MORE SERIOUS NEWS.
"Help! hurry up!"
That was what Smithy was calling, in agonized tones that thrilled
everyone of the other scouts. They were rushing pell-mell along the trail
which Davy and Thad had made in going to and coming from the river, and
which the other pair had also followed when they went to take an
observation. Now and then one of them would find a root or a vine, and
take a header, but only to scramble erect again, and resume the furious
forward rush.
The river was close by, and at least Smithy had not lost his voice, for
he still kept up his cries; though getting hoarse through the excitement,
and the constant strain on his voice.
Then those in the lead discovered their chum. He seemed to be lying flat
on his chest at the very brink of the swift flowing river; and while one
hand gripped an exposed root belonging to a tree, the other was stretched
over the edge of the bank.
"It's Bumpus!" gasped Giraffe; "and he's fallen in!"
No one took the trouble to offer any objection to this explanation.
Indeed, from their previous experience with Bumpus it seemed the most
natural thing in the world to expect the clumsy scout to tumble overboard
every chance he got. They could in fact look back to any number of
similar accidents during the time the patrol had been taking these
outings in the woods and on the waters.
"Hold him tight, Smithy!" snapped Thad, trying to increase his pace,
which was rendered a difficult thing to do because of the many obstacles
that must be encountered and overcome.
"Good boy, Smithy, keep a-going!" cried Davy, greatly excited.
No doubt these cheery symptoms of coming help did much to encourage
Smithy to maintain his frenzied clutch upon the one who was in the water;
for he was still holding on when Thad arrived on the spot, accompanied by
Giraffe, the best runner of them all.
Down alongside Smithy they both dropped. Yes, there was poor old Bumpus
in the flood, swimming with hands and legs, and spurting great volumes of
the muddy water out of his mouth with each splurge. It chanced that it
was quite deep there, and the river ran like a mill race; so that if
Smithy had released his grip for a single instant the unlucky Bumpus must
have been swept down-stream like a log, in spite of his strenuous
efforts.
When his clothes were soaked through, the stout member of the patrol was
apt to weigh several hundred pounds; so it was small wonder that,
unaided, Smithy could do next to nothing looking to his rescue--just hold
on desperately, and shout for help.
But when Thad and Giraffe took a grip it was a different matter.
Altogether they started to drag the imperiled scout up out of his
impromptu bath.
"Yo-heave-o! Up you come, my boy! One more pull, Thad, and we've got him.
Wow! what an elephant he is!"
So saying, Giraffe bent again to the task, with the result that Bumpus
was soon hauled over the edge of the crumbling bank, and dragged to a
place of security. There he lay, sprawled out, gasping for breath, and
shedding gallons of water from his soaked khaki suit.
The boys gathered around, staring at him. Although they often poked
considerable fun at Bumpus, it was of an innocent sort, for they were
exceedingly fond of him.
"Well, you sure look like a great big grampus hauled up on the beach!"
remarked Giraffe, with pretended scorn, though to tell the truth in all
probability he did not really know what a grampus was, only that it lived
in the sea, and stood for something clumsy and large.
"Next time you feel like taking a bath, Bumpus, don't be so greedy.
You're some size, but the river's on a flood now, and too big for you!"
said Davy; and turning to Thad he continued: "Like as not your stick will
show that she jumped up a foot or more when Bumpus dropped in."
"It's a bad time to get your feet crossed, suh, when you-all happen to be
on a river bank!" Bob White hinted.
"You're all away off; I didn't stumble, this time, anyhow, and I wasn't
trying to take a bath either," spluttered the soaking Bumpus, as he sat
up and started wiping his face with a very wet sleeve.
"How about that, Smithy; what happened to him?" asked Thad.
"The bank caved in under him, that's the truth," replied the other scout.
"He was wanting to see just a little further down the river, when all at
once he went in. I really couldn't tell you just how I happened to catch
hold of him by the back of his coat, because I don't know myself; but I
thought it my duty to call out, and try to get some help. You see, he was
too heavy for me to lift. I almost broke my back trying, as it was."
"I should think you would!" declared Giraffe; "and it's a lucky thing we
heard you calling. Only for that what would you have done, Smithy?"
"I was trying to think all the while," replied the other. "You see, I
didn't dare let go my hold, for the current is terribly swift here. I had
half an idea that if only I could work along the bank a little, it might
shoal some, and then Bumpus would be able to get a footing. But I'm glad
you came when you did, for I was rapidly becoming exhausted."
Smithy generally spoke with great exactness, and used words that few of
his comrades ever bothered with in their conversation; that was one thing
connected with his previous condition that persisted in clinging to the
former dandy of the patrol.
"You did the right thing, and that's a fact!" commented Allan; "I don't
believe there's a single fellow who could have raised Bumpus. But, Thad,
he's beginning to shiver in this air; don't you think we ought to get him
over to the fire?"
