CHAPTER XXVIII
A RESCUE
"OVERBOARD with you, and help!"
"Yes, yes, Bob; I'm coming!"
Sandy seemed to be given a new lease of life. Hope brought fresh powersof endurance. Without an instant's delay he slid over the end of thecanoe, and into the flood.
He was a swimmer, like every young pioneer who went into the wildernesswith his people; and, as soon as Sandy put his shoulder to thenow-lightened canoe, why of course its progress toward the near-bypoint of land was considerably quickened.
It was all right! They could count on being able to make land, wherethe boat might be repaired, and their own flagging energies restored,ere they again breasted the swollen stream in the effort to reach thehome shore.
Now they could touch bottom with their feet. After that it was easy; sothat soon the boat was dragged up on the land, safe from the swirlingwaters.
Sandy tried to give a shout to signify how glad he felt; but there wasnot breath enough left in his lungs. All he could do was to sink downon the friendly shore, and pant like a winded deer.
Bob followed suit. He was as exhausted as his brother; for his recentefforts had been simply tremendous. And, as he lay on the shore, theremust have come to his heart that warm glow so natural to victory, whenone has fought the good fight, and won.
But not for long did Bob stay there on the ground. He knew that therewas much to be done, since they were soaked to the skin, and shivering.Besides, the canoe must be emptied of the water it contained anddragged up higher; for no one could say to what limit the flood mightattain ere it began to fall.
And Sandy, seeing his intention, also dragged his weary frame erect.
"What ought we do first?" he asked.
"Take hold, and we will empty out the canoe. Then let us try to makesome sort of shelter from the rain; after which a fire would be thenext best thing."
Sandy worked hard. He was cold, and his teeth rattled together inspite of the great gratitude that filled his heart over their almostmiraculous preservation. The sooner they got that campfire started, thebetter for them both.
He went to work as on the other occasion, at the time they werepreparing against the coming of this storm. Only now he had to acceptjust such substitutes as the island afforded.
Fortunately it was wooded, so that they need not lack for material.Some of the rocks offered a chance to build up side walls, over whichthe roof might slope, to shed the rain that was still coming down.
It took time to accomplish all this, but promised to repay theirefforts. When the shelter was in a fair way toward being finished, Bobset to work starting a fire. Luckily he kept his tinder in a littlewaterproof box, held within his bag; and it had not suffered from hisimmersion in the river.
An adept with flint and steel, he quickly had the sparks flying, and ablaze began to spring up. This was fed with bits of dry wood, torn fromthe heart of a partly-dead tree, until there was enough fire to seizeupon anything offered in the way of fuel.
"How good that feels!" declared the shivering Sandy, holding out hishands toward the leaping flames.
"I agree with you," answered Bob, smiling just as of yore, as if theterrible events of the last half hour were only a dream.
They cowered there under their shelter while their garments steamed inthe now genial heat. With every passing minute both boys were feelingbetter. Sandy even began to cast covetous glances toward the buffalomeat, which was lying close at hand, as though his customary appetitehad once more started to let him know growing boys must be often fed.
Seeing this, Bob nodded his head. He was feeling drowsy, for thenatural reaction after his recent tremendous exertions had set in; andthis was augmented by the delicious warmth of the fine fire.
So Sandy started to find a lot of reeds that would answer for toastingforks, on which bits of meat could be brought to a delightful stagewhen placed close to the blaze.
"It's stopped raining, Bob!" he declared, as he returned after hisforaging expedition with all the reeds needed.
"I hope that is the end of it," declared the other, though he poked hishead out from his shelter and surveyed the lowering heavens doubtingly.
"Where do you think all this water is coming from?" asked Sandy,looking across the broad river to the shore where, further down, thenew settlement stood; and no doubt wondering how they were ever goingto cross that raging flood that was carrying hundreds of trees on itsbosom.
"Oh, you forget that two rivers flow into this at Fort Pitt. Besides,there are other streams, all bank-full. It has been a terrible rain.Never in Virginia did we ever see anything like it."
"How fortunate that there are hills all along the Ohio, where the floodcannot reach. No wonder Colonel Boone warned us never to build ourcabins low down to the edge of the water. Why, Bob, just think whatwould have happened now had we foolishly done so!"
"Yes," remarked the other, as he cut off several pieces of meat totoast at the end of the reeds Sandy had tossed him. "After this,perhaps some one I know will have more respect for the simple oldmedicine man who foretold just this flood. How about that, Sandy?"
"He knew, sure enough," admitted the other, readily; "but just as yousaid, I believe he guessed what was coming from the looks of the sky.The longer it held off the worse it would be when it arrived. Say,this is what I call comfort, Bob. Think what a difference between ourpresent condition, and when we were fighting for our lives out yonder,"and Sandy shuddered as he cast a quick glance toward the spot where thetwo currents clashed after skirting the length of the island.
