THE HELPING HAND.
All of the scouts could see that what Billy said was the actual truth.
Somehow the water made through this street with considerable more force
than the one they had just come from, where Wash and his set were as
busy as beavers.
“Look at it sway, would you?” exclaimed Monkey Stallings, a note of
genuine anxiety showing in his quivering voice.
“Oh! what would we do if it rolled over, with those poor children
inside?” Billy was saying, as though trying to get his wits centered on
the critical situation, so that he might be quick to act in case such a
dreadful emergency arose.
“Don’t mention it!” cried Tip Lange, who was looking rather peaked and
white himself, if the truth must be told, though he tried very hard to
force a smile smacking of confidence on his face.
“Can we make it, do you think, Hugh?” Billy continued. “Is the engine
powerful enough to knock up against the old current here? It’s just like
the sluiceway of a mill. It comes down through the street so fierce and
wild.”
“Oh, no trouble about that part of it,” the pilot assured him. “What I
have to look out for is to keep away from the lower side.”
“I see what you mean,” Monkey observed sagaciously. “If the building
should go over it would be a bad thing for us to get caught. That’s why
you want to keep away from the lower side, Hugh, I guess.”
Hugh did not bother answering. He had his hands full with managing the
boat, for that current made its course rather erratic.
Gradually they were drawing around the end of the old building. Up in
the window the children could be seen. They no longer waved white bits
of rag to attract the attention of those in the launch. Instead, they
acted as though alarmed, because it must have seemed to them that the
rescue boat meant to pass by and leave them to the mercy of the raging
flood.
Their cries were pitiful. Billy could not stand it, so he cupped his
hands in order to make his voice carry above all the other sounds, and
shouted words of encouragement.
“Don’t be afraid there, we’re not going to leave you! But it’s necessary
for us to come around on the side of the house, don’t you see? Move
around with us and get ready to come aboard. We’ll get you safe ashore
all right!”
They must have understood from his words and encouraging signs what he
meant, for their agonized cries ceased, though they continued to watch
the progress of the launch with an eagerness that might easily be
excused.
“I guess now that if any of us happened to be in that shaky old trap,
expecting it to roll over any minute, we’d feel scared pretty bad, too,”
remarked Tip Lange, as if he thought it his duty to make apologies for
the fright of the helpless inmates.
With the three “childer” was the poor mother, who had seemed just as
badly alarmed as her crying brood, though she had not called out to the
approaching rescuers.
Hugh saw that his chance had come. He proceeded to lay the launch
alongside the building in such a way that he could keep the propeller
constantly moving, and thus be in a state of preparedness, so that
should the house give signs of toppling over, it would be possible for
them to escape a catastrophe.
“I’ll have to stick to my engine, boys,” Hugh told them. “So you must do
the work. First thing is to get all of them aboard. After that we can
try to save a part of their things, particularly clothes and bed
coverings. Get that?”
All of the others answered in the affirmative. Every fellow had his
teeth set, and grim determination could be seen in their eyes as they
prepared to cheat the flood out of its prospective victims.
Hugh calculated to a nicety when he brought the boat against the
quivering wall of the doomed dwelling. The three children filled the
window just alongside, and the eager mother crouched further back, bent
on seeing them safe before she would think of leaving. That was the
mother spirit every time, Billy Worth told himself, sacrificing her own
chances for the sake of those she loved.
“Here you are!” he cried, as standing there he held out his hands toward
the almost wild youngsters. “One at a time, now, and don’t crowd so.
Give me the smallest first, the baby! There. Now the next one, and
plenty of time for all!”
Although Billy said this, he was not quite so sure of it in his own
mind, for he could see the building swaying back and forth in a
terrifying manner, and did not know but that it might be lifted off its
foundations at the next surge.
He succeeded in placing the three children safely in the launch. Then
only would the relieved mother consent to clamber through the open
window and join her little family in the rocking boat.
“Shall we try for some of their stuff, Hugh?” asked Monkey Stallings,
who, being as agile as the animal after which he had been named, was
better fitted for climbing into the house and taking chances with its
upsetting than possibly any of his mates.
“Yes, but make quick work of it, and if you do go down, get free from
the wreck as fast as you can. We’ll stand by to pick you up,” Hugh told
him, though he was himself a little dubious about the wisdom of such a
course.
“Count on me with you there,” said Tip Lange firmly. He did not mean
that all the credit of this rescue should pass from the local troop. If
they were to receive the praise that would come later on, they must
merit it to some degree.
So the two agile scouts clambered through the window one after the
other. It was anything but a pleasant sensation they experienced when
the house gave an additionally severe roll.
“She’s going!” whooped Monkey; but as the threatened catastrophe failed
to come about he managed to recover himself; and presently they became
partly used to that strange sensation which in the beginning had almost
made them seasick.
