CHAPTER 10 The Cubs Lend A Hand
"Mr. Silverton," Dan began, speaking rapidly because he knew he had onlya moment in which to present his case. "It's about your pheasants--"
"Attendant, stop the elevator at the second floor," the sportsmandirected the operator of the cage. "I'll walk!"
The elevator man, observing the despairing look of the two boys,deliberately let the lift slide past the second floor level.
"Sorry, sir," he said, fumbling with the levers. "Too late, sir."
"Mr. Silverton, you've got to listen!" Dan went on desperately. "Thecreek's rising fast out at your farm! With that dam across the stream, itmay flood the pheasant runs."
At last he had gained Mr. Silverton's attention.
"Dam?" the sportsman demanded. "What are you talking about?"
"Logs have jammed across the creek, sir. Mr. Hatfield, our Cub leader,said if it rained hard, water would be almost certain to back up andflood."
"A trucker told us the area up in the hills had a regular cloud burst,"Brad added. "When that water gets down here, adding to what we've alreadyhad, the creek will come up fast."
The elevator had halted at the first floor and the cage door slid open.But Mr. Silverton had lost his desire to elude the boys.
"Saul Dobbs told me nothing about the stream being clogged," he said,looking worried. "How long has this condition existed?"
"We noticed the logs on our visit to your farm several days ago," Bradsaid. "We wanted to tell you then, but you wouldn't talk to us."
"Humph! I haven't forgotten a certain little matter still between us."Mr. Silverton's pouchy face again became frozen and unfriendly. He turnedto leave the elevator, saying in curt dismissal: "Well, thanks fortelling me."
"But sir!" exclaimed Brad. "Don't you think--that is--shouldn't you tryto do something to save the pheasants?"
"Saul Dobbs can be depended upon to look after my interests. Should anyemergency develop at the farm, he'll get in touch with me."
"But that's just the point, Mr. Silverton," Dan interposed. "Dobbs isn'ton the farm."
Mr. Silverton now gave the boys his complete attention.
"Not there?" he demanded. "How do you know?"
Dan related the information given to him by the operator of the fillingstation. At last he saw that the sportsman was beginning to be disturbed.
"If Dobbs isn't at the farm, that changes the picture!" Mr. Silvertonexclaimed. "With the creek rising, the pheasants easily could beendangered! Why did Dobbs go away without notifying me?"
Neither Dan nor Brad made any attempt to answer. Nor did Mr. Silvertonexpect them to do so, for he seemed to be thinking aloud.
"I'll drive out there right away and see what's happening! Will you boyscome with me? I'll need you to point out where the gorge is choked."
"Sure, we'll be glad to go!" Brad agreed quickly.
Mr. Silverton led the way to a nearby parking lot where he kept hisautomobile. At a fast clip they drove over the slippery pavement to thepheasant farm.
En route, they encountered two areas where fast-running ditch water hadoverflowed the road. However, they were not too deep to prevent the carfrom getting through.
"I had no idea the rain was so heavy," Mr. Silverton commented. "Of alltimes for Dobbs to leave the farm unattended this takes the prize!"
The drive to the farm offered the two boys an excellent opportunity toexplain to Mr. Silverton again that the Cub Scouts never had intended tobreak any of the rules laid down by him.
Delicacy however, prevented them from bringing up the subject. Mr.Silverton seemed so worried and absorbed in his thoughts that theydecided any discussion of the matter or apology must wait until after thepresent emergency.
As the big blue car descended the private gravel road and presentlyemerged at the cleared area of the pheasant farm, Brad and Dan saw thatthey had not exaggerated the situation. It was even worse than they hadanticipated.
Already an ugly line of murky water had spread through the woodlands tothe lower level areas. The hatching yard in the grove was covered with aninch of water. Overflow from the creek slowly nibbled at the walksleading to the house and to the barn on somewhat higher ground.
"Dobbs!" Mr. Silverton shouted. "Are you here?"
Receiving no answer, the sportsman parked his car some distance behindthe barn and ran to the house. All the doors were locked.
"You were right!" Mr. Silverton said to the Cubs. "Dobbs has gone off,apparently for the day!"
"And the water's creeping up fast," Brad said, gazing anxiously at thepheasant pens which already were beginning to flood.