After a while they were able to begin eating. Perhaps there might haveseemed a sameness about this fare to a modern boy; but these hardypioneer lads never dreamed of complaining. Indeed, their hearts werenow filled with thanksgiving over their recent miraculous escape, andthere was no room for regrets. Besides, they were not used to luxuriesin those days.
Sandy was drawing a long breath, as though really unable to finishall the food he had cooked, when he saw his brother start up. Bob washolding his head in a listening attitude.
"What did you think you heard?" exclaimed the other, in alarm.
"I must have been mistaken," said Bob, smiling; "for it would be nextto impossible for any one to be out here on this island right now."
"But did you think you heard some one call?" persisted Sandy.
"Yes, it sounded like a shout. But no doubt it was some hawk that hasfound shelter, like ourselves, on the island. If we watch we willlikely see him fly away, now that the rain has stopped."
Bob had hardly spoken when both brothers half sprang to their feet.
"It was a cry for help!" exclaimed Sandy, looking at his brother, asusual expecting Bob to take the initiative in the emergency.
"Some one is in trouble!" said the other, "and it is up to us to see ifwe can do anything for him. Remember how we would have been crazy withjoy had there been a helping hand held out when all seemed lost!"
"There it comes again! And from the same place! Whoever it is, hecannot be going past the island."
"No," cried Bob, "I think he must have been thrown ashore among allthat trash at the upper end, and, unable to help himself, is in dangerof drowning there, caught in the piled up tree-tops. Come, we must getthere and lend a hand."
"It may be an Indian, and a hostile," reminded Sandy.
"I do not think so, for the shout seemed to call for 'help!' But evenif it is an Indian, surely you have reason for knowing that all Indiansare not cruel and merciless. Remember the gratitude of Blue Jacket.Come, Sandy!"
Bob hardly needed to say all this, for Sandy would not have heldback. Together they made their way along the shore. It was not easytravelling, for the bushes grew thickly and interfered with theirpassage; but Bob led the way, and, accustomed to pushing through thewoods, he surmounted all difficulties, Sandy coming close at his heels.
In this fashion they finally came to the head of the island, where thefloating trunks of dead trees, some with branches, too, fo
rmed a sortof barrier, which the force of the flood had swept up on the point.
"There, look yonder, Bob! I see him!" cried Sandy, the instant theyarrived.
There was indeed a clinging figure out amid that mass of floatingtimber. The unknown seemed to be endeavoring to crawl through thenetwork surrounding him; but his strength had apparently reached itslast notch.
Bob never hesitated, but started out over the logs. Now and then he hadto exercise considerable care lest he slip, and once more plunge intothe roaring flood.
"Stand where you are, Sandy," he called to his brother, who hadfollowed him. "Be ready to help when I give the word. I think I canget hold of him, and slew him around to you. Take care, and keep yourfooting!"
Evidently Bob knew just how to carry out his hastily-arranged plan, forin a brief time he had gripped the unknown by the arm, and was haulinghim out of and over the wreckage that surrounded him.
So by slow degrees they managed between them all to get ashore. Herethe man collapsed. He was no doubt overcome by the joyful sense ofsafety, when he had apparently given himself up for lost.
"We must get him down to our little camp," said Bob, as he looked atthe exhausted man.
"Who can he be!" questioned Sandy; for the bearded white face wastotally unfamiliar to either of them.
"I do not know. Take hold of his feet, while I try to hold hisshoulders. Between us we can carry him, step by step."
They had made a passage in going up, and it would have been easierreturning had they not been burdened with the senseless stranger; but,by resting frequently, the two boys finally managed to attain theirend, and the man was laid alongside the fire.
They started to rub the hands of the sufferer, to restore circulation,for he was evidently chilled to the bone, as well as utterly exhausted.
No doubt the genial warmth of the fire had considerable to do with it;but the efforts of the boys counted as something, and presently theywere rewarded by seeing the man's eyes open.
"He's alive, Bob! We're going to bring him around all right!" exclaimedSandy.
In five minutes the man could lie there and hold out his tremblinghands to the fire. In ten he was sitting up, gnawing hungrily at apiece of roasted meat Sandy had handed him, as though he knew that inthis way he would regain some of that strength which he had lost whenengulfed in the flood.
And sitting there, watching him curiously, the two lads never oncesuspected how again their lucky star was in the ascendent; and that insaving this stranger from a watery grave they were bringing happinesshome to those they loved so dearly.
The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio; or, Clearing the Wilderness Page 31