CHAPTER IX. ANY PORT IN A STORM.
"Hurrah for Bumpus, who's made a first discovery!" exclaimed Giraffe,pretending to show great enthusiasm by waving his campaign hat about hishead.
"Well, I don't see that it's anything to laugh at," Smithy was heard toremark, with a lugubrious expression on his face; "if it comes down on uswhile we're on the tramp, and without any sort of protection, we'll soonbe all mussed up, and in a nice pickle. I'd be considerably betterpleased to have Bumpus discover the sun peeping out at us beforesetting."
"What can't be cured must be endured, you know, Smithy," Thad told theformer dandy of the troop, who was every now and then showing traces ofhis old faults, though he had been cured of numerous shortcomings. "If itrains we'll have to get our rubber ponchos over our shoulders, and thenlook for a place to spend the night. Things are never so bad but whatyou'll find they could be worse."
That indeed was the whole secret of Thad's success, and the cheerfulspirit he invariably displayed when up against difficulties; and everyboy who makes up his mind to look at his troubles in the same hopefulspirit will surely profit from such a course. Things are _never_ at theirworst, though we may temporarily think so. The few drops that came downdid not last and as the scouts continued to push along the river roadthey kept their eyes on the watch for some valley farm, where they mightpossibly find shelter against the coming storm.
It began to look as though they must have struck a portion of the countrywhere, for some unknown reason, farms were few and far between, which isnot often the case along the picturesque Susquehanna, since most of theland is under some kind of cultivation.
Thad even began to fear that as the evening was now close at hand theymight be compelled to abandon their hope of finding a house, and use thelittle time remaining in building some sort of rude shelter.
The idea did not appeal very strongly to him, because he knew that if aheavy downpour came upon them it might last for twenty-four hours; andsuch a primitive camp would prove a dismal refuge indeed, with no fire tocheer them, and dripping trees all around, not to speak of a rapidlyrising river.
On this account he was determined to keep pushing on until the darknessbecame too dense to allow further progress. When they found themselves upagainst such a snag as this it would be time to consider the last resort,which must consist of shelter under some outcropping rocks, or a rustichangout made of branches and every other sort of thing available.
The boys were not talking so much latterly. It seemed as though theymight be feeling too tired for merriment, or else the increasing gravityof their situation began to impress them.
One thing Thad regretted very much. This was the fact that after the rainhad come and gone they could hardly expect to follow the man who wore theold blue army coat by means of the tracks he left behind him, for thesewould have been utterly obliterated. They must then depend on informationgiven by the inmates of such houses as they came upon along the road.
"It's sure commencing to get dark, Thad," grumbled Giraffe, after awhile, as if to explain why he had stubbed his toe, when by rights allthat clumsy business was supposed to be monopolized by poor Bumpus.
"That's partly because we happen to be passing under a big patch of woodshere on the right," the patrol leader explained; "which helps to shut outmore or less of the light from the west. Over there across the river thesky is so gloomy you couldn't expect it to help out any."
"But inside of half an hour at the most it'll be so black you can't see ahand before your face," Step Hen observed.
"I suppose you mean we ought to be thinking of stopping," Thad returned,"and I'm of the same mind; but I hate to give up the hope of strikingsome farm, where we could get another chance to sleep in the haymow. Butgive me ten minutes more, boys, and if we fail to strike what we wantI'll call a halt."
"Whew! I've got a hunch we're going to run up against an experiencebefore long that we won't forget in a hurry, either!" volunteered Davy.
"Here, none of that croaking, Davy Jones!" cried Bob White. "We've allbeen through so much that it doesn't become any member of the Silver FoxPatrol to show the white feather, suh."
"Nobody's thinking of doing that same, Bob White," retorted Davy; "I wasonly trying to figure out what sort of a night we had ahead of us. If itcomes to knocking up against trouble, I reckon I'm as able to hold up myend of the log as the next one. My record will prove that."
"We're all in the same boat, Davy," Step Hen told him, in order to"smooth his ruffled feathers," as he called it.
"And I'll time you on that promise, Thad," remarked Allan, as he took outhis little nickel watch, and held it close up to his face in order to seewhere the hands pointed, which action in itself proved the contention ofGiraffe that the daylight was certainly growing quite dim.
They continued to plod along, now and then some one making a remark, andall of them looking continually to the right, in hopes that they mightdiscover a haven of refuge in the shape of some sort of house, they caredlittle how unpretentious it might be.
Indeed, just then there was not one scout present but who would havehailed the appearance of even an old abandoned shanty having a leaky roofwith delight; for with their ingenuity a worn-out roof could easily bemade to shed rain; and a supply of firewood was to be gathered in ahurry.
