WHAT AN EXPERT CAN DO
"I don't say that I can surely raise the canoe," Mr. Driggs made
haste to state, "or that it will be worth the trouble if we do
raise it. That canoe may have sunk on river-bottom rocks, and
she may be badly staved by this time. But I've sent one of my
men to fire the scow engine, and I'm going out to see what can
be done in the matter."
"And may we wait here?" asked Laura Bentley, full of eagerness.
"Certainly, young ladies."
"Oh, that's just fine of you, Mr. Driggs," cried Belle Meade.
Smoke soon began to pour out of the short funnel of the working
engine on the boatyard scow. It was a clumsy-looking craft---a
mere floating platform, with engine, propeller, tiller and a derrick
arrangement, but it had done a lot of good work at and about the
boatyard.
"You want to get aboard the scow now, boys," called Mr. Driggs.
"If we do anything real out yonder I'll have need of some willing
muscle."
"Can't some of the girls go, too?" called a feminine voice. "We're
all dreadfully anxious, you know."
Hiram pursed up his mouth, as though reluctant. Then he proposed,
grudgingly:
"A committee of two girls might go, if they're sure they'll keep
out of the way when we're working. Just two! Which of the young
ladies ought we to take, Mr. Prescott?"
"Why, I believe Miss Bentley and Miss Meade will be as satisfactory
a committee as can be chosen," Dick smiled.
Some of the girls frowned their disappointment at being left out,
but others clapped their hands. Laura and Belle stepped on the
scow's platform.
"I wouldn't try to go, if I were you, Dan," urged. Dick, as young
Dalzell stepped forward to board the scow.
"I'm all right," Dan insisted.
"Sure you're all right?" questioned Hiram Driggs, eyeing Danny
Grin's wobbly figure.
"Of course I am," Dan protested, though he spoke rather weakly.
"Then there's a more important job for you," declared Mr. Driggs.
"Stay here on the float with the rest of the young ladies, and
explain to them just what you see us doing out yonder."
There was the sound of finality about the boat builder's voice,
kindly as it was.
"Cast off," ordered Driggs, taking the tiller. "Tune up that
engine and give us some headway."
Clara Marshall was thoughtful enough to run back and get a chair,
which she brought down to the float and placed behind Dalzell.
"Sit down," she urged.
"Thank you," said Dan gratefully, "but I didn't need a chair."
Nevertheless the high school girls persuaded him to be seated.
"I---I wasn't drowned, you know," Dan protested as he sat down.
"No; but you got a little water into your lungs," responded one
of the girls. "I heard Mr. Driggs tell Dick Prescott that, as
nearly as they could guess, you opened your mouth a trifle just
before Dick and Dave reached you and freed you from that awful
trap. Mr. Driggs said that if you had been under water two minutes
longer there would have been a different story to tell."
"I wonder how long I was under water?" mused Dan.
"Long enough to drown, Danny Grin," replied Clara Marshall gravely.
Meanwhile the scow was making slow headway out into the river
and slightly up stream.
"Dick, don't you think this canoeing is going to prove too dangerous
a sport for you boys?" asked Laura, regarding him with anxious
eyes.
"Not when we get so that we know how to behave ourselves in a
canoe, Laura," young Prescott answered.
"Yet, no matter how skilful you become, some unexpected accident
may happen at any moment," she urged.
"You wouldn't have us be mollycoddles, would you?" asked Dick
in surprise.
"Certainly not," replied Laura with emphasis.
"Yet you would advise us to avoid everything that may have some
touch of danger in it."
"I wouldn't advise that, either," Laura contended with sweet
seriousness. "But-----"
"You'd like to see us play football some day, wouldn't you?"
"I certainly hope you'll make the high school eleven."
"Football is undoubtedly more dangerous than canoeing," Dick claimed.
"It seems too bad that boys' best sports should be so dangerous,
doesn't it?" questioned young Miss Bentley.
"I can't agree with you," Dick answered quietly. "It takes danger,
and the ability to meet it, to form a boy's character into a man's."
"Then you believe in being foolhardy, as a matter of training?"
asked Laura, with a swift flash of her eyes.
"By no means," Prescott rejoined. "Foolhardy means just what
the word implies, and only a fool will be foolhardy. If we had
been trying to upset the canoe, as a matter of sport, that would
have been the work of young fools."
It was not difficult to locate the spot where the canoe had gone
down. The river's current was not swift, and the paddles now
floated not very far below the spot where the cherished craft
of Dick & Co. had gone down.
"Do you want the services of some expert divers, Mr. Driggs?"
asked Dave, turning from a brief chat with Belle Meade.
"Not you boys," retorted the boat builder. "You youngsters have
been fooling enough with the river bottom for one day."
"Then how do you expect to get hold of the canoe, sir?" asked
Tom Reade.
"We'll grapple with tackle," replied Driggs, going toward an equipment
box that stood on the forward end of the scow. "We'll use the
same kind of tackle that we've sometimes dragged the bottom with
when looking for drowned people."
