Chapter 530

... Morales turned to hurry toward the downed buffalo as Jasmine started for the case that they had left twenty-five yards or so back in the woods. There was a startled, “What the hel...” from Morales, then silence.

Jasmine looked back over her shoulder to ask her husband what he had started to say, but there was no Morales, just an expanse of white a mile or so wide that extended to her right and left as far as the eye could see. Their kill was lying where it had fallen, and the herd was now well away with the two bulls hurrying to catch up.

Turning, she stared for a second, her heart already beginning to thump in her chest. “Morales,” she screamed as she started forward.

“Stop!” she heard his muffled voice call out.

“What?”

“Don’t come any nearer. Stay back,” she heard the voice say as she, nevertheless, crept forward a few more feet, now realizing that he had somehow fallen into a hole.

“Are you all right?” she frantically called out.

“Yeah – I think so. The snow must have broken my fall. I’m just shook up some and maybe sprained my shoulder, I think.”

“Can you get out?”

“Not ... so far,” he said after a moment, his voice sounding strained. “When I try to climb out, the snow just caves in on top of me.”

A thought struck and she called out. “Hang on. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Keep the wolves away. All I need is for them to fall in here too.”

“Okay. They’re not back yet, but I’ll tend to them when they get here. Just hold on. I have an idea.”

Back at the case, frustrated at the snowshoes and the deep snow, she took her hand axe off the side and started searching for a pole of the right size. A few minutes later, she had cut one that was roughly fifteen feet in length, three inches or so at one end, tapering down to two inches at the other. After stripping the limbs off, she crudely sharpened the butt end.

Finally, she was back. “Baby,” she called out.

“Yeah. Still here, and it looks like I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’m trying to dig my way out, but so far, the damn wall just keeps caving in on my ass,” he replied, frustration obvious in his voice.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked as she held the pole vertically and began slamming it into the snow in front of her while she cautiously made her way toward the barely seen hole roughly fifteen yards away.

“Mostly just hurt my pride, but I landed on my left shoulder while trying to protect the rifle. Hurts like hell, but I don’t think anything is broken – maybe just sprained a little.” After a pause, “What are you doing? Do not come toward me. I don’t want to risk your falling in here with me. Whatever caused the hole, I haven’t managed to reach firm ground yet, just more snow as I dig into the wall.”

“It seems to be roughly six feet across, at least the part that gave way when you fell in. Let me try to find out how big the thing actually is, first. Then we can figure out how to get you out. How far down are you?”

There was a pause. “Twelve to fifteen feet, I think. It’s hard to tell, but now that I’ve experimented, the bottom seems to have maybe three feet of snow on something hard. I think maybe ice. Shit, do you suppose there was a stream running along the edge of the woods and the wind blowing over the plains filled it in with loose snow? If so, you need to be careful. No telling what you’re standing on. The snow bridge or whatever the fuck it’s called, damn sure didn’t hold my weight.”

While they had been talking, Jasmine had continued toward the hole while jamming the sharpened end of the heavy pole into the snow. Well before she thought she was close to him, the pole suddenly went down considerably farther.

“Crap, whatever it is, is big. I’m still fifteen feet or more from where you broke through,” she said as she continued to jam the pole in at a ninety-degree angle to his tracks, trying to work out the dimensions of the hole or ditch, as the case may be. Finally, after working her way along what she decided was a frozen-over and filled with snow, stream bank, she exclaimed, “Wow, you walked well out on a snow bridge before you fell through. I think I’m going to have to work my way around until I have the outlines of this thing marked. Then we’ll get you out. Do you think you can pull your way up a rope if I put knots in it for you to grasp?”

There was a long moment before he finally responded, “Sorry, Hon. I can move my left arm, but I can’t raise it over shoulder height. I’ve either sprained or torn something in there. No way can I pull myself up a rope.”

Jasmine felt a surge of true fear rush through her body. He’s a big man. There’s no way I can pull him out of that hole by myself, and besides that, how could I get enough traction in this snow? I would just pull myself in, instead.

Determined, she continued slamming the sharpened pole into the snow to mark out the ditch, hole or whatever it was. After several frantic minutes, she had determined that the worst of it was about fifty feet long by ten feet wide, the sides sometimes gradually sloping, and at other times, abruptly dropping deeper than her pole could measure.

On the other side, she delivered the news to her husband. “It’s big, Baby, but the good news is that the side seems to have a slope to it over here. If we can get you out of the deepest part, I think the rest would be easy.” Relatively, she added to herself.

Hearing a noise, she looked up to see the wolves coming down the plains. As they neared, desperate, she put her hands up in a pushing motion while calling out to them, “Stop. Stop! Be careful, there’s a hole right there,” she said pointing as she tried to mentally project what had happened.

Hearing her, and knowing what had to be happening, Morales also yelled for the wolves not to come near.

