“It’s too bad!” was Sam’s comment, after he had read this communication. “Poor Songbird! I suppose he feels as bad as ever over the loss of that money.”
At last the sun once more broke through the clouds and the journey of the tourists was resumed. Close to the city the roads were in fairly good condition, but farther out they soon found evidences of the tremendous downpour of the days before. Deep gullies had been cut here and there, and occasionally they came across washed-out trees and brushwood.
“We’ll have to take it a bit slowly, especially after dark,” remarked Dick.
When they passed over some of the rivers they found the rushing waters reached almost to the flooring of the bridges; and on the second day out they found one bridge swept completely away, so that they had to make a detour of many miles to gain another crossing.
“What a tremendous loss to some of these farmers,” remarked Mrs. Laning, as they rolled past numerous cornfields where the stalks had been swept down and covered with mud. “I am glad to say we never had anything like this at Cedarville.”
“And we never had anything like it at Valley Brook either,” returned Dick. “This is the worst washout I ever saw.”
At noon they stopped at a small town for dinner and there they heard numerous reports concerning the storm. In one place it had taken away a barn and a cowshed and in another it had undermined the foundations of several houses.
“The water up to Hickyville was three feet deep in the street,” said one man at the hotel. “The folks had to rescue people by boats and rafts. One man had four cows drowned, and up at Ganey Point a man lost all his pigs and two horses.”
The party had scarcely left that town when it began to rain again. The downpour, however, was for a time so light that they did not think it worth while to stop or to turn back.
“We’ll put the tops up,” said Tom, “and maybe in a little while the clouds will blow away.”
But Tom’s hopes were doomed to disappointment. The downpour was comparatively light for about an hour, but then, just as they were passing through a patch of timber, it suddenly came on with great fury.
“Great Scott!” burst out Sam, as a gust of wind drove the rain under the automobile tops. “We’ll have to put down the side curtains.”
“Right you are!” answered Dick; and then the machines were halted and all the curtains were lowered and fastened. But even this did not protect them entirely, for the wind drove the rain in between the numerous cracks of the covering.
“How many miles to the next stopping place?” queried Nellie.
“About thirty,” answered Tom. “That is, if we go as far as we calculated to when we left this morning.”
“Oh, I don’t see how we are going to make thirty miles more in such a storm as this!” cried her sister.
“We’ll be lucky to make any kind of stopping place,” announced Dick, grimly. “Just listen to that!”
There was a wild roaring of wind outside, and then came a flash of lightning followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
“Oh! Oh!” came in a shriek from the girls; and involuntarily they placed their hands to their ears.
“Richard, do you think it is safe to stay under the trees in such a storm as this?” questioned Mrs. Stanhope, fearfully.
Before Dick could reply to this question there came more lightning and thunder, and then a crash in the woods as a big tree was laid low.
“Oh, dear! Listen!” cried Nellie. “Suppose one of the trees should come down on the autos!”
“That is what I was afraid of,” added her mother. “I think we had better get out of here.”
“All right, if you say so,” answered Dick. “I was only thinking about the awful wind. It’s going to hit us pretty hard when we get out on the open road.”
The automobiles had drawn up side by side, so that those in one machine could converse with those in the other. Now Dick started up one of the touring cars and was followed a minute later by Tom, at the wheel of the other automobile.
Once in the open air, those in the machines realized how furiously the wind was blowing and how heavily the rain was descending. The automobiles fairly shook and shivered in the blasts, and despite their efforts to keep themselves dry all those in the automobiles were speedily drenched. The downpour was so heavy that the landscape on all sides was completely blotted out.
“Oh, Dick! what in the world shall we do?” gasped Dora, and it was plainly to be seen that she was badly frightened.
“I’d turn in somewhere if I only knew where,” answered her husband, trying his best to peer through the rain-spattered wind-shield. “I don’t see anything like a house anywhere around, do you?”
“No, I can’t see a thing.”
Dick was running along cautiously, and now, of a sudden, he put on the brakes. Just ahead of him had appeared a flood of water, and how deep it was there was no telling.
“Listen!” cried Mrs. Stanhope, when the automobile had come to a standstill. “Did I hear somebody calling?”
Scarcely had she spoken when there came another vivid flash of lightning followed by more thunder, and then a downpour heavier than ever. As the lightning flashed out Dick was surprised to see a girl splashing through the water on the road and running toward them.
“Look! Look!” he ejaculated. “Unless I am mistaken it’s Ada Waltham!”
“It is! It is!” exclaimed Dora. “What in the world is she doing out alone in such a downpour as this!”
As the girl on the road came closer to the touring car Dick threw up one of the curtains, opened the door, and sprang out to meet her.
“Oh, Mr. Rover!” gasped Ada Waltham, “is it really you? How fortunate! Won’t you please help me?”
“What’s wrong?” he demanded quickly.
“Chester! He’s lost!”
“Lost! Where?”
“He tried to cross the river yonder in the storm, and the bridge broke and let the automobile down. I managed to save myself and jumped ashore, but he was carried off by the torrent.” The rich girl clasped her hands nervously. “Oh, please save him, Mr. Rover! Please do!”