The formation of the country was not favorable in one respect, and theyfailed to run across anything in the shape of an outcropping ledge, underwhich they might find shelter. This had saved them from a ducking on morethan one former occasion, as they well remembered; but fortune was not sokind to-day.
Minute after minute dragged on.
Once Allan even took out his watch, and examined its face, only to laugh.
"Beats all how you get fooled when you're counting the minutes," heremarked.
"You mean we haven't been walking that ten Thad allowed us?" asked StepHen.
"Just six to the dot, boys," the timekeeper told them.
"Oh! dear, I thought it was closer on half an hour," sighed Bumpus, whowas dragging his feet along as though each one weighed a ton. "Four wholeminutes left! But Allan, mebbe that watch of yours has stopped! I had onethat used to play tricks like that on me, 'specially in the mornings,when by rights I ought to have been out of bed. It was the mostaccommodating thing you ever saw; I'd wake up, take a look and see itstood at a quarter to seven, and then roll over for another littlesnooze. Then I'd look again after a while, and see it was still a quarterto seven, which allowed me to have another nap. And when my dad came upto ask me if I was sick, I'd tell him he'd have to get me a better watchthan that if he expected me to rise promptly."
"And did he?" asked Davy.
Bumpus shrugged his fat shoulders as he replied:
"I climb out of bed every morning now when a great big alarm clockrattles away close to my ear. Dad sets it there before he retires, and Ican't chuck it out of the window, either. So you see watches go back ontheir best friends sometimes."
"Well, mine is running like a steam engine right now," Allan remarked,"and the four minutes are nearly down to three. Keep a stiff upper lip,Bumpus, and the day's hike will soon be over, no matter what the nightbrings."
That was the thing that bothered them all, for the night was setting inso gloomily that it filled their hearts with secret misgivings andforebodings. The lonesomeness of their surroundings had something to dowith this feeling, perhaps, although these boys were used to camping out,and had indeed roughed it many times in far-distant regions, where wildbeasts roamed, and made the night hideous with their tongues.
At least nothing of that kind might be expected here along the peacefulSusquehanna. Their sufferings were apt to come mostly from the severityof the weather, and their unpreparedness to meet a storm such as nowthreatened.
The three minutes had certainly dwindled to two, and might be evenapproaching the last figure to which their progress was limited, whensuddenly Giraffe gave a shout.
"
We win, boys!" was the burden of his announcement; "because, as sure asyou live, I glimpsed a light ahead there. Look, you can see it easyenough now. We're going to have a roof over our heads to-night, afterall! What a lucky thing it was you said _ten_ minutes, Thad. Suppose,now, you'd just notched it off with five, why, we'd have missedconnections, that's what!"
"But hold on, Giraffe, don't you see that light's on the wrong side ofthe road," remonstrated Allan. "It ought to be on the right, but insteadit lies close to the edge of the water. Now, no man would be silly enoughto build his farmhouse on the river bank, where any spring rise mightwash it away."
"It must be a boat of some kind!" Thad now declared; "yes, I can begin toget a glimpse of the same through that thin screen of bushes."
"Wow! looks like a houseboat to me, boys, or what out on the Ohio and theMississippi they call a shanty boat, which is a cabin built on a monitoror float!" was what Step Hen announced.
"I believe you're right there, Step Hen," Allan put in; "but no matter,any port in a storm; and when a crowd of scouts are hard pushed they cansqueeze in small quarters. We'll fix it somehow with the owner of thatcraft to let us pile in with him till the clouds roll by."
All sorts of loud remarks followed, as the party hastened theirfootsteps, some of the boys even laughing, for the improved prospectsmade Bumpus and Smithy temporarily forget their troubles.
All of them quickly saw that the object of their attention was really aclumsy-looking houseboat. It seemed to be moored to the bank with a stoutrope, and, judging from the fact that a light shone from a small window,it must be occupied.
Laughing and jostling one another, the eight boys pushed on. It was notso dark as yet but what they could have been seen after passing thescreen of leafless bushes, had any one chanced to look out of thatwindow.
Thad led the way aboard. No dog barked, nor did they hear any sort of asound inside the cabin.
"Give 'em a knock, Thad!" said Step Hen.
This the patrol leader did, but there was no reply. Thad waited half aminute, and, hearing nothing, once more rapped his knuckles on the door.
"All asleep, or else up the road somewhere; s'pose you open the dooryourself, Thad!" suggested Giraffe impatiently.
When he had knocked a third time, and received no reply, Thad proceededto open the cabin door, after which the rest of the scouts were so eagerto enter that he was actually pushed ahead of them into the place.
They stared around in bewilderment, for while a small lamp was burning ona table screwed to the wall on hinges, and some supper was cooking on asmall stove, there did not seem to be the first sign of any humanpresence. There was something so strange and uncanny about this that thescouts looked at one another uneasily.