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[Illustration: "THE DAM IS GONE!" CRIED THE GIRL. "FLY FOR YOUR LIVES!"
_Page 7._]
The
Blue Grass Seminary Girls'
Vacation Adventures
OR
Shirley Willing to the Rescue
By Carolyn Judson Burnett
AUTHOR OF
"The Blue Grass Seminary Girls' Christmas Holidays,"
"The Blue Grass Seminary Girls in the Mountains,"
"The Blue Grass Seminary
Girls on the Water."
A. L. BURT COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Copyright, 1916
By A. L. Burt Company
THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES
THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES
CHAPTER I.--THE BROKEN DAM.
"The dam! The dam! The dam has broken!"
Shirley Willing, with flaming eyes and tightly-clenched hands, jumped
quickly forward, and with her right hand seized the bridle of a horse
that was bearing a strange boy along the road, which ran near the river.
The horse reared back on its haunches, frightened at the sudden halting.
"The dam!" cried the young girl again. "Quick! The people must be
warned!"
The face of the rider turned white.
"What do you mean?" he shouted, fear stamped on every feature.
Shirley's excitement fell from her like a cloak. She became quiet.
"The Darret dam has been washed away," she answered, "and unless the
people in the valley are warned immediately they will perish. There is
one chance to save them. You are mounted. You can outrun the oncoming
wall of water and save them. Away with you, quick! There is not a second
to spare!"
"But," protested the boy, "the water may overtake me and I shall drown.
We can climb to higher ground here and be safe."
He tried to turn his horse's head to the east. But Shirley clung to the
rein.
"And leave those people to drown, without warning?" she cried. "You
coward! You are afraid!"
"I----" the boy began, but Shirley cut his protest short.
Releasing the bridle of the horse, she sprang quickly to the side of the
animal, seized the rider by the leg with both her strong, young hands
and pulled quickly and vigorously. Unprepared for such action, the boy
came tumbling to the ground in a sprawling heap.
Quick as a flash Shirley leaped to the saddle and turned the horse's
head toward the valley. As she dug her heels into the animal's ribs,
sending him forward with a jump, she called over her shoulder to the
boy, who sat still dazed at the sudden danger:
"Get to safety the best way you can, you coward!"
Under the firm touch of the girl's hand on the rein the horse sped on
down the valley.
It was a mad race with death and Shirley knew it. But she realized that
human lives were at stake and she did not hesitate.
To the left of the road down which she sped lay high ground and safety,
while coming down the valley, perhaps a mile in the rear, poured a dense
wall of water, coming as swift as the wind.
For days the Mississippi and its tributaries had been rising rapidly and
steadily. Along the lowlands in that part of the state of Illinois, just
south of Cairo, where Shirley Willing had been visiting friends, fears
that the Darret dam, three miles up one of these tributary streams,
would give way, had been entertained.
Some families, therefore, had moved their perishable belongings to
higher ground, where they would be beyond the sweep of the waters should
the dam break.
Then suddenly, without warning, the dam had gone.
The home where Shirley had been visiting was a farmhouse, and the cry of
danger had been received by telephone. Those in the house had been asked
to repeat the warning to families further down the valley. But the
fierce wind that was raging had, at almost that very moment, blown down
all wires.
Shirley, in spite of the fact that she, with the others, could easily
have reached the safety afforded by higher ground a short distance away,
had thought only of those whose lives would be snuffed out if they were
not warned.
She had decided that she would warn them herself. She ran from the house
to the stable, where one single horse had been left.
But the seriousness of the situation seemed to have been carried to the
animal, and when Shirley had attempted to slip a bridle over his head he
struck out violently with his fore feet. As the girl sprang back, he
dashed from the stable.
Shirley ran after him and followed him into the road. There she
encountered a rider; and the conversation with which this story begins
took place.
As the girl sped down the road, she could hear from far behind, the roar
of the waters as they came tumbling after her.
A farmhouse came into sight. A man, a woman and several children came
out, attracted by the galloping hoofbeats. Without checking the speed of
her mount a single instant, Shirley guided the horse close to them.
"The dam! The dam!" she shouted, as she flashed by.
No other words were necessary. Without stopping to gather up any of
their effects, they all turned their faces and rushed for higher ground.
A second, a third, and a fourth farmhouse came into view, and as she
flashed by, the girl hurled her warning at each.
Half a mile below lay the little town of Stanley. It was for this that
Shirley was headed, in her race with the rushing water.
The roar behind her became louder, and Shirley, leaning over her horse's
neck, urged him to further efforts with soft and coaxing words.
The noble animal, seeming to realize that he was upon a message of life
or death, responded, and it seemed that he must have winged feet, so
lightly and swiftly did he fly over the ground.
But the roaring wall of water came closer.
