CHAPTER X. A RESCUE AND A BIVOUAC.
From the bow of the _Algonquin_ Rob kept his eyes riveted on the spot atwhich he had seen the sloop vanish. But for some time he could seenothing but the billowing crests of the waves. Suddenly, to hisastonishment, from the midst of the combing summits, there was revealedthe swaying mast of the sloop, cutting great arcs dizzily across thelowering sky.
As the _Algonquin_ climbed to a wave top the entire length of the sloopwas disclosed to the lad's gaze. On her deck he could now plainly see twofigures.
"Got a glass?" he inquired of Ike.
"Sure," responded that individual, floundering forward with a pair ofbinoculars.
Rob clapped them to his eyes. The figures of Hiram and Tubby Hopkins swaminto the field of vision. At the same instant, or so it seemed, Rob madeout the wall of green water rushing downward upon the sloop.
While a cry of alarm still quivered upon his lips, the sloop rallied aninstant, and then--was wiped out!
The others had pressed forward too, and the _Algonquin_ had, by thattime, gotten close enough for them all to witness the marine tragedy.
"Steady, Rob," exclaimed the major, his hand on Rob's shoulder, "they maybe all right yet."
Rob's face was white and set, but he nodded bravely. It seemed impossiblethat anything living could have escaped from the overwhelming avalancheof water.
Merritt seized the glasses as Rob set them down to take the wheel again.He peered through them with straining eyes.
"Hullo, what's that off in the water there?" he shouted suddenly,pointing.
The next instant the object he had descried had vanished in the trough ofa sea.
"Could you make out anybody?" asked the major anxiously.
"It looked like a spar with--Yes, there are two figures clinging to it."
"Here, let me look!" Rob snatched the glasses out of his comrade's hand.
"Hooray!" he cried the next instant, "it's Tubby and Hiram!"
"Are you sure?" asked the major, "perhaps it's some members of Hunt'screw."
"No, it's Tubby and Hiram. I can make out their uniforms," cried Rob. Ashe spoke he swung the wheel over, and the _Algonquin's_ head was turnedin the direction of the spot where a spar with two objects clinging to ithad last been seen.
"Wonder what can have become of Hunt and his crowd?" said Merrittpresently.
"Maybe they've met with a watery grave," conjectured one of thedetectives, "and from what you've told me it would be a good end forthem."
"If they hain't taken that pocket-book with them," put in his companion,"the kidnapping of those boys was as desperate a bit of work as I've everheard tell of."
In a brief time the two lads, none the worse apparently for theirimmersion, had been hauled on board the _Algonquin_, and were being pliedwith eager questions.
"I guess I caught on to that boom more by instinct than anything else,"explained Tubby, "when I got the water out of my lungs I looked about meand saw that Hiram had grabbed it too."
"That's what I call luck," said one of the detectives in a wonderingtone.
"It surely was," agreed Hiram, "but I guess there's a bigger bit coming."
"What do you mean?" asked the major, struck by something odd in the lad'stone.
For answer Tubby thrust a hand into an inside pocket of his coat and drewforth something that, dripping with water as it was, could be easilyrecognized as--the missing pocket-book!
"I guess they forgot to search me for it in the excitement following thecollapse of the roof. I'm sorry it got wet, major," he added.
But the major and the others could only regard the fat boy with wonderingeyes. Suddenly the major, the first to recover his senses, spoke:
"I don't know how I'm ever to thank you for this, Hopkins----," he began.
"Tell you how you can," spoke the irrepressible Tubby swiftly.
"How, my boy?"
"By taking us some place where we can get something to eat," quoth Tubby,"I'm so hungry I could demolish the left hind leg of a brass monkeywithout winking."
* * * * * * * *
From the tumbling waves of an angry sea to the cool shadows of amagnificent forest of chestnut and oak may be a long distance to travel,but such is the jump over time and space that we must make if we wish toaccompany our Boy Scouts to their Mountain Camp. The evening sun, alreadyalmost touching the peaks of the nearest range, was striking level shaftsof light through the forest as our party came to a halt, and MajorDangerfield ordered the canoes, by which they had traversed the smoothstretches of Echo Lake, hauled ashore.
It was more than three days since the party had left the shores of LakeChamplain. The passage of the lake from its lower end had been made bycanoes. The same craft they were now using had transported them. Therewere three of the frail, delicate little vessels. One was blue, another arich Indian red, and the third a dark green.
The canoes had been purchased by Major Dangerfield at Lakehead, a smalltown at which they left the railroad. They had been stocked withprovisions and equipment for their long dash into the solitudes of theAdirondacks. Reaching Dangerfield, the canoes had been transportedoverland till the first of a chain of lakes, leading into the interior,had been reached. Here, to the boys' huge delight, they once more took tothe water.
