THE DESERTED SHANTY BOAT.
"Nobody home, Thad!" remarked Giraffe presently.
"It looks that way," admitted the patrol leader, for the light of the
little lamp allowed them to see every part of the interior; and some of
the scouts had even bent down to look under the table, and behind an old
trunk, without result.
"If he's stepped out to go on an errand down the road, where there may be
some sort of a house, it looks queer to me that he'd leave his supper
cooking on the stove here," and as Allan said this he pushed back a
frying pan that seemed to contain fried potatoes so nearly done they
would have started to burn in a few more minutes.
"Gosh! don't this mystery beat everything!" Bumpus was heard to mutter;
and since the stout scout seldom expressed himself forcibly it could
easily be understood that he was now well worked up; at the same time he
warmed his hands by the fire, and even stooped down to take a closer
whiff of the cooking food which must have appealed irresistibly to a
hungry scout, who was also reckoned a champion feeder.
"He'd better be hurrying back, then," Step Hen interposed, "if he don't
want to get his jacket wet, because she's started in to rain, boys, you
hear!"
Sure enough, they caught the increasing patter of descending drops on the
roof of the cabin, showing that the long-delayed storm had broken bounds
at last.
"Woof! talk to me about luck, we've got it in big chunks," said Giraffe,
grinning, as he relieved himself of his haversack, and immediately began
to open the same, as though bent on considering their own supper.
"How kind of the storm," said Smithy; "it held off until we had run upon
this haven of refuge. I hope now the owner will allow us to stay with him
over night, for it would break my heart to have to step out of this
comfortable place into the nasty wet."
"Don't worry, Smithy," asserted Giraffe; "it'd have to be a charge of
dynamite that'd hoist me out of this. Possession is nine points of the
law, they say; and we're here to stay, even if we have to pay three
prices for accommodations. And I want to tell you that with that jolly
fire so handy we'll be silly to delay getting our own supper ready."
"Don't bother with what is on the stove," warned Thad; "only shove it
back, for when the owner of the boat does come home he'll want it. Plenty
of room for our purpose, isn't there, boys?"
They assured him on this point, and then both Giraffe and Bumpus busied
themselves. The contents of the various haversacks soon disclosed a
quantity of eatables, and the cooking of supper was deemed a "snap" by
those in charge, since they had the rare privilege of doing their work on
a real stove, with plenty of wood handy.
Let the rain beat upon the roof overhead, until it made such a racket
they had at times to fairly shout in order to be heard--who cared, with a
cabin to shield them from the fury of the storm?
Thad hardly anticipated that the absent owner of the boat would return
while the rain was coming down in such torrents, though if it relaxed its
violence later on they might expect to see him. Some of the other boys
did not have quite so much confidence, for whenever there was a sudden
movement of the boat, as some gust of wind struck the upper end, the more
nervous ones would hastily glance toward the door, as though half
expecting to see it thrown open, and an angry boatman push in, demanding
to know what they meant by taking possession during his absence.
But supper was cooked and placed upon the table without any interruption
of this sort taking place. There was not room for them all to gather
around the table; indeed, they filled the small cabin pretty well, eight
of them in space that was really intended for two or three; but that did
not interfere with everyone getting his share of food, though he had to
sit cross-legged like a Turk on the floor to devour it.
All of them were in fairly high spirits now. The solving of the problem
as to where they were to find shelter from the storm did considerable to
lift them to this plane. Then again the enjoyment they found in
satisfying their hunger with good things had its share, as well as the
warmth of the cabin, which was certainly a feature worth considering.
Supper done, and still no let-up to the downfall of rain, which was
beating the liveliest kind of a tattoo upon the roof. Thad was glad to
discover no signs of a leak anywhere, which spoke well for the tidiness
of the owner.
Giraffe, noticing how Thad looked up and around, must have guessed what
the other was thinking about, to judge from the remark he made.
"No use talking, Thad, the chap who owns this boat can't be that Irishman
who when some one asked him why he didn't mend his leaky roof said that
when the weather was dry he didn't think to bother with it; and when it
rained why he couldn't mend it. This one is as tight as a drum. We're a
lucky lot of scouts again; and I'm only sorry that the mysterious owner
isn't here to enjoy the hospitality of the shanty boat."
Once Thad walked over to the door, which he found could be secured inside
with a bar. It also had a padlock on the outside, showing that it might
be the habit of the owner when he left his home for a time to fasten it
securely.
"I'm glad that padlock wasn't in use when we struck here," remarked
Allan, who had followed the leader over. "We'd have been compelled to
break in, and that's a serious offense against the law, if you're caught,
though we'd have left money to pay for our housing."
Thad opened the door, and they looked out into the pitch darkness of the
night, though neither of them essayed to step beyond the sill. The storm
was now in full blast, and the river seemed to be rushing past the moored
shanty boat with foam on the little waves formed by the sweeping wind.
"Looks pretty ugly, doesn't it?" said Thad.