Laura Bentley slivered slightly at his words. Driggs' keen eyes
noted the fact, and thereafter he was careful not to mention drowned
people in her hearing.
The tackle was soon rigged. Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton, who
possessed the keenest interest in things mechanical, aided the
boat builder under his direction.
Back and forth over the spot the scow moved, while the grapples
were frequently shifted and recast.
"Stop the engine," called Driggs. "We've hooked into something!"
Laura turned somewhat pale for a moment; Belle, too, looked uneasy.
The same thought had crossed both girls' minds. What if the
tackle had caught the body of some drowned man?
"We'll shift about here a bit," Driggs proposed, nodding to the
engineer to stand by ready to stop or start the engine on quick
signal.
Before long the grappling hook of another line was caught;
"The two lines are about twelve feet apart," Driggs announced.
"My idea is that we've caught onto two cross braces of the canoe.
If so we'll have it up in a jiffy."
Both lines were now made fast to the derrick, in such a way that
there would be an even haul on both lines. Belting was now connected
between the engine and a windlass.
"Haul away, very slowly," Driggs ordered.
Up came the lines, an inch at a time. Belle and Laura could not
resist the temptation to go to the edge of the scow and peer over.
"I see something coming up," cried Belle at last.
"It's the canoe," said Tom Reade, trying to speak carelessly,
though there was a ring of exultation in his voice.
Nearer and nearer to the surface of the water came the canoe.
"Now, watch for my hand signal all the time," called Driggs.
"I don't want to get the middle part of the canoe more than an
inch above the surface."
When the point of the canoe's prow rose above the surface of the
water a cheer went up from the scow that carried the news instantly
back to the landing float.
Danny Grin stood up, waving his hat and cheering hoarsely, while
the girls who surrounded him waved handkerchiefs and parasols.
Then the gunwale appeared just above water along the whole length.
"It will be a hard job to bail her out now," Dave declared.
"Not so hard that it will worry you any," Driggs smiled.
He dragged a pump over, allowing its flexible pipe to rest down
into the water in the canoe.
"Now, some of you youngsters get hold of the pump handles," Driggs
ordered.
Five high school boys got hold with a will. Gradually, as the
water was emptied out of her the canoe rose higher and higher
in the water.
There was no cheering, now, from the boys on the scow. They were
using all their breath working the pump, while Driggs carefully
directed the bottom of the flexible tubing.
"There!" declared Driggs at last. "Barring a little moisture,
your canoe is as dry as ever it was, boys. I can't see a sign
of a leak anywhere, either. But don't make a practice of tipping
it over every day, for I can't afford to leave my work to help
you out. There's your canoe, and she's all right."
Dick got hold of the painter at the bow, while Driggs released
the grappling tackle.
What a cheer went up from the scow, and what a busy scene there
was on the float as the young women jumped up and down in their
glee over the good fortune of Dick & Co.
"Now, we'll cruise down and get the paddles," Driggs proposed.
"As soon as we pick up a couple of them, Dick and I can take the
canoe and get the rest," Dave suggested.
"You cannot, while the young ladies are with us," Hiram Driggs
contradicted. "Do you want to scare them to death by having another
upset?"
Laura shot a grateful glance at kindly Hiram Driggs. The scow
moved forward, cruising among the paddles until all of them had
been recovered.
"Now, Mr. Driggs, won't you stop a moment?" asked young Prescott.
"It will be a bit humiliating to be towed into dock. Wait, and
let us get into the canoe. We'd rather take it ashore under
our own power."
Laura hoped Hiram Driggs would veto the idea, but he didn't.
The canoe was brought alongside, and five boys stepped carefully
into it, seating themselves.
"Room for one young lady in here, if we can find a fair way of
drawing lots between them," suggested Dick playfully.
"They won't step into the canoe, just now, if I can prevent them,"
Driggs declared flatly. "You boys want just a few minutes' more
practice at your new game before you risk the lives of these girls."
"You're right, I'm afraid, Mr. Driggs," Dick Prescott admitted
with a smile. "But, before long, we hope to take out as many
of the high school girls as care to step into this fine old war
canoe."
"I hope you won't forget that," Belle Meade flashed at him smilingly.
"We won't," Dave promised her. "And you and Laura shall have
the first invitation."
"I shall be ready," Laura replied, "just as soon as you boys feel
that you can take proper care of us in the canoe."
"You'll have to do your own share of taking care," Tom Reade responded.
"About all a passenger has to learn in a canoe is to take a seat
right in the middle of the canoe, and to keep to that place without
moving about."
Dick & Co., minus Danny Grin, now paddled off, reaching the float
some moments before the scow got in.
"Young ladies," said Dick, as he stepped to the float, "I don't
know how many of you will care about going out in our canoe, but
we wish to invite all who would like it to try a trip within the
next few days. Four boys and two girls can go out at a time,
and in case of mishap that would leave two good swimmers to look
after each girl. We shall be glad if you will permit us to invite
you in couples."
Despite the accident of the morning the invitation was greeted
with enthusiasm.