A hurried hunt was made for clothes. Fortunately the woman had gathered
these together some time before, when meaning to try and escape from the
house, but being deterred when she found that the water was already over
the head of her youngest child.
Garments of various kinds, such as poor people might possess, together
with a bundle of bed quilts that took the place of more expensive
blankets lay handy to the scouts. These the boys quickly seized upon and
dumped through the window, being cautious enough to make sure that the
boat still rubbed against the side of the building in the same place
they had left it.
Altogether Monkey and Tip were possibly not in there more than three
minutes, if that long. And, although neither of them said so, it was
apparent from the haste with which they clambered out again that both
felt considerable relief in being able to leave in good shape.
Hugh saw that it was the height of folly to linger another second, now
that they had accomplished all they meant to undertake. Accordingly he
put on more speed, and with the others pushing away from the house they
quickly left it astern.
The rescued children were all staring at their late home. Humble though
it may have been, still they must have cherished feelings of affection
for the roof that had lately sheltered them.
All at once they uttered a concerted cry as of terror.
“There she goes!” called out Billy, almost in awe; and as Hugh glanced
toward the house they had just left he was in time to see it roll
completely over, and then float down with the swirling current to become
its plaything until finally it would go to pieces.
“Well, we didn’t get out of there any too soon, seems like!” said Tip
Lange, not a vestige of color in his face, as he turned to stare at his
new-found friends.
“I’m glad to be here instead of swimming out yonder,” commented Monkey
dryly.
“And if we couldn’t manage to find an open window quick enough, think of
what a time we’d be having in there!” added the Lawrence scout. “But
let’s be thankful it didn’t happen that way.”
“We Wolf Patrol fellows,” said Billy Worth, “have noticed that when
things get to looking dark for us there’s always a quick change for the
better. We call it Wolf luck, and seems like we’ve even come to look for
it.”
“Well, I only hope it’s as catching as the measles, and that you’ve
given it to me,” Tip told him, “so that after this our troop will meet a
favoring current. It’s easy to move along when everything seems to be
going your way.”
The next thing was to get the woman and her children safely ashore. Hugh
picked out a place where he thought it would be best to land them. In
doing this he bore in mind the fact that she had relatives who were
being assisted by Wash Bradford and his squad.
In the end it was managed so that they all came together on high ground,
where they could find some sort of shelter in case the rain started
coming down again, as seemed likely to happen at any minute.
Once more the launch was ready to start out on its mission of mercy,
with the four scouts as eager as ever to do all they could to help the
unfortunate victims of the great flood.
“If I had half a chance, and the stuff along,” ventured Billy, “do you
know what I’d do, fellows? Why, make a flag of white, with a red cross
in the center. If this isn’t the sort of relief work those people do
then I miss my guess. But since I’ve only got a handkerchief, and nary a
speck of red cloth along, I’ll have to let it pass. Hugh, there’s a
gentleman beckoning to you over there. I wonder what he can want.”
“I think I know who he is,” said Tip Lange. “Yes, that’s Mr. Hungerford,
the mayor of our town, and a mighty fine man at that. Better run in and
see what he wants, Hugh, if you think best.”
“I certainly will,” was the immediate reply of the pilot, as he changed
the course of the launch until they came close to where the gentleman
stood.
“What can we do for you, Mr. Hungerford?” called out Tip, thinking that
as he knew the mayor he ought to take it upon himself to interrogate
him.
“You Boy Scouts are covering yourselves with honor and glory to-day, I
want to tell you in the first place,” said the gentleman. “Lawrence
isn’t going to forget it, either, understand. I saw you landing that
family, and the other boys in the boat doing just as well. Besides I’ve
watched some of your crowd working a raft through one of the quieter
streets to load up with people or goods. But I believe we can now take
pretty good care of all those in danger in the town. With your means for
getting around it would be a splendid thing, boys, if you started up the
flooded valley to see what good you could do.”
“Yes, sir, we were just meaning to do that,” Hugh assured him.
“I am glad to hear you say so,” said the mayor, a little of the worried
look on his face disappearing. “Reports have been brought in that they
are having a truly terrible time of it all along up there; and I am sure
you will find dozens of things you can do to save life and property. God
bless you, boys! Lawrence is proud of her sons this day. Now, make all
reasonable haste, and play your part in this terrible drama that has
been thrust upon us. Good-by, and the best of luck to you!”
They waved their hats, and gave the mayor a parting cheer as Hugh
started the throbbing motor on at full speed. And it can be readily
asserted that Tip Lange’s heart was swelling with a song of thanksgiving
in that he believed the scouts of Lawrence had at last been afforded a
glorious chance to come into their own.