"Sounds good t-to me; fire's what I w-want, and l-lots of it too!"
stammered the stout scout, trying to get to his feet, in which effort he
was ably assisted by willing hands. "As t-to that bank, how'd I k-k-know
it was goin' to c-c-cave in on me, t-t-tell me that, will y-y-you?"
They hurried him along as fast as he could be urged, and all the while he
kept shedding little streams of water, as though he carried an almost
inexhaustible supply. When finally the camp was reached, with the
wondering Step Hen giggling over the comical sight Bumpus presented, they
made the late swimmer disrobe, and hung his clothes around so that they
would dry in the heat of the fire.
Bumpus himself was wrapped in blankets until he looked like a swathed
mummy, and told to just lie there. Under all this manipulation of course
his chilled blood regained its normal temperature, and he declared he
felt as snug as a "bug in a rug!"
Even this excitement did not cause Giraffe to forget that he had business
on his hands, and supper was taken in charge with the customary results;
for they presently found themselves sitting down to a "bountiful repast,"
Davy called it, to the evident complete satisfaction of the eminent cook.
By the time they were ready to roll up in their blankets and try to get
some sleep, the clothes hanging from various bushes were thoroughly dry;
so that Bumpus could don the same. This released all the extra blankets
with which he had been swathed, which was a matter of vital importance to
their various owners.
The fire they expected to keep going more or less all through the night.
Besides the comfort that it brought through the necessary heat, its
bright glow did much to dissipate the gloom around them, and render their
situation less cheerless.
Giraffe insisted on keeping his gun close at his side, for he said there
could be no telling whether they were safe there or not. If the island
did happen to be the hiding-place of some desperate criminal, who might
think to steal a march on them as they slept, he wanted to be ready to
repel boarders.
He even had Thad promise to give a certain signal should anything out of
the way happen while they slept; just as though Thad would be awake all
through the night, and know about the same.
But the long hours of darkness dragged on, and there was no alarm. Some
of the boys slept through the entire night without arousing once; but
there were others who felt more of the weight of responsibility resting
upon them, and who frequently sat up to look around, or else got upon
their feet, in order to put more wood on the camp fire.
Morning broke and found them apparently in just the same condition as
when they had wrapped their blankets around them, and lay down with their
feet toward the fire, hunter-fashion.
Thad was the first up, and when Allan awoke it was to see the patrol
leader returning over the trail that led to the river bank.
It was easy to decide that the other must have been over to learn what
his tally-stick had to tell about the condition of the flood.
"How about it, Thad; falling, I hope?" Allan asked, as he stretched
himself, after getting on his feet.
"Yes, and rapidly into the bargain, just as we expected would be the
case," came the reply. "That rain could not have extended all the way up
to the sources of the river, you see; and it will run out in a big
hurry."
"Then we may be able to get across to the mainland before a great while?"
queried Allan.
"We'll talk about that while we're eating breakfast," Thad told him; "and
as the sun is coming up I reckon we'd better waken the rest of the crowd.
They've had a grand good sleep, I take it. Give Giraffe a push, Allan,
will you, and roll Bumpus over a few times till he says he's awake;
that's the regular program with him, you know." One by one the scouts sat
up, and yawned, and stretched, as sleepy boys are apt to do when they
have not been allowed to have their last nap out. Of course Davy did not
forget how Thad had made a flood-tally over at the river, which
fortunately Bumpus had not kicked away when he took his unexpected plunge
with a portion of the crumbly bank.
"I reckon, now, Thad, you've been over to see what's doing," he remarked,
while Giraffe fixed his cooking fire, and set about beginning operations
looking to having breakfast under way. "And if that's so tell us how she
stands. Did it drop half a foot or more during the time we snoozed?"
"More like three feet," replied the other; "and if Bumpus fell over in
the same place again he'd find the water hardly up to his waist, with
little current in place of that mill race of yesterday. Yes, things begin
to look encouraging all around, boys!"
"Like fun they do!" bawled out Giraffe just then, as he stood up, and
turned a very red and angry face toward the rest of the scouts.
"Why, what ails you now, Giraffe?" asked Smithy, who, generally calm and
cold as an iceberg himself, frequently took the others to task when they
showed signs of great excitement.
"I'm as mad as a wet hen, I tell you, and I wish somebody'd kick me for
not doing what I first meant to last night, ask Thad to set a watch!"
exploded the tall scout, stamping on the ground, and grinding his teeth.
Thad smelled a rat immediately.
"Anything been taken, Giraffe?" he asked hastily.
"Anything?" roared the other; "why, there isn't half enough left to give
us a decent meal. I reckon I might be satisfied, but where the rest of
you are going to come in beats me. Yes, this island is inhabited, all
right, and they're a set of low-down thieves at that. You hear me
talking, fellows!"