"I never would have believed the Susquehanna could get on such a rampage
as this," Allan remarked in turn. "I always had an idea it was a peaceful
sort of river, with beautiful banks, and the canal running along in
places parallel to the river; but I declare you'd think it was the big
Mississippi right now, what we can see of it, from the way our light
shines on the water."
"It's on the boom, you know," Thad told him, "and there's an unusual
amount of water in the channel; but from the way the rain's coming down
it'll be a flood before twenty-four hours, if ever there was one along
here."
"Lucky we struck a boat then, instead of some shanty close to the bank;
because in that case, Thad, we might have been washed away before
morning, as the river kept on rising a foot an hour perhaps."
Thad closed the door again.
"Looks a whole lot better inside than out," he observed, "which makes me
feel glad we're not cowering under a branch shelter, and taking a
ducking. Even with the rubber blankets we couldn't expect to keep half
way dry when it's pelting down as steady as that."
"I've been trying to figure out what happened here," said Allan. "There
was some man in this cabin, and he was getting supper when we gave that
first shout. Now, it might be he looked out, and glimpsing a bunch of
fellows in khaki suits and carrying guns, running this way, he thought we
were soldiers. He may have had some good reason for not wanting to meet
up with the State troops, and so cut and ran for it. That's the thing
I've made my mind up to."
"And according to my way of thinking you're close to the truth, Allan,"
he was told by the patrol leader.
"I noticed that you dropped that bar in place, Thad, after you'd shut the
door; what was the idea of doing that?"
"Well, it doesn't seem to be just the right thing, fastening a man's own
door against him," laughed the other; "but as we all want to get some
sleep to-night, being tired, I thought it might be best to fix things so
we'd have ample warning if the owner of the boat did turn up. Let him
knock, and we'll be only too glad to open up; only we don't want him to
walk in on us and catch us napping. There's no telling how unpleasant he
might make it for us."
This sound reasoning appealed favorably to Allan.
"The window you see has got a stout iron bar across it," he went on to
say; "and a fellow would have the time of his life trying to crawl
through such a small space; so it's all right; we can lie down to sleep
without worrying."
They were in fact pretty well played out, having been up a good part of
the previous night, it will be remembered, and the day's tramp had been
anything but a picnic to certain members of the party who need not be
mentioned by name.
Accordingly, about an hour after they had finished supper there began to
be a movement on foot looking to finding accommodations for spreading
blankets on the hard floor of the cabin.
Space was somewhat at a premium, since there were eight of the scouts.
The owner of the shanty boat had some sort of contraption in the way of a
cot which in the daytime could be fastened up against the wall, and in
this manner avoid taking up a considerable amount of space, to be dropped
when needed. None of the boys considered for a moment using that cot, all
of them preferring to make sure of the protection of their own clean
blankets on the floor.
Bumpus, while very tired, was afraid that he might not get to sleep as
easily as he would have liked, because of the way his mind was worked up.
Giraffe, in talking about matters, had happened to suggest that possibly
the man owning the boat may have been seized with a fit when he was
stooping over to draw some water from the river in a bucket, and had
fallen overboard; and the thought of such a terrible thing happening
filled the mind of tender-hearted Bumpus, who never liked to see anyone
suffer if he could help it.
But although the roar of the storm and the dash of the waves against the
side of the boat, causing it to rock from time to time, bothered some of
the scouts in the beginning, they finally grew more accustomed to the
chorus of sounds, and in the end all of them slept as only exhausted boys
may.
Thad had remained awake after the last of his chums yielded to the drowsy
feeling that overcame them; but finally he, too, found forgetfulness in
sleep.
He was aroused by some one clutching him desperately, and realized that
Giraffe, who chanced to have lain down alongside the leader, was calling
his name wildly.
All was darkness around them, for they had seen fit to put out the little
lamp, wishing to save the oil as much as possible. The bellowing storm
still held full sway without, and while there had been no thunder and
lightning, as must have been the case had it happened in midsummer, the
forces of Nature were fiercely contending, and combined to make a
terrible noise.
But Thad immediately became aware of the fact that there was a new motion
to the shanty boat on which they had found such welcome refuge. It rocked
violently, and pitched very much after the manner of a bucking broncho
trying to unseat a rider.
Thad could give a quick guess what this signified, though it chilled him
to the very marrow to realize the new horror that had come upon them.
The other boys were all aroused by now, even Bumpus, who usually had to
be rolled violently before he would open his eyes; and their various
exclamations of alarm began to be heard all around him in the gloom of
the cabin interior.
"What is it, Thad?"
"My stars! just feel the old boat jumping, would you?"
"I'm beginning to be seasick already!" complained Smithy.
"Thad, what d'ye think, has she broken away from her moorings?" demanded
Giraffe; and the anxious listeners felt a shock when they heard the
patrol leader reply:
"I'm afraid that's just what's happened, boys, and that we're adrift on
the flood."