Afloat on the Flood

by John C. Hutcheson

  CHAPTER XI

  GOOD CHEER BY THE CAMP FIRE

  Toby made a quick lurch, and managed to snatch up the broken blade ofSteve's now useless oar. As they had no way of mending it, tin, nails,or hammer, it was next-door to useless to them.

  Already that fierce current was seizing them in its remorseless grip;and the overloaded boat began to spin down-stream, turning around andaround in its helplessness.

  "Gee! whiz! what can we do now, Max?" asked Bandy-legs, ready to jumpoverboard if the other but said the word, and urge the boat toward theshore by swimming on his back.

  Before Max could frame a reply something happened. Shack leanedforward from toward the stern and took the oar from the hands ofBandy-legs.

  "Let me show yuh how tuh do it!" he said, not roughly at all, buteagerly, as though just too well pleased to have it in his power toassist.

  Max understood what he meant to do; in fact, he had been about tosuggest the very same remedy for their ills when Shack made his move.

  "There's a sculling hole in the back of the stern seat, Shack!" hecalled out, being more up in the bow himself.

  The oar upon being fitted in the cavity could be rapidly turned to theright and to the left, with a peculiar motion known to those who havelearned the art of successfully sculling a craft in this way. It iswonderful what progress can be made in that fashion. Shack seemed toknow all about it, for presently Bandy-legs emitted a whoop that wouldhave shamed an Indian brave.

  "Say, you're making her just walk along, Shack, that's right!" heexclaimed.

  "And that oar going bad didn't knock us out at all, did it?" demandedSteve, who felt sorely distressed because it had been his bungling wayof rowing that had brought about their trouble, and with Bessie onboard too, which cut him worse than anything else.

  "Seems like it wouldn't," Max told him, feeling quite satisfied himself.

  Shack kept working away like a good fellow, and the boat drew closerand closer to the shore all the time. There was now no reason tobelieve that they would have any more trouble in landing; and Max beganto take closer notice of the shore than he had up to that time done.

  "None of us have ever been as far down the river as this," he remarked;"I know I haven't, anyway."

  "I was down once years ago, and saw the big falls where we might havetaken a header if we'd kept drifting," Bandy-legs explained; "but say,I don't seem to remember the first thing about the country. You couldlose me down here without any trouble, I guess. Plenty of forest allright, eh, Max; and we won't have any great time makin' a fire, if onlywe get matches? Mine are all wet."

  "I carry a few in a waterproof case," Max told him; "so don't let thatworry you any, Bandy-legs. The question is with us, after the fire,what? We'll all be hungry and the girls haven't had a bite to eatsince early morning."

  "Well, there's a house, surrounded by water," suggested Steve; "guesswe'll have to cabbage anything we can find around loose. In times likethis you can't wait to ask permission. Eat first, and pay for itafterwards, that's the motto we'll have to go by. If we're on theright side of the luck fence we might even run across a smoked hamhangin' from the rafters. They keep all kinds of good things sometimesin these cabins along the shore."

  "Seems to be something like a hencoop back of the house," addedBandy-legs.

  "Oh! s-s-say, don't go to g-g-getting a feller's m-m-mouth all made upfor nice r-r-roast chicken, and then never find any," objected Toby.

  "Course we'll find all sorts of good things," declared Bandy-legs,stoutly; "why, look what's happened to us already; and tell me thatthis ain't our lucky day. We went down with the old bridge, but notone of us got thrown into the water. Then we sailed twenty miles, anddropped in on the roof of the French house just like we'd been drawn bya magnet, which p'raps some of us must a been, hey, Steve? And then,by George! just when we wanted a boat the worst ever, along came thistub, and heading straight in for our shaky roost like it was beingpiloted by hands none of us could see. Luck? Why, we've got itplastered all over us, from head to foot. Chickens, ham, anything youwant, just ask for it, and then wait and have faith!"

  "We're glad that you feel so certain," Mazie told him, "because I'mready to own up that I'm awfully hungry, and could eat almost anythingjust now."