By this time the second automobile had come up, and Dick waved to Tom to stop. Seeing that something was wrong, Tom quickly alighted, followed by Sam.
“What’s wrong?” came from both of the new arrivals, as they gazed at Ada Waltham in astonishment.
“Miss Waltham says her brother is lost—that he has been carried off in the flood of yonder river,” answered Dick.
“Oh, please hurry!” burst out the girl eagerly. “Please hurry, or it will be too late! I don’t think Chester can swim.”
“All right, we’ll tell the others where we are going and then we’ll do what we can,” answered Dick. “But if that flood is very strong we may have—”
Dick was unable to finish his speech. Just then there came more lightning followed by a deafening crash of thunder. Then the very heavens seemed to open, to let down a torrent of water which seemed to fairly engulf them.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” came from the women and the girls. “Oh! what a terrible storm!”
“It is a cloudburst! That’s what it is!” gasped Sam.
“You’re right!” ejaculated Tom. “Look! See how the water in the river is rising! It’s a cloudburst and a flood!”
Tom was right—there had been a cloudburst, but fortunately not directly over the heads of our friends, otherwise they might have perished in the terrible downpour which immediately followed. The catastrophe had occurred at a point about a mile farther up the river, and now the waters from this flood were coming down with great swiftness and rising higher and higher every instant.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” was Sam’s comment. Already they were standing in water up to their ankles. “We’ve got to find higher ground.”
“Oh, Sam! Sam!
please don’t let my brother drown!” pleaded Ada Waltham, catching him by the arm.
“We’ll do what we can to save him, Ada, but we’ve got to save ourselves first,” he answered.
“See! there is a little hill ahead,” came from Dick, as he did his best to look through the rain, which was coming down as heavily as ever. “Let us run to the top of the rise, then we’ll be in less danger from the flood if the river gets much higher.” He turned to the distracted girl. “Come, you had better go with us, then we will see what we can do for your brother.”
“Oh, Dick! Dick! If you don’t hurry we’ll be swept away, sure!” cried Dora, and then made room so that Ada might get in beside her.
In a moment more the three Rovers had re-entered the touring cars, and then the machines were sent forward through the water, which was now nearly a foot deep on the roadway.
“Oh! I never saw such a storm in my life,” was Mrs. Laning’s comment.
“If only we get out of this alive!” breathed Mrs. Stanhope. Being naturally a very nervous woman, she was on the verge of a collapse.
Running with care through the swirling water that covered the roadway, they at length reached a rise of ground several feet above the flood. Here they stopped at the highest point they could gain, bringing the machines side by side.
When the storm had started in earnest the three Rovers had donned their raincoats. Now, with rain caps pulled well down over their heads, they once more alighted.
“If you can show us where your auto went into the river we’ll see if we can locate your brother,” announced Dick to Ada Waltham. “Maybe he got out and is walking somewhere around here,” he added, by way of encouragement.
“Oh, dear! I’m so nervous I can scarcely stand!” gasped the girl, and when she reached the ground they had to support her.
Splashing along through the water that covered the roadway, they slowly progressed until they gained a point where the youths felt it would be impossible for Ada Waltham to go any farther.
“There is what is left of the bridge over yonder,” cried the girl, pointing with her hand.
The Rovers looked in that direction and saw a few sticks of timber sticking out of the swirling waters, which were running down stream as turbulently as ever.
“I don’t think there is any use of looking for Chester around that bridge,” was Tom’s remark. “Most likely he was carried down stream—how far there is no telling. I think the best thing we can do is to take a look farther down.”
“That is just my opinion,” returned his older brother. “I think you had better return to the autos. It won’t do any good for you to remain out in this storm,” he continued to the girl.
When the party got back to the cars they found a farmer and his grown son standing by the machines.
“I was just telling the ladies you had better run your automobiles up to my place,” said the farmer. “It’s about ten or fifteen feet higher than this, and, consequently, just so much safer. Besides, the ladies can come into the house.”
“We want to find this young lady’s brother. He was swept off the bridge yonder,” returned Dick.
“So the ladies were telling me,” returned James Barlow. “You come up to the house, and I’ll go out with you. We’ve got a big rowboat that may come in handy. Say! ain’t this some storm? Worst let-down I’ve ever seen in these parts.”
CHAPTER XXIX
THE RESCUE ON THE RIVER
It did not take long to run the automobiles down the road and up a side lane leading to the farmer’s house. Here the ladies got out, and then the machines were placed in a barn.
“You will do all you can to find my brother?” wailed Ada Waltham, anxiously.
“Yes, we’ll do our level best,” answered Dick; and Tom and Sam said practically the same.
The Rovers consulted with Mr. Barlow and his son, James, and all five walked down as close to the edge of the river as the effects of the cloudburst would allow. They saw bushes, trees, and parts of buildings coming down the swiftly-flowing stream, the waters of which were now thick with mud.
