“Hullo! hullo!” yelled John Barrow, when the river was gained.

“Help!” came back faintly.  “Help!”

“Somebody over thar!” said the guide, and pointed a short distance up the stream.  “Guess he’s in a peck o’ trouble, too.”

He started in the direction, and Dick came close behind.  The party in distress was a man, whose cries for aid were gradually becoming weaker and weaker.  Before they reached the individual his voice ceased entirely.

“He has fainted from exhaustion,” said John Barrow, as he reached the wayfarer.

“Why, it’s Jasper Grinder, our old teacher,” ejaculated Dick.

The eldest Rover was right.  The unfortunate man was indeed the former teacher of Putnam Hall, but so pinched and haggard as to be scarcely recognized.  He had fallen on a bare rock, and this had cut open his left cheek, from which the blood was flowing.

CHAPTER XXVI.

An unwelcome Comrade.

“He’s in a bad way, that’s certain,” was Dick’s comment, as he surveyed the prostrate form.  Even though Jasper Grinder was an enemy, he could not help but feel sorry for the man.

“We must get him up to our shelter as soon as possible,” replied John Barrow.  “It is easy to see he is half frozen—­and maybe starved.”

“Shall we carry him?”

“We’ll have to; there is no other way.”

Slinging their guns across their backs, they raised up the form of the unconscious man.  He was a dead weight, and to carry him through that deep snow was no light task.  Less than half the distance to the shelter was covered when Dick called a halt.

“I’ll have to rest up!” he gasped.  “He weighs a ton.”

But in a few minutes he resumed the journey, and now they did not stop with their load until the shelter was reached.  Tom and Sam were watching for them.

“Jasper Grinder, by all that’s wonderful!” burst out Tom.

“Was he alone?” questioned Sam.

“He was, so far as we could see,” answered Dick.  “I can tell you, he’s almost a case for an undertaker.”

This remark made everyone feel sober, and while the two younger Rovers stirred up the fire, Dick and the guide did all in their power to bring the unconscious man to his senses.  Some hot coffee was poured down his throat, and his hands and back were vigorously rubbed.

“Oh!” came faintly, at last, and Jasper Grinder slowly opened his eyes, “Oh!”

“Take it easy, Mr. Grinder,” said Dick kindly.  “You are safe now.”

“But the bear!  Where is the bear?” murmured the dazed man.

“There is no bear here.”

“He is after me!  He wants to chew me up!”

With this Jasper Grinder relapsed into unconsciousness once more.

“I reckon a b’ar chased him and he lost his reckonin’,” was John Barrow’s comment.  “Bring him up to the fire.  He wants warmin’.”