CHAPTER TEN
JULIE AND JOAN'S PREDICAMENT
It was all very well to talk about paddling across a quiet littlelake, but it was another thing when one got into the swift currentthat ran past the rocky bluff where the girls wished to land. Therewas no shallow water anywhere, where they might get out and beach thecanoe, so Julie paddled with the current for a distance, leaving thecamp site far behind.
Joan kept gazing for a likely spot to anchor in, but there were nonesuch. Then suddenly, the canoe was caught in a swirl of water that wascaused by the outpouring of a creek, and Julie discovered thatmanaging a large canoe built for Rocky Mountain waters was fardifferent from steering a light craft across a home lake, or along thecanal that ran through the town.
"Why are you going this way, Julie--why not stick to the shore line?"asked Joan, as the canoe was driven along with the current.
"Stick to nothing! How can I help going this way when the current isas mad as a Jehu!" cried Julie, desperately.
"Then let me help in some way."
"I only wish you could, but we only have one paddle."
Joan glanced at the water. It was running quite shallow just wherethey were. An idea flashed into her mind.
"Julie, I'll get out and pull the canoe upstream while you help withthe paddle."
Julie made no demur, although she said, warningly, "Don't let go ofthe canoe for a second, will you?"
"Of course not! Did you think I wanted to be left on a desert shore?"laughed Joan, climbing out.
She managed to drag the canoe for quite a distance upstream again,while Julie paddled with all her might. At times Joan stepped down ina hole and had to cling to the canoe to save herself. At such timesthe craft swung back again downstream, making the girls do the samework all over again. Finally Joan's teeth began chattering and shemanaged to quiver forth, "The water's like ice!"
"You've been in too long. Now you get in and let me take your place,Jo. Later you can switch off with me again, and in that way we'll getback to still water opposite camp."
So Julie jumped out and Joan got in to paddle, but her hands werestiff with the chill and her whole body shaking, hence her paddlingwas not of much use. Julie was the stronger of the two scouts, so shemanaged to pull the canoe upstream splendidly, and both girls feltthat now their troubles were over. All of a sudden, however, shestumbled over a great submerged stone and fell out flat on the water,face downward.
She had presence of mind to cling to the edge of the canoe with bothhands, but Joan stopped paddling in consternation when she saw theaccident. Instantly the craft caught in the swift current and shotahead as an arrow from the bow. Julie floated out behind, on thewater, at times completely covered with the swirling waves curled upby the sharp canoe.
At times she lifted her head up and tried to gasp. In one of thesedesperate efforts, she cried, "Paddle--paddle for the love of Mike!"then she was swept under again.
Before Joan got down to actual work again with the paddle, the canoewas running opposite the creek again, and all the gain the girls hadmade by wading upstream was lost. Julie was very cold by this time,and the water was so deep that she could not touch bottom, so sheclimbed back in the canoe.
During the help Joan had to give the half-fainting mariner, the canoeheaded straight for a bend in the river. Where they would land neitherscout could tell. It might be over the falls--it might be in a mudpuddle.
"Can't you stop it?" screamed Julie, hysterically. "We may run plumbinto a cliff and smash to bits!"
As she spoke, she grabbed the paddle and worked with the strength thatfear sometimes gives, so that she really poled the canoe across thecreek to the shore where the water was quiet. But they were now on thefar side of the current, in the creek that was hidden by the bluffthey had passed. The distance from camp was too far for any one tohear them, even if they did shout. So they fastened the canoe and gotout upon the bank.
"When Verny finds us gone, and one canoe missing, she will send theIndians out at once to hunt for us. Meantime, we may as well make afire and get warm," suggested Julie.
"Tally left a line and tackle in the bottom of the canoe," announcedJoan, remembering that she had caught her toe on a fish-hook when sheclimbed out.
"Oh, then we're not so hard up, after all. We can catch a fish andbroil it for lunch."
"I'm fearfully hungry after all that work," hinted Joan.
"Then you fish while I make fire with some rubbing-sticks. As soon asyou land a fish, I'll clean it with my scout knife and start broilingit. Better try upstream a ways, where the water is quiet," said Julie.
The fire was soon blazing, and Joan managed to catch two goodly sizedfish, so they ate them, and dried their uniforms at the fire at thesame time. This done, they felt better. But no call from the rescuersthe girls had expected, nor sign of them, came from the lake beyondthe bluff.
"Jo, suppose we follow this creek a ways until we find a shallow placewhere we can ford. Then we can climb up to that knoll and signal withsmokes."
"We may get into all sorts of new trouble, Julie. I'd rather wait herefor them."
"I've got to get up and do something, Jo. I'll go crazy sitting herewaiting, with no sign from any one out there."