“Here is my rowboat,” announced the farmer, pointing to where the craft was tied fast to a large tree. “You can use it if you want to, but it looks to me like rather a hopeless matter to try to do anything while the river is raging like this. You had better wait until it calms down a little.”
“The trouble of it is, it may then be too late,” answered Tom. He looked at his brothers. “I think we can manage it,” he added.
The matter was discussed for fully a quarter of an hour, and during that time the storm seemed to let up a little. The first awful effects of the cloudburst were passing, and the water was going down slowly but surely.
“We’ll try it,” announced Dick, at last. “If we can’t manage the rowboat we’ll come ashore farther down the stream.”
The craft was a substantial one, and there were two pairs of oars, and to these James Barlow added a sweep to be used as a rudder. Then the three Rovers embarked, Tom and Sam to do the rowing and the other brother to guide the craft. It was hard, dangerous work, as they realized as soon as they struck the current of the swollen stream. They were sent along pell-mell, and it was all they could do to keep themselves from crashing into one object or another on the way.
“Look out, or you’ll get upset!” yelled James Barlow to them, and then his voice was drowned out in the rushing and roaring of the elements around them.
A half hour passed—which to the Rovers just then seemed almost an age. During that time the three kept their eyes wide open for a possible sight of Chester Waltham or anybody else who might have been carried away by the flood.
“There is somebody!” suddenly called out Dick. “A man caught in a tree!”
“Is it Waltham?” demanded Tom, quickly.
“I can’t make out. He is crouched in a heap on some limbs and is waving frantically for us.”
Not without additional peril did the Rovers turn the rowboat across the river, for the tree in which the man was crouching was on the shore opposite to that from which they had embarked.
“Hello! there are two fellows in the tree!” announced Tom, as they drew closer.
The second man crouched behind the trunk, so that they had not at first been able to see him.
“Help! Help!” came from the fellow who had been waving so frantically to them. And now, as they drew still closer, they saw that the individual was Chester Waltham. The young millionaire was capless and coatless, and his face and hands were much scratched.
“We’re in luck, that’s sure,” was Tom’s comment, in a low voice.
“And I’m glad on his sister’s account,” added Sam.
“When we bring the boat up beside the tree you lower yourself into it, Waltham,” directed Dick. “But be careful how you do it or we’ll upset. The current here is very swift.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll be careful,” answered the young millionaire in a voice which trembled so that he could scarcely speak. He was, of course, much surprised to discover that it was the Rovers who had come to his assistance.
He was so exhausted that to get out of the tree in safety was all but impossible, and finally Dick had to assist him while Tom and Sam did all they could to hold the rowboat in position.
“It’s fine of you to come for me!” panted Chester Waltham, when he found himself safe in the rowboat. “Di-did my si-sister get you, or what?”
“Yes, she escaped and told us of your plight,” answered Dick, briefly.
“Good for Ada! Now get me safe on shore once more and I’ll pay you handsomely for your trouble.”
“You won’t have to pay us a cent, Waltham,” was Sam’s quick reply. “Just sit still so that the boat doesn’t go over.”
“Can I help you in any way?”
“No. Sit still, that’s all,” came from Tom, shar
ply. The idea of having Waltham speak of paying them at such a time disgusted him.
In the meantime the second fellow in the tree had moved down a limb or two with the idea of following Waltham into the rowboat. But now, as he looked at the three Rovers, he suddenly drew back.
“Hi there! don’t you want to come with us?” cried Dick, considerably astonished over the man’s actions.
To this the individual in the tree made no reply. He kept behind the trunk and finally waved a hand as if to motion them away.
“Say! is that fellow crazy?” questioned Sam.
“He must be,” was Tom’s comment. He turned to Chester Waltham. “Do you know him!”
“No, he’s a stranger to me. I tried to speak to him, but he was so scared and cold from the ducking he got he did nothing but chatter, so I couldn’t understand him.”
“See here, it’s foolish to stay up there,” called out Dick. “Come on down and we’ll take you ashore.”
“D-do-don’t want to g-g-go,” came the stuttered-out reply. “G-go-wheep!” came in a funny little whistle. “G-g-go a-away!”
“Well, of all the scared fellows—” commenced Tom.
“Great Scott! I wonder if that fellow can be Blackie Crowden!” ejaculated Sam.
“G-g-go a-wa-way!” stuttered the man in the tree, and then tried to say something more, but the words only ended in a strange little whistle.
“Sam, do you really think it can be the fellow who robbed Songbird?” demanded Dick. “What would he be doing away out here?”
“Why, Blackie Crowden came from Denver or Colorado Springs,” announced the youngest Rover. “Remember, we are not so many miles away from those places.” He raised his voice. “You come down out of there, Crowden. We know you and we want you.”
At this command the man in the tree seemed much disturbed. He tried to speak, but because of his natural stutter and his terror of the situation through which he was passing, his effort was a failure.
“If you don’t come down, we’ll haul you down,” ordered Dick, finally, and then, after a little more urging, the fellow finally consented to come out of the tree, and dropped into the rowboat.
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