THE PROFESSOR RETURNS
Urged on by the seriousness of their plight, the two boys lost no time
in getting to work. With small axes which formed a part of their camp
accessories they chopped down several palmetto trees. They were of soft
wood and easy to work. Ned and Jerry soon had several rollers made.
These were placed in position to slide the boat on them into the lake,
which kept receding.
“How we going to get back into Lake Okeechobee,” asked Ned. “The
connecting river must be dried up by this time.”
“Probably it is, but we’ve got to get the _Dartaway_ afloat now or
never. We’ll have to take our chances on getting out of here.”
Before rolling the boat down into the receding water the awning was put
up and a bunk gotten ready for Bob. Then he was carried down into it.
He was too sick to know or care what was going on.
“Now for some hard work,” remarked Jerry, as he and Ned got ready to
move the _Dartaway_.
They found it a difficult task. More than once they felt like giving
up but they knew they must proceed if they were to have the use of
their craft. It took them almost half a day to accomplish it. They used
long branches of trees for levers and, inch by inch the motor boat was
shoved astern until the propellor dipped once more into the lake.
“Almost done!” exclaimed Ned with a sigh.
“Yes, thank goodness,” echoed Jerry.
Half an hour more of work and the craft floated. The boys brought their
camp stuff and packed it into the boat, striking the tent since they
could no longer remain on shore so far away from the water. Fortunately
the falling of the lake left exposed a hard shell beach instead of a
lot of soft mud, or the boys would never have been able to make trips
back and forth with their camping accessories.
“Now what?” asked Ned as they sat in the boat.
“We’ll have to wait here, or in this neighborhood, for the professor,”
said Jerry. “He’s liable to come back at any minute.”
“If he comes back at all!”
“It does look bad,” admitted Jerry, in answer to Ned’s gloomy words.
“But I guess he can take care of himself.”
“Those negroes are ugly customers,” said Ned. “I wish we could come
across Mr. Seabury again. He might be able to suggest a plan.”
“I’m afraid we’ll not see him in a hurry. He can’t get to us and we
can’t get to him with the river that connected the two lakes all dried
up. I wonder what caused this sudden falling away of the water?”
“You’ve got me,” replied Ned. “I’ve puzzled over it until I can’t think
straight. But let’s cruise about a bit. It’s hot and we may strike a
breeze out on the lake. Perhaps we can find the outlet through which
the water is all disappearing.”
To this plan Jerry agreed. It was much cooler with the boat swiftly
in motion, and Bob seemed to feel easier. Now and then he would rouse
up and ask some question, but, before his chums could answer he would
again sink into the stupor of fever. The boat was sent in a wide
circle of the lake. It was so large that it did not seem to have grown
appreciably smaller when the chums looked at it some distance from
shore. But once the beach was approached the appearance of rocks that
had long been under water told the story.
“We don’t want to go very far away from where we were camped,” said
Jerry. “It would be too bad if the professor should come back and not
find us. We must keep within sight of where we were.”
They passed the afternoon cruising about in sight of where they had
last seen Mr. Snodgrass. When it grew dark, lanterns were lighted and
hung about the boat.
“He can see them from shore and hail us,” remarked Jerry.
“Hark!” cried Bob, suddenly sitting up in his bunk. “My mother is
calling me! I’m coming!” he cried and began throwing off the light
covering which Jerry had placed over him.
“His mind is wandering,” said Ned as he hurried to his chum’s side. “He
fancies he hears some one calling.”
At that moment there came a voice from out of the darkness. A voice
sounding far away.
“Boys! Where are you?” came across the water.
“What’s that?” cried Jerry.
“The professor!” exclaimed Ned. “It’s his voice!”
Jerry sprang to the engine and set it in motion.
“We’re coming!” yelled Ned.
Jerry opened the muffler and the sound of the motor’s explosions
sounded loud on the still night.
“He’ll hear that better than he will our shouts,” he remarked, as he
steered the boat toward where the camp had been.
Bob grew quieter as the motion of the boat soothed him. In a short time
the craft was close enough to shore, for the professor’s voice to be
plainly heard.
“What’s the matter?” he called.
“Bottom dropped out of the lake,” cried Ned, giving his favorite reason
for the strange action of the water. “We’ll come as close as we can.
Are you all right?”
“Fairly so,” answered Mr. Snodgrass.
He was soon aboard and, in a few words, the boys told him what had
happened since he went away.
“Bob sick!” the scientist exclaimed. “Let me look at him. I have some
medicine among my things.”
By the light of a lantern Mr. Snodgrass examined Bob. He seemed grave
when he had finished and at once began searching among his boxes.
“Is he--is he very bad?” asked Jerry.
“I’m afraid so,” was the reply. “The fever has been allowed to run too
long. You did the best you could, but the medicine you had was not
strong enough. What I have will hardly answer but it is the best I can
do. It may break up the fever. I’ll try it at any rate.”
The professor soon had a dose mixed and gave it to Bob. In a little
while the lad’s breathing was easier, and he seemed to be sleeping more
naturally.
“Perhaps it will do,” said the scientist, as he felt of the patient’s
pulse.
“Now tell us about yourself,” urged Ned. “We were very anxious about
you. What happened?”
“Well, I had rather a narrow escape. Mr. Seabury was right about those
scoundrels. They wanted to rob me, and had no intention of leading me
to where I could find the rare butterfly. I discovered this when it
came night and they said it was two days’ journey further on. I wanted
to come back, as I knew you would be worried, but they acted so ugly I
thought I had better do as they wished. I stayed with them in a rude
camp they made, but I didn’t go to sleep. I heard something which made
me think they might attack you boys.”
“They did but we drove ’em off,” said Jerry.
“Good for you! Well, I insisted on being led to the butterflies the
next day, but they kept making excuses. Finally I managed to get away
by a trick and I started for our camp.
“I lost my way and had to spend another night in the everglades.
Fortunately I had my compass with me and I had taken note of the
general direction we traveled in. There are some trails through the
everglades and I managed to follow them. At last I struck the one along
the stream on which they had taken me in their canoe and I knew I was
safe. But I didn’t get my butterfly. Now what is this about the falling
lake?”
The boys told him, and Mr. Snodgrass looked worried. He could not
explain the phenomenon, but said they would make an investigation in
the morning.
In spite of his weariness the scientist insisted on sitting up that
night with Bob. The boat was anchored well off from shore but near
enough to be pulled in by a rope and in the morning Bob was much better
though very weak.
“I think he’ll come around,” remarked the professor. “I’d like a
different kind of medicine for him, but perhaps we can find Mr. Seabury
and his houseboat. He has quite a stock of drugs, he told me.”
“We can’t get to him unless we find another outlet of the lake,” said
Jerry.
“Very well, then we’ll look for one,” answered Uriah Snodgrass. “Let’s
make a tour of this body of water.”