  "And I'm beginning to feel a little weak myself," admitted Bessie;"which, I suppose, is caused from going without any regular meal. Noneof us dared go back down through that trap once we got on the roof,because we were afraid the house might float off while we were below.Yes, we hope there will be something you can get in that house."

  "Seems to be abandoned, all right," Steve remarked, shading his eyeswith his hands in order to see better.

  "There's somebody over on the bank beyond, and as near as I can makeout it's an old woman," Max told them just at that point; "perhapsshe's guarding some of the stuff that was saved from the cabin when thewater came up around it; while her man has gone to get a horse andwagon, or a boat."

  "Well, we're going to land here," Bandy-legs ventured; "and it won't behard to go up and interview the old lady. P'raps we can make a bargainwith her for some of her grub. I've got a dollar along with me, and Ireckon some of the rest ought to make as good a showing."

  "There'll be no trouble about that part of it, if only the food isaround," Max assured them. "If the worst comes we'll have tocommandeer the food market, and settle afterwards. Can you make it allright, Shack?"

  "Easy as fallin' off a log," replied the stout boy, who was stillwielding the sculling oar back and forth with that peculiar turningmotion that presented the broad surface of the blade to the water allthe time, and induced the boat to move forward with a steady action.

  He made his words good a few minutes later, for the stem of the boatran gently up against the bank, where a log offered a good chance fordisembarking.

  No one would want a better landing stage; and so the three girlsmanaged to go ashore without wetting their feet any more than they hadbeen before.

  Every one seemed glad to get on solid ground again. Even Max secretlyadmitted that it did feel very good to know he had no longer to dependon the whims of the current, but could go wherever he willed.

  "Let's hunt out a decent place to make a camp," he remarked, "and thenafter we get the shelter started, and the cheery fire warming thingsup, two of us ought to wander off up the bank and see what's doingaround that house."

  "I'll go with yon, Max," said Bandy-legs hastily, as though more orless afraid that he might come in a poor second, as it was a case of"first come, first served."

  They drew the boat well up, and fastened it with the length of ropethat served as a painter; the clothes-line Max thought to take alongwith him, as there was a possibility they might need it before throughwith this adventure.

  Then they started through the woods, which just at this point happenedto be unusually dense, with great trees rearing their crests a hundredfeet or so above the heads of the shipwrecked Crusoes.

  It was not long before Max called attention to a certain spot which heclaimed would answer all their present needs.

  "There's plenty of stuff to make a shelter of brush and branches with,"he observed, "though it would be easier all around if we had a hatchetalong."

  "That's right," added Steve; "and if I'd only had any idea that oldbridge was going to dump us all into the drink the way it did I'd havehad lots of things fixed different, give you my affidavy I would. Butwe ought to be able to work a fairly decent brush shanty without. Itwon't be the first we've put up, and I certainly hope it isn't goin' tobe the last, either."

  Filled with this winning spirit the boys quickly busied themselves.Shack gathered brush with the rest, and really did more than his shareof the work. This was right in his element, and no one had to tell himhow to proceed.

  Max waited to see things progressing before he started off. A fire hadalready been started, and the cheery flames did much toward dispellingthe feeling of gloom that had begun to gnaw at their
hearts. There isnothing in the world better calculated to dissipate worry and liventhings up than a genuine camp-fire. It seems to dissipate doubt, givethe heart something to grip, and in every way make the prospectbrighter.

  After escaping from the flood without any serious damage they were allfull of enthusiasm now. Even the two older girls insisted on helpinglater on; if only food could be procured the boys must let them do allthe cooking. That was only a fair distribution of the labor; it waswhat happened in Indian camps, with the warriors securing game, and thesquaws preparing the meals.

  Presently Max, catching the eye of Bandy-legs, crooked his finger, andmade a significant gesture with his head. The other understood justwhat was in the wind for he dropped the armful of fuel he happened atthe time to be carrying toward the fire, and hastened to reach the sideof the leader.

  Max knew that just then they could not think of walking any distance inorder to seek aid. The day was pretty well along, and as more rainmight come with the night, it seemed the part of prudence that theyprepare in advance to meet further trials. If only they managed tocome across something that could be made to do for a supper, all elsecould for the time being be forgotten.