In the party were Rob, Merritt, young Hopkins, Hiram and little AndyBowles, the bugler of the Eagles. Andy had been brought along because, asRob had said, he was so little he would tuck in anywhere. Of course therehad been keen regret on the part of the lads who were, of necessity, leftbehind. But they had borne it with true scout spirit and wished theirlucky comrades all the good fortune in the world, when they embarked fromHampton.
Travel had bronzed the lads and stained and crumpled their smartuniforms. But they looked very fit and scout-like as they bustled about,making the various preparations for the evening's camp. Two members ofthe party have not yet been mentioned. One of these was a tall, lanky manwith a pair of big horn-rimmed spectacles set athwart his nose, andarrayed in a queer combination of woodsman's clothes and a pedant'simmaculate dress. He had retained a white lawn tie and long black coat,but his nether limbs were encased in corduroys and gaiters, with a pairof big, square-toed shoes protruding beneath. On his head was anodd-looking round, black hat, which was always getting knocked into thewater or caught on branches and swept off. This queer figure wasProfessor Jeremiah Jorum.
The second addition to the party was the major's factotum, ChristopherColumbus Julius Pompey Snaggs. But for purposes of identification heanswered to the name of Jumbo. Jumbo was a big-framed negro, intenselyblack and with a sunny, child-like disposition. He had a propensity forcoining words to suit his convenience, deeming the King's Englishinsufficient in scope to express his emotions.
Standing on the sandy strip of beach as he emerged from the red canoe,with a load of "duffle," Jumbo gazed about him in an interested way.
"Dis sutt'in'ly am a glumpferiferous spot to locate a camp," he remarked,letting his big eyes roll from the tranquil expanse of lake, fringed withfeathery balsams and firs, to the slope above him clothed in its growthof fine timber, some of it hundreds of years old.
"Here you, Jumbo, hurry up with that bedding and then clean those fish!"
The voice was the major's. It hailed from a level spot a short distanceabove the sandy beach. On this small plateau, the canvas "tepees" the BoyScouts carried were already erected, and a good fire was burning betweentwo green logs.
"Yas, sah, yas, sah! I'se a comin'," hailed the negro, lumbering up amongthe loose rock, and almost spilling his load in his haste, "I'se a comingso quintopulous dat you all kain't see muh fer de dus' I'se raisin'."
Before long the fish, caught by trolling as they came along, werefrizzling in the pan, and spreading an appetizing odor abroad. The aromaof coffee and camp biscuit mingled with the other appetizing smells.
"Race anybody down to the lake for a wash!" shouted Ro
b suddenly.
In a flash he was off, followed by Merritt, Hiram and Tubby. Little AndyBowles, with his bugle suspended from his shoulders by a cord of theEagle colors, hurried along behind on his stumpy little legs.
"I win!" shouted Rob as he, with difficulty, paused on the brink of thelake. But hardly were the words out of his mouth before Merritt flashedup beside him.
"Almost a dead heat," laughed Rob, "I----But hullo, what's all this?"
Above them came a roar of sliding gravel and stones that sounded like anavalanche. In the midst of it was Tubby, his rotund form dashing forwardat a great rate. His legs were flashing like the pistons of a racinglocomotive as he plunged down the hillside.
"Here, stop! stop!" shouted Rob, "you'll be in the lake in a minute!"
But the warning came too late. Tubby's heavy weight could not be checkedso easily. Faster he went, and faster, striving in vain to stop himself.
"He's gone!" yelled Merritt the next instant, as a splash announced thatTubby had plunged into the lake water.
In a flash the fat boy was on the surface. But he was "dead game," andwhile his comrades shouted with laughter he swam about, puffing like abig porpoise.
"Come on in, the water's fine," he exclaimed.
"Even with your uniform on?" jeered Hiram.
"Sure! Oh-ouch! what's that?"
The fat boy had perceived a queer-looking head suddenly obtrude from thewater close to him. It was evident that he was not the only one to enjoyan evening swim that day. A big water snake was sharing his involuntarybath with him.
Tubby struck out with might and main for shore, and presently reached it,dripping profusely. The major, when he heard of the occurrence, ordered achange of clothes. When this had been made, Andy's bugle sounded thequick lively notes of the mess call, and the Boy Scouts and their eldersgathered round the table which the boys' deft hands had composed of flatslabs of birch bark supported on trestles of green wood. They sat on campstools which they carried with them. How heartily they ate! They had theappetites that are born of woods and open places.
"Mah goodness, dose boys mus' have stumicks lak der olyphogeniusmammaothstikuscudsses!" exclaimed Jumbo as he hurried to and from hiscooking fire in response to constant demands for "more."