"Why can't we paddle the canoe up a ways. If we walk we may step on arattler, or meet other dreadful things," ventured Jo.
"All right, then. We'll canoe upstream a ways. If it doesn't lookhealthy yonder, we'll come back. But should we find a trail we may aswell follow it to the bluff," returned Julie.
"Who'd make a trail in this wilderness!" scorned Joan.
"Don't you suppose others have been in this beautiful spot? Othershave seen that bluff and climbed it, too."
So the scouts paddled the canoe upstream as far as it seemedadvisable, and that is how they missed hearing the Indians, when theycrossed the creek and called for the lost ones. Then the hunterspaddled on downstream, searching ahead for a canoe that might be goingstraight for the great falls John knew to be a mile further down.
John and Omney were in the leading canoe, while the Captain and Tallywere in the second canoe of the rescuing party. When no sign of thescouts was seen at the creek, John called back to Tally.
"Omney and me go on, you take lady to shore and wait on creek for me."
Tally did not tell Mrs. Vernon that a dangerous waterfall wasdownstream, but he knew that was where John was going to hunt, so helanded his passenger on the far side of the creek, where they sat andwaited for news. No one dreamed that the two girls would paddle up thecreek and thus miss a chance of being helped. Nor did Tally find theashes of the little campfire Julie had made to cook the fish and todry themselves.
"I knew there would be a fine trail along here, somewhere, Jo!"exclaimed Julie, driving the canoe inshore and pointing exultantly ata distinct trail that ran up from the water's edge.
"Oh, joy! It runs straight for the bluff, too!" cried Joan.
So they climbed this steep trail, which was so plainly worn that therewas no need of blazes along the way. They climbed and climbed! Stillthey had not reached the top where they expected to find the knollthey originally started out for.
"Seems to me we have gone twice as far as ever that bluff was,"complained Joan.
"Places always seem close at hand when one is on the water," commentedJulie.
But they now found the trail descending, and shortly it went decidedlydownhill, away from the lake. Both scouts looked at each other.
"There is no sense in _going down_, Julie!"
"Apparently not, Jo, but these trails wind awfully, you know; andmaybe it is trying to avoid a gully or a cliff."
So they kept on, hoping every moment for a sight of the bald placethat had allured them from the camp on the safe and desirable meadow.After half an hour of this hiking they came out to an inland pond withcanals cut in different directions.
"Why! it's a beaver colony!" exclaimed Julie, pointing to the huts anddam, and they saw several beavers working in the aspens at th
e farside of the pond.
"I could eat one of those beavers--I'm so starved!" sighed Joan.
"Shall we follow that trail around the pond?" asked Julie.
"What for? We're only going further away all the time."
"Then we may as well go back to the creek and wait."
"All this long walk for nothing!" grumbled Joan. But she followedJulie nevertheless, and when they reached the brook they had recentlycrossed, the girls found two trails leading to it.
"I only saw one before," said Joan.
"Because we were _on_ that one,--but which one was it?"
"Coming from the left, to be sure. Would we be coming from theinterior?" asked Joan, impatiently.
So they took the lefthand trail, although they really had come up bythe other one, which led from the creek where their canoe was waiting.
"Jo, I believe both those trails were worn by animals going to thecreek," ventured Julie, as the idea suddenly came to her.
"Well, you said tourists would surely visit here and leave a trail!"Joan returned, jeeringly.
For once Julie made no reply in self-justification. The two scoutskept on hiking until they were so fatigued that they both felt likecrying.
"I hope we're not lost," whimpered Joan, wiping her eyes.
"Of course not! Folks are never lost unless they get into a panic offear," declared Julie, keeping up her own courage by trying to boostthat of her companion.
Again the girls climbed and climbed, until presto! right in front anddown far below, was the lovely lake! Oh, how beautiful it looked! Theystood where they were for a few moments sighing in relief that nowthey were sure to be rescued. Then Julie frowned and looked at Joan.
"Jo, is there anything wrong with my eyes? I can't see any meadowopposite us."
"Neither can I! There's a rocky pine-topped wall over there."
"But there _was_ a flat meadow where we camped, wasn't there?" queriedJulie.
"O Julie, you're not going daffy, are you?" wailed Joan.
"Good gracious! Why do you ask such a thing! _Was_ there a meadow overthere?" screamed Julie, shaking Joan fearfully.
"I've heard that folks lose their minds when they're lost in thewilderness," cried Joan, forgetting to answer the all-importantquestion about the meadow.
"Will you tell me what I want to know--_was there a meadow_?" yelledJulie, stamping her foot vehemently as she spoke.
She had been standing upon long wiry witch grass that had washed itsblades downwards toward the lake, and having but little roothold inthe thin layer of dried moss and top soil that was spread over thecliff, the sharp stamping of a scout heel loosened this slightattachment.
