CHAPTER XXX
GOOD-BYE TO CEDAR ISLAND
They passed a most anxious hour, after the coming of the professor andhis assistants. The lake kept on rising until pretty much all of theisland except the hill was under water. Of course the trees stood out,but most of their roots were under ten feet or more of water.
It would not last much longer, that they knew, for the supply must befalling short, and besides there was always a chance that the fearfulforce exerted by such a mass of pent-up water would break away theobstruction that clogged the outlet.
Paul had done everything he could think of to add to their security incase the worst came. Some of the scouts were even perched in theneighboring trees. These were the more timid, who Paul knew wereshivering from anxiety, and watching the spot where the lake waterordinarily escaped, as though dreading lest at any second they should seea sudden heave that would mean the beginning of the end.
"Good news, Paul!" sang out Jud Elderkin, to whom had been delegated theduty of keeping watch on the rise of the flood. "She's stationary at lastNever rose a bit the last ten minutes. And believe me, I honestly thinkshe's begun to go down just a little."
The other boys let out a cheer at this news. That was what they were allhoping for--that the water would go down gradually, so as not to endangerthe motorboats.
Just how the craft were to get out of the lake, if the exit remainedclosed, no one could say; but then they might look to Paul to open a waysomehow. He could make use of some dynamite to blow up the obstructions,so Mr. Jameson had suggested, and it sounded all right.
Five minutes later Jud was quite positive that the tide was on the ebb.
"Two inches lower than she was at the highest point. Paul!" he calledout, jubilantly.
"Hurrah! that sounds good to me!" exclaimed Bobolink, swinging hiscampaign hat vigorously about his head, as he sat in the bow of the_Comfort_, it being a part of his task to watch the cable, and if theworst came to ease up on it so that there would be less likelihood of asudden snap.
"But we're not out of danger yet, remember," cautioned the scout master.
Presently the water was lowering at a still faster rate.
"Looks like the opening might be getting larger," said Jack, when thisfact was made clear beyond any doubt.
"Watch over there," said Paul, "and see if there's any sudden rush,though already the water is escaping so fast that I begin to believe wemight hold on here, even if the whole pile of earth and rocks were washedaway, leaving the channel clear."
Five, ten, fifteen minutes crept along, and all the while the water keptgoing steadily down until much of the island could be seen again underthe trees.
"Oh! look, there she goes!" cried Bobolink, without warning, and therebycausing some of the fellows who had descended from the trees to wish theywere aloft again.
Over in the vicinity of the outlet they could see something of acommotion. The water seemed to be running down hill, as it struggled topour out through the now cleared passage.
Immediately the boats felt the suction, which must have been very strongindeed. They strained at their ropes, and those who had the cables incharge obeyed the instructions given to them, allowing a certain lengthof line to slip, thus easing the fearful drag.
"Whoop! they're going to hold!" exclaimed Bobolink, in great glee.
Paul believed so himself, and a smile came to his face that up to now hadlooked careworn and anxious; for a dreadful catastrophe had been hoveringover them, he felt certain.
And the ropes did make good, holding in spite of that fierce drag. Thewater soon got down to about its normal level, when the pull upon thehawsers ceased, and everything seemed to settle back into the old rut.
But the boys had had quite enough of Cedar Island. It was water-soakednow, and offered little attraction to them for camping. Paul suggestedthat they leave the cove and head for a certain section of the main shorewhich, on account of being much higher than the island, had not beenoverflowed.
There was not a single voice raised in opposition, and so they startedthe motors and with a series of derisive sounds that seemed almost likechuckles the boats said goodbye to Cedar Island. Landing they found asplendid spot for the erection of the tents, and before the coming ofnight the scouts were as snugly fixed as though nothing had happened todisturb them.
The injured professor declared that he meant to stick by Paul until hismessenger arrived with a carriage and a doctor by way of the road, whichran only a half mile away from the lake.
He expressed himself satisfied with the work Paul had done on his arm,and believed it to be the right thing.
They hoped to spend a quiet night. There would be no bomb explosions inthe heavens to disturb them, at least. Mr. Jameson had alreadyexplained to the boys that, if they had happened to be awake at thetime of that first tremendous shock, they must have seen by the glarein the heavens that it was a new kind of aerial bomb that had beenfired; and possibly under such conditions some one of the scouts wouldhave guessed the truth. But when they crept out of the tents there wasnothing to be seen aloft.
Luckily, these wide-awake boys could accommodate themselves to theirsurroundings. Their former experiences had made most of themquickwitted, resolute and cheerful under difficulties that might havedaunted most lads.
Although they had received a tremendous shock because of the numerousremarkable occurrences that had taken place since their landing on CedarIsland, now that their troubles seemed to have departed, most of thescouts were just as full of life and good-natured "chaff" as ever.
Bluff seemed to never tire of entertaining those who had not beenfortunate enough to be among the valiant band of explorers withwonderful accounts of all they had seen. He had them holding theirvery breath with awe, as he described, in his own way, how they firstof all crept up to the shack in the thicket and looked in upon thewild man asleep.
But when Bluff told of how he and his comrades had been warned off insuch a dramatic manner by the unknown man, and immediately afterwardsfound themselves knocked down by that tremendous concussion, as theexplosion took place, he had them hanging on his every sentence.
But words failed Bluff when he tried to picture the wild scene that hadfollowed. That furious scamper through the wooded part of the island mustremain pretty much in the nature of a nightmare with the boys.
Phil and Bobolink and Andy all eagerly chimed in, trying to do thesubject justice, but after all it seemed beyond their powers. They couldonly end by holding up both hands, rolling their eyes, shrugging theirshoulders, and then mutely pointing to the various cuts, scratches andcontusions that decorated their faces. The rest had to be left to theimagination.
Fortunately there was an abundance of witch hazel ointment along, so thatevery sufferer was able to anoint his hurts. The whole bunch seemed tofairly _glisten_ from the time of their arrival at the boats. Indeed,there never had been such a wholesale raid made upon the medicaldepartment since the Stanhope Troup of Banner Boy Scouts was organized.
But after all was said and done they had come out of the whole affair atleast with honor. And now that the peril was a thing of the past theycould well afford to laugh at their adventures on Cedar Island.