"A nice mess!" the sportsman muttered. "Half of my pheasants will be lostif I don't get them out of the fields."
"Can't we help?" Dan offered.
"Yes, I'll need you and anyone else I can get. This will be a big job.We've got to work fast to keep ahead of the rising water."
Smashing a glass pane at the rear door of the foreman's dwelling, Mr.Silverton went inside to telephone.
"I'm trying to round up men," he explained a few minutes later to Bradand Dan. "But at best it will take an hour for anyone to get here. Andit's an awkward time--close to the dinner hour."
"All the Cubs would help if I could get word to them," Dan said eagerly.
"I can use anyone, and I'll pay well for the work. The vital thing is toget help fast."
"Say, Mr. Hatfield should be showing up at the old logging road exit torelieve us of our stint!" Brad exclaimed. "Dan, if you could reach him--"
"I'll go after him," Dan agreed instantly. "If he isn't there, I'll callhim from the filling station."
"If you cut through the woods, be careful not to be trapped by the floodwaters," Mr. Silverton warned as Dan started away. "Keep well to thenorth of the creek."
Leaving Brad to help the sportsman, Dan set off through the woods at afast dog trot.
Shadows were deepening among the trees, but he kept his sense ofdirection. Circling around the flooded area, he struck the logging roadat a point well beyond the clogged point of the stream.
To the right he could hear the rush and roar of the torrent which racedtoward the river. Unless the log jam gave away or the crest of the floodwas soon past, he knew that in a short while the entire side road wouldbe under water.
His shoes and clothing caked with mud, Dan presently came out at the railfence barrier. A familiar looking car, which had pulled up on the otherside of the paved highway, was just starting away.
"That's Mr. Hatfield's automobile!" Dan thought. "If only I can catch himbefore he drives away!"
Scrambling over the rail barrier, he shouted the Cub leader's name. Inthe act of shifting gears, Mr. Hatfield heard the boy and turned hishead.
Seeing Dan, he quickly switched off the engine and ran to the fence.
"Where's Brad?" he asked anxiously. "When the storm broke so suddenly, Icame out here as fast as I could. Had a flat tire on the way, which heldme up. Is Brad all right?"
"He's with Mr. Silverton," Dan replied, and poured out his story ofDobbs' disappearance and the threatened flood disaster at the pheasantfarm.
"No one there but Brad and Mr. Silverton?"
"That's right, and the water is coming up fast. Mr. Silverton's trying toget men from Webster City, but having no luck. Brad stayed with him to dowhat he could."
"Silverton _is_ in a spot," the Cub leader declared. "When I saw that logjam in the creek, I was afraid something like this would happen."
"Mr. Hatfield, do you think the Cubs could help?" Dan asked breathlessly."If only we could round them up!"
"We can and will, Dan. Jump into the car! We'll make a whirlwind tripinto Webster City and see how many boys we can find!"
Driving as fast as the slippery pavement permitted, the two soon reachedthe city. Notified as to the emergency at the pheasant farm, Red, Chips,Mack and Fred immediately offered their services.
"Wear your slickers and ei
ther high boots or galoshes," the Cub leaderadvised the boys. "It's plenty moist out at Silverton's place and thecreek still is rising."
Mr. Hatfield, in stopping at his own home to pick up his son and a pairof hip boots for himself, paused long enough to telephone Mr. Hollowayand Midge. The information received from across the river wasdisconcerting.
"They can't come with us," he reported to the Cubs. "The river is risingfast, and Mr. Holloway is afraid the cabin may be flooded within a fewhours. He and Midge are sticking close to look after things there."
"Gosh all fish hooks!" Red groaned as he piled into Mr. Hatfield's carwith the other Cubs. "If the flood reaches the cabin, some of our Denequipment may be ruined. Especially our handicraft work."
"I left the pheasant feather war bonnet there somewhere," Chips addedwith concern.
"Mr. Holloway and Midge will look after your things," the Cub leaderreassured the boys. "The water hasn't reached the cabin yet. As soon aswe've done what we can to help Mr. Silverton, we'll drive over to Mr.Holloway's place."
"After the way Silverton talked about the Cubs, he doesn't deserve toomuch help--" Chips began, but a glance from Mr. Hatfield silenced him.