  "We're off, Steve," Max called out, after he had waved his hand in thedirection of the girl whose eyes followed him wherever he went; "youthree keep right along as you're doing now. Make the shack as snug asyou can; and if it'll shed water, so much the better; though I don'tthink we're going to get any more rain just at present."

  Bandy-legs was at his side, and together they strode away. It was nogreat task to keep heading up-stream, because they had frequentglimpses of the heaving surface of the flood, which was ever at theirright, because they had landed on the western shore, and were headingnorth at the time.

  "Thought I heard dogs abarkin' just then," observed Bandy-legs, who hadgood ears as well as sharp eyes.

  "Yes, I did too, but somewhere away up on the wooded hills there. Likeas not this flood has chased plenty of dogs away from their homes, andthey may be running in packs, hunting something to eat."

  "Huh! hope we don't happen to run foul of a pack then," Bandy-legsinsinuated; "and for fear that we do I'm going to be ready."

  With that he picked up a rather stout cudgel which he swung a few timesas if to accustom his arm to the motion.

  Apparently Max did not think there was any particular reason for alarm.He must have figured that the dogs they had heard were hunting game amile or two back in the woods, and that there was little chance oftheir coming closer to the river.

  "I can see the house ahead there," he announced five minutes later.

  "Yes, and it's surrounded by water too," added his chum; "no wonder thefolks got out and left; they'd be silly to stay till it was too late.Why, that cabin might be carried off any time like the other house was,even if it ain't so far out I reckon we must have drifted half a milefurther down when we kept rowing so hard; because that was a stiffcurrent, believe me."

  "Fully half a mile, Bandy-legs," Max assured him, and then fell tocraning his neck in the endeavor to locate the woman they believed theyhad seen among the trees at a point where the water ended.

  Two minutes later and Max uttered a satisfied exclamation.

  "I see the woman," he told his companion, "and just as we thought she'san old person, bent over considerably. Perhaps she couldn't go faraway after she had to quit her house; perhaps she's nearly as helplessas the crippled French child. If it wasn't for Mabel being unable towalk we might be trying to find shelter back in the country right now.Come on and we'll interview her. She may be glad to go with us, andspend the night in camp; it would be good for her and the girls wouldlike it too."

  The old woman had seen their approach. She looked anything but happy,and Max really began to believe that the poor soul stood in danger oflosing all she owned in the wide world, if her little cabin went outwith the flood.

  "How do you do, ma'm?" he said, cheerily, as he and his chum came up."We're all from the town of Carson. The bridge went out, and we wereon it at the time. It carried five of us down to where the Frenchfarm-house was standing, half under water, and there we found threegirls on the roof, two of them friends of ours from town. A boathappened to drift within reach, and we have come ashore. But as AsaFrench's little daughter, Mabel, is lame and weak the chances are we'llhave to camp in the woods for the night, and go for help in themorning. Now, wouldn't you like to join us to-night, because it'll bea lonely time for you here, and it may start in and rain again? Wewant to get something to eat the worst kind, and have money to buywhatever you happen to have handy, chickens, ham, potatoes or anythingat all. The girls are nearly starved they say. Now how about it,ma'm?"

  The little old woman had listened to him talking with a sparkle ofinterest in her eyes. Apparently she admired the lad from the verystart. Bandy-legs was hardly prepossessing enough to hope to make afavorable impression on a stranger at first sight; you had to know theboy with the crooked legs in order to appreciate his good qualities;but Max won friends by the score even before they understood how cleverhe could be.

  "You're perfectly welcome to anything you can find in my cabin,providing that you can get out there, and secure it," the little oldwoman told them. "Perhaps you might manage with the aid of the boat.And I believe I'll accept your kind invitation to accompany you back toyour camp. I'm accustomed to being by myself, but inside a house, notout in the open woods, and on the brink of a dreadful flood. Soconsider it a bargain, son. Show me the way to get there, and afterthat it may pay you to bring your boat up so as to reach my littlehouse out there surrounded by water."