Then like a mirage in the desert, Joan beheld her friend vanish! Notswiftly and instantaneously, but slowly and surely, as the roots andmatted surface reluctantly broke away because of Julie's weight anddownward gravity.
"Save me! Oh Jo! Save me!" screamed Julie, clutching wildly at scrubbushes that held tenaciously to the crevices and so gave her temporaryresistance. But her weight always tore them away finally, and then shehad to grasp the next one.
"Oh Julie--come back! Come back, don't leave me all alone in thiswilderness!" wailed Joan, wringing her hands.
The sudden realization that Joan thought only of herself in face ofthe calamity that threatened her friend, served to cool Julie's fear;then she used common sense in sparing herself as far as possible. Shewas out of Joan's sight now, and by making use of every bush, root, orvine on the slanting rocks, she resisted the force of gravitationenough to slide slowly instead of being catapulted from the heights.She knew not just where this chute would end--in deep or shallow water.If the former she still might swim to shore, if that were not too faraway.
The last few feet of this slide ended abruptly where the cliff hadbeen worn away by the spring freshets and floods. Here Julie droppedinto the water which formed a hole along the rockbound shore, so thatshe went in without striking anything, and immediately began swimmingto free herself from the tangle of roots and debris that fell withher.
She swam for a distance until she found a narrow edge of sand whereshe might sit and rest in the sunshine. So she managed to reach thistwenty-inch-wide refuge and shook out her hair to dry. She wonderedwhat Joan would do when she found she had to make her own way alone tothe canoe! And the picture she painted of her erstwhile companion,stumbling along weeping, gave her some satisfaction.
This spirit of vengeance, however, was soon gone, and a kindly feelingtook its place. She began to plan how she might creep along thatnarrow edge of beach to reach the point on land where she could seethe creek pouring into the lake. From there she could signal Joan whenshe reached the canoe, and thus relieve her mind of the fear that herchum had been drowned.
After overcoming many obstacles, she reached the jutting land thatmarked the entrance to the creek. The canoe had landed on the oppositeside, further up stream. Hardly had she gained the top of thispromontory before she heard excited voices, and one above the otherswailing dismally.
Instantly she knew Joan was safe and that the others had arrived. Aline of Scripture flashed through her mind and caused her tosmile--"The voice of one crying in the wilderness," quoth Julie.
No sooner had she grasped the fact that she would be with her oldfriends in a few moments, than she recovered all her old _sang froid_.She shook out her clinging clothes, and twisted up her half-driedhair, then sat down on top of the promontory and sang. Yes, _sang_,and sang merrily, too, because she thought that would convey theimpression of how unconcerned she felt.
Sound carries far over the water, so Julie's singing was heard by therescuers as soon as they came out into the lake. Then they shouted,and she replied. Finally they saw the solitary figure sitting upon arock with both hands clasped about her knees, singing as if her heartwas too full of joy to hold it all.
The moment the canoes came near enough, the Captain gazed up, andasked, "How can you get down, Julie?"
"Same way I came up, Verny--with my feet!"
Every one laughed, but Mrs. Vernon shook her head as she murmured,"Same old Julie! Nothing on earth will quench that spirit."
Suddenly, to the horror of every one in the canoes, they saw a formshoot past them and dive into the water. But as suddenly, a laughingface appeared above the surface and soon Julie was in one of thecanoes.
Had it not been for the danger of upsetting, the occupants of thatcanoe would have hugged the scout in their relief at having found hersafe and sound,--because Joan's report had been more than despairing.
"O Julie, darling! I thought you were dead!" cried Joan.
"Did you? But you wailed for yourself when you saw me go down toperdition," scorned Julie.
"But how did you manage to get down to the promontory, Julie?" arguedJoan, ignoring the other's reply.
"Now, how do you s'pose? I motored there, of course!"
When they all returned to the belated and cold dinner, it was lateafternoon, and no one felt in the mood for fresh adventures that day.So they decided to camp on the lovely meadow for the night, andcontinue the trip in the morning. The three scouts who had been leftin camp to guard the dinner were not told of the escape until later.
As they all dawdled languidly over the last fragments of the supper, asilver bar slanted suddenly across their faces, and the very disheswere transformed into a shimmering glory. The broad shaft of lightthat shone from the newly-risen moon lighted up the whole meadow andpenetrated far into the dark fringe of pines that bordered themeadowland.
Then the full moon rose higher in the vaulted dome of the blueheavens--heavens as blue as the Venetian Sea; and sharp points ofstarlight began to twinkle like tiny beacons on crafts at anchor inthat peaceful haven of fathomless blue.
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