Taking the longer route which entered the Silverton property from thehigher level road, the Cub leader was able to drive his car within ahundred yards of the pheasant farm barn.
"Wow! The water's even higher than it was when I left!" Dan exclaimed indismay.
Already, many of the pheasant pens were partially submerged by thecreeping, chocolate-colored water.
Brad and Mr. Silverton, wet to their waists, had used grain to coax someof the more valuable pheasants into traps or carrying crates.
Sorely beset, they had been unable to free the penned pheasants or tocarry any of the crates to higher ground.
"We sure are glad to see you!" Brad exclaimed as the Cubs tumbled fromMr. Hatfield's car. "Boy! Can we use a little help."
"Where shall we take the pheasants?" the Cub leader asked, quicklysurveying the situation.
"I think the barn is the best place," Mr. Silverton decided. "Turn themloose there. The water shouldn't come that high."
"Get busy, boys," Mr. Hatfield instructed the Cubs.
Handling the crates carefully, the boys carried them one by one to thebarn. There, after making certain the doors and windows all were closed,they set the startled birds free on the ground floor.
Meanwhile, along the pheasant runs, Mr. Silverton aided by Brad and Mr.Hatfield, had been collecting the traps. As rapidly as the pheasants werecaught, the Cubs carried them to the barn where they milled with theothers.
"We've done all we can here," Mr. Silverton decided as deepening shadowsmade it difficult to locate straggling pheasants. "Some will take refugein the trees and bushes."
"The water's still coming higher," Mr. Hatfield observed as he preparedto move his car. "If the gorge were cleared out, the level should dropfast."
"Let's see what can be done," Mr. Silverton proposed.
Both men moved their cars to higher ground lest flood waters continue torise. Then, followed by the Cubs, they circled around to the old loggingroad, approaching the dam from the upper and drier side.
"Why Dobbs would leave a mess like that in the stream, I can't figure!"Mr. Silverton exclaimed in disgust as he caught sight of the jam. "Hemust have known about it, but he never spoke of it to me."
Mr. Hatfield casually pointed out that the logs formed a natural bridge,adding: "Almost as if they had been laid deliberately."
"They do at that!" the sportsman agreed. "Let's have a closer look."
While Mr. Hatfield and the Cubs waited on dry land, he waded out toexamine the accumulation of debris. When he returned to the group a fewminutes later, his expression was grim.
"You're right, Mr. Hatfield," he declared. "I'm convinced those logs wereplaced deliberately. Apparently, more has been going on here than Isuspected!"
"Any chance to dislodge them?" the Cub leader questioned.
"Not without a crew of men. But a stick of dynamite would do the trick. Ithink Saul Dobbs has some locked up in the tool house."
While the Cubs waited, the two men started back to the house to obtainthe dynamite.
"What I can't figure, is why anyone would go to the trouble of making alog bridge at this particular point," Dan said, frowning as he watchedthe water spill over the makeshift dam. "Farther up stream, there's aperfectly good foot bridge."
"This section is near the restricted part of the woods," Brad commented."Mr. Silverton keeps his best Germain pheasants there. And say! I wonderif they're safe?"
"The water's backing up fast in that direction," Red observed.
"Maybe we ought to investigate," Dan proposed. "Think it's safe to crossthe dam?"
"The water isn't more than ankle deep," Brad decided. "We can get acrossif we're careful."
Joining hands, the Cubs cautiously waded through the shallow sheet ofwater which coursed over the top of the dam.
"Mack, you and Fred stay here to wait for Mr. Hatfield and Silverton,"Brad instructed. "Otherwise, they'll wonder what became of us."
Though disappointed to be left behind, the two Cubs made no protest.Brad, Dan, Chips and Red, then went on alone.
"Chips, I wish you'd show us again where you and Red picked up thosepheasant feathers," Brad said suddenly.
"Sure, providing the place isn't under water," the other agreed. "I guessit won't be, because we're moving into higher ground."
The four Cubs continued for a short distance, and then Red and Chips fellinto an argument as to the exact place where they had found the feathers.
"It was right here," Red insisted, indicating a small clearing.
"No, it wasn't," denied Chips. "It was farther on."
Dan paid no heed to the two Cubs, for he had made an interestingdiscovery of his own.
"Fellows, come here!" he called excitedly. "See what I've found!"