Shirley uttered a cry of relief. Before her she made out the first house
in the little town. The sounds of the clattering hoofs on the hard
macadamized road drew the residents from their homes. Several had
gathered in a little knot as Shirley approached. Evidently they had not
heard the sound of the roaring waters.
"The dam has gone!" cried the girl, as she came up to them, and rode by
without checking the speed of her horse. "_Fly_ for your lives!"
Instantly all became bustle and confusion. The word was passed like a
flash and almost as one man the town poured from its homes and dashed
for safety.
Clear through the town the young girl rode, calling out her warning.
Then, and not until then, did she check her horse and turn his head
toward the safety that lay in the east.
A man ran up to her.
"The Hendersons!" he cried. "They left here not five minutes ago in
their buggy. The water will catch them on the road!"
Without a word, Shirley turned her horse and would have dashed forward
had not the man caught the bridle.
"It's death to you!" he cried.
"It's death to them if I don't make it!" cried Shirley.
She dug her heels into the animal's flanks and the horse shook off the
detaining hand with a quick twitch of his head. Evidently he, as well as
the girl, realized his responsibility.
Once more, under the guiding hand, he dashed forward as if it were wings
that carried him so lightly and swiftly over the ground. And as he flew
on, Shirley patted him softly on the neck and spoke low words of
encouragement.
The noble animal's ears stood straight and there was fire in his eyes.
He seemed to say: "We will save them if it is possible."
Rounding a sudden turn in the road, Shirley made out a buggy going
leisurely along. At the same moment the roar of the water came more
plainly to her ears.
She raised her voice in a shout that rose above the sound of roaring
water behind--rose above the sounds of clattering hoofs and above the
voices of the occupants of the buggy themselves.
The buggy stopped, the man's face peered out. As he saw Shirley dashing
along the road after him, a sudden understanding of what was wrong came
to him. Raising an arm, he waved it as a signal that the girl's warning
had been understood, and started his horse on a run.
Shirley breathed a great sigh of relief and dashed on after the buggy,
which was now going at terrific speed, rocking crazily and threatening
every moment to turn over in the road.
Coming suddenly to an open field at the left side of the road, the man
sent the buggy dashing across it, and made, as fast as his horse could
go, for a point where the ground rose sheer for perhaps a hundred feet.
Shirley sped after the buggy.
Coming to this abrupt rise, they were forced to search for a means of
clambering up it. The woman in the buggy, at the man's command, sprang
from the seat and dashed hurriedly up the steep hill. The man in the
meantime stopped to unhitch his horse, that the animal might have a
chance for its life.
Turning in her saddle, Shirley cried out in sudden fear.
Behind, so close that it seemed to be right upon her and bearing down
with tremendous speed, came a solid wall of water, many feet high.
With a cry to her horse, the girl turned his head squarely to the hill.
With his nostrils extended and his eyes dilated with fear, the animal
sprang at it. With his light burden he gained a foothold and dashed up
as fast as his weary limbs could carry him. Once he came to a place that
seemed too much for him; but the noble steed made a last desperate
effort and succeeded in getting his forefeet on top of the level ground
above.
With a single movement, Shirley flung herself from the saddle to the
safety of the high ground, and in another moment seized the bridle of
the horse, just as he would have slipped back into the raging flood that
now swept by below.
Exerting her utmost strength--and it was by no means slight--she
succeeded in helping the animal to scramble to the summit.
The occupants of the buggy had also succeeded in climbing to safety, but
the second horse had been carried away by the sweeping waters. Henderson
had been unable to loosen the animal, as he was forced to hurry to the
support of Mrs. Henderson, who, almost in safety, had fainted and would
have fallen back, had her husband's arm not caught her.
From this refuge, the three watched the waters as they swirled by with
tremendous force. Kicking animals, sheds, barns and small houses,
together with ruins and débris, swept past them, and more than once the
young girl cried out in despair, as she realized the damage that had
been done by the water.
The three had climbed to the very top of the hill, as the water
surrounded them on all sides. Gradually it rose, climbing closer and
closer to them. Shirley became alarmed and turned to Henderson, who
stood near her, still supporting his wife.
"Will it come this high, do you think, Mr. Henderson?"
Henderson shook his head.
"There is no telling," he replied quietly. "All we can do is to hope for
the best."
All became silent, but their eyes were riveted upon the water as it
closed in on them.
Now there was but perhaps twenty yards of dry ground, then fifteen, and
still the water rose. The rise continued until all stood in water, and
then it rose no higher.
"Thank God!" said Henderson, calmly, looking at his wife. "We are
saved!"
"Thank God, indeed," said Shirley softly, and she turned and stroked the
horse, who thrust his cold muzzle into her hand. "But for you," she
added, patting him gently, "hundreds would have been drowned!"