked! She controlled a wild impulse to throw open the door, burst in on them and berate them. Short of actually doing it, she pulled back her hand that was reaching for the doorknob and fled down the short hallway to hers and Frank's room. She held back her sobs until she was safely inside the room and sprawled across the bed. It was not like her to make a public scene. She hadn't, but it was only to delay it… until she was alone with her husband.
Peering through the cockpit window of his plane as he overflew the primitive landing strip, Jim Harding tried to judge just how much new snow there was on the ground. He could still see the strip itself, its rectangular outline clearly visible, but inside that smooth rectangle the snow lay so heavy that he couldn't see the wheel ruts of his former landings there. He knew the risk was great; he also knew the alternative: head west to an improved field, land there and make his way back to the lodge my Jeep. Hell! I couldn't make it back here for two days! That would be two days of fun he'd miss. His decision was made. He would land the airplane!
Turning at the end of the runway, he flew back over it again, noting that a long figure had emerged from the lodge; however, he couldn't be sure who it was. He remembered then that Jonothan had taken out a hunting party composed of the Paynters and the Barbers… So, that must be Charlotte… He rocked the plane side to side, waggling the wings in greeting and saw the figure below wave at him.
Carefully, then, Harding turned back into the wind and began to let down, keeping the nose high, so that he would make contact with the main gear first. He was skimming the surface of the new fallen snow, then, his hand on the throttle ready tensely either for full power or emergency kill of power. His wheels crunched into the snow, and for a frantic moment the airplane shuddered forward, as the wheels went deeper into the soft, wet snow; suddenly, then, he knew that the snow was too deep, as the plane's wheels plowed deeper and the aircraft began to nose over sharply.
With a profane curse, Jim slammed the throttle forward and turned off the ignition switch, just before the nose of the plane dug into the snow and mud. Then, his plane was somersaulting to land upside down and slew crazily across the snow-covered ground. Jim was unconscious before the wreckage came to a halt at the far end of the field.
"Oh, God, Frank! Gene! Anybody! Help!" Nancy stood in the door of the lodge screaming. "Jim crashed! His plane crashed!"
Then, she was running across the snow toward the now silent wreckage, her breath pumping in and out of her lungs painfully, and she was sobbing. "Oh, no! God! Please, no!"
Gene burst from the door and loped after his young wife. He was joined by Jonothan, who came around from the stables.
Frantically, Charlotte was dressing, as was Frank Paynter. "God, Frank, Jim could be hurt very bad! Hurry! Hurry!"
Then, together, moments later, they trailed across the field toward the wreckage, where Jim was already freed of it by Gene and Jonothan. Nancy was kneeling over him, sobbing softly but using her training as a nurse to determine the extent of his hurts.
Charlotte arrived, out of breath, and flung herself down beside her husband, "Oh, God… is he…?"
"Hurt… pretty badly, I think!" Nancy murmured, then looking up at the three men standing there uncertainly, she said, "We've got to get him back to the lodge where it's warm!"
Belatedly, Cheryl became aware of the accident only after Jim Harding was carried, still unconscious, into the lodge. She heard the commotion on the stairs and came out of her room. Charlotte was leading the way and Cheryl asked with some alarm what had happened.
"Jim's plane crashed!" Charlotte told her.
"Oh, no!" Then, she pitched in to help, forgetting for the moment that it was Charlotte who had been lying with her husband only a few minutes before. Later! she told herself. I'll pick that bone with her later!
And, quite awhile later, it was Gene Barber, who walked out to the wrecked plane, examined it carefully and found that the radio had been demolished. He told the others, "That plane was our only way in and out of here… and now with no radio, either, we're stuck here! Indefinitely!"
CHAPTER THREE
Charlotte Harding, although she was very much concerned and worried about her husband's injuries and wanted very much to take care of him, as a matter of wifely duty, found herself giving way to Nancy Barber, whose extensive medical knowledge and a Registered Nurse's certificate qualified her better to attend him. She withdrew graciously leaving Nancy in charge of Jim, for now there were other things, to worry about, too.
After Gene Barber's discovery that the radio in the airplane was useless, it was necessary to prepare for an indefinite stay at the lodge. She talked to Jonothan.
"Can you get through to the town and get help for us?"
"It is a three day, maybe four day, ride Mrs. Harding, but before I go, I will kill some fresh meat."
True to his word, they heard the booming report of his rifle come to them over the snow-covered stillness, and within the hour he had hung the skinned and eviscerated deer on a tree near the back door of the lodge. Then, leading a second horse, he was gone, his dark figure against the snow disappearing over the rise to the east.
Then, Charlotte organized them for the siege. She sent Frank and Gene for more firewood, and with Cheryl's help made an inventory of the foodstuffs in the kitchen, finding that they were really in pretty good shape, since, Jim had provisioned the lodge well. With the addition of the venison, Jonothan had provided there was no immediate danger that anyone would suffer from hunger, and they were snug in the warm shelter of the lodge.
Still, Cheryl worried. "Charlotte, even if Jonothan gets help in three or four days… how are they going to get us out of here?"
"Well, a plane equipped with skis could land and take off, or they might come in four-wheel drive vehicles. There's a trail… a real rough one, but a good driver could make it. I don't think we have to worry too much!" Charlotte was trying to be reassuring.
But, Cheryl was worried about something else: her husband and the availability of Jim Harding's wife to him. To say that she was heartbroken and jealous would be an understatement; she had persuaded Frank to come to the lodge in an attempt to save their souring marriage, and this was certainly not the way she had envisioned their second honeymoon. At that point in her thinking, she considered the marriage vows inviolable, and she hadn't even considered the reasons why her husband might want to break them. Worse, she was blind to her own culpability.
"I hate this place!" Cheryl burst out. "I was hoping we could get away from here right away!"
They were inside the large walk-in pantry finishing up the inventory. Charlotte saw that she was agitated and distressed and said, soothingly, "It'll only be a few days. Meanwhile we're in no danger…"