Whether they fully understood or not, they, at first, stopped, then after apparently realizing where Morales was, crept toward Jasmine. When they got to her, Jasmine pointed to the hole and cautioned them again, wondering just how much they understood.

They either understood or there was instinct built in, because they both whined, looked first at her, then the hole, before lying down to wait.

“Jas, throw me the shovel. I might as well see how much of the snow I can dig away from the wall so I can, at least, have something solid to work with.”

“If you’re thinking of digging a frozen dirt bank with a plastic snow shovel...” she said, leaving the sentence hanging.

“Hell, I know, but I can’t just sit here. I have to do something to get out of this damn hole.”

“Look, I have an idea, so I’m going to go get the case, and with my having to go around, it will take a few minutes. Okay?”

She could hear him chuckle. “Take your time. I don’t suppose I’m going anywhere just yet.”

Jasmine made the wolves follow her, worried that they would approach too close to the hole while she was gone. After reaching the case, she grabbed the pull bar and started back, but as she got to the plains, she was careful to follow the same path back to the other side of the hole.

“I’m back,” she called out. “Are you still okay?”

“I haven’t run off anywhere,” he returned with a chuckle while trying to make her feel better. “Jas, there’s a rope...”

“I know. Now hush, I have some harnesses to make and I’ve never done anything just like this before.”

“Harness?” Then as it dawned on him, “Okay, Baby, I’ll just sit on my ass for a while.”

“And it’s a nice ass, too, but hush for now and let me concentrate.”

The wolves were again lying on their bellies and staring at the hole. “Come here, you two.”

Thirty minutes later, she retied one of the knots to make certain it would hold. “This might chafe some. Oh, crap, I know it will chafe. I don’t have anything to put under the ropes. When you pull, the rope is going to put a lot of pressure along your shoulders.” Now kneeling between the giant wolves, she continued, “Lobo, and you too, Lila, are going to pull him out of that hole. His shoulder is hurt, so he can’t help pull himself out. I’m going to get as close to the hole as I dare. When Morales ties the rope under his arms and he’s ready, we’re all going to pull. I’ll be near the hole and you two will be here. Once we get his weight on the rope, don’t stop. Chances are that the snow is going to cave in as we pull him up the sides, so please, please pull as hard as you can.”

I know they will help if they understand, but how much do they understand?

Mumbling a prayer, she eased across the snow toward the hole, ramming her testing pole into the snow ahead of her. Much too soon, it went in almost to the depth of the pole. She started to throw the pole aside when she realized she could use it.

“I can’t get any closer,” she called out to her husband as she laid the pole ninety-degrees to the rope so it would slide across the pole and, hopefully, prevent the rope from cutting into the snow and making things worse for Morales as he was being pulled out. “Baby, I’m afraid the snow is going to cave in more when we start pulling you out.”

“Pulling me out? I don’t think...”

“Hush, Husband. We just got married and I had the best night of my life. I’m not through with you yet,” she teased. “Now here comes the rope,” she said as she tossed the other end into the hole. “Tie it around your chest. When you’re ready, tell me, and your two best friends and your wife are going to pull you out. I guess it goes without saying that you should help all you can.”

Morales, worried that he would lose the rifle as they pulled him out, muttered curses before, “Shit, I hate to do this. Watch out; don’t let the rifle hit you,” he said as he, as carefully as he could, tossed his rifle out of the hole. It barely cleared the top, sliding along the snow to stop not far from Jasmine, the scope digging into the white powder that had fallen last night. She barely spared the time to hope that the lens covers had remained in place to keep the scope from being ruined.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” he called out.

Turning back to the wolves, she said, and at the same time, tried to send mentally, “Pull hard and don’t stop until I tell you to.”

The way she had tied the makeshift harnesses, Lobo was first, then Lila. As soon as she called out, they lunged against the rope, their bodies naturally hugging the snow as their powerful muscles strained and their big feet dug in. Jasmine stood, using strength she didn’t know she possessed as she pulled upward while trying to back up, her leg muscles taking the weight as she braced her snowshoes against the wall of the ditch she had dug out ninety degrees to the direction of the rope so that she would have something to brace her snowshoes against. Her icy dam was beginning to move toward the hole as Morales’ weight came on the rope, but the big wolves scrambled to maintain their footing. For a second, nothing happened, then the rope began to move as the wolves gained, at first inches, then quickly more and more as Morales got his feet against the wall of snow and began walking upward.

The wolves lunged again, digging in, snow flying, their bodies as low as they could manage as they strained both for purchase as well as against the load.

Morales was halfway up the side of the hole, his snowshoes sinking into the softness as it crumbled away under him, but he was moving upward. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he tried to pull on the rope with both arms as he scrambled for footing, only to lose and spin, slamming his back against something, the pain in his shoulder making his vision blur for a few seconds, but the wolves and his new wife kept pulling. His progress upward stopped for an instant, but the wolves lunged again, their big bodies straining against the angle and the snow that allowed little purchase, neither Jasmine nor the wolves even thinking about giving up.