Chapter VII: The Storm Breaks

Dave Shepard, followed by the other "Busters," leaped down to the edge of the water before they came to the spot where the bank had caved. They feared that by tramping along the edge they might bring down even a greater avalanche than had fallen with the unfortunate Bessie.

"There she is, fellows!" cried Dave. "She's hanging to the tree!"

"I see her!" returned Ferd Roberts.

"Oh, Dave! we can't reach her," cried another of the Busters.

"I wish the professor was here," cried Ferd. "He'd know what to do."

"My goodness!" returned Dave, throwing off his coat and cap. "I don't need anybody to tell me what to do. _We've got to go after her!_"

He tore off the low shoes he wore, pitched them after his cap and coat, and leaped into the water. The current tugged hard at the end of the island, and Bessie and the uprooted sapling were being carried out farther and farther into the stream.

The girl had not screamed. Indeed, she had been startled to such a degree when she went down that she had really not breath enough for speech as yet.

The boys were "right on the job," and only a few seconds elapsed from the moment the bank gave away until that in which Dave Shepard sprang into the river.

Some of the roots of the tree still clung to the shore. A part of the loosened earth had fallen upon these roots and so the tree was anchored. But Bessie was clinging to the hole of the sapling quite fifteen feet from the edge of the solid beach.

"Catch hold of hands, boys!" commanded Dave. "Make a chain! Give me one hand, Ferd! The current is tugging me right off my feet!"

His four mates obeyed orders promptly. Dave was captain of the Busters, as Wyn was of the Go-Ahead Club; and the boys had learned to obey their captain promptly--all but Tubby, at least. But Tubby was not in this exciting adventure at all, being asleep under the bush at their lunching place.

The fat boy was not even aroused when the crowd trooped back to the spot, boys and girls alike chattering like magpies. Dave and Ferd carried the dripping Bessie in "arm-chair" fashion and the girl who so disliked boys clung to her two chief rescuers with abandon.

They had hauled her out of the river just as she was losing her grasp on the tree. A moment later she might have been whirled down stream by the current and her life endangered. As it was, she had swallowed much water, and was just as wet inside and out as she would ever be in her life.

All the boys were more or less wet--Dave was saturated to his arm-pits. But the day was warm, and the boys were used to such duckings. It was another matter, however, with the girl. She was already shaking with an incipient chill.

"Wood on the fire, boys--get a lot of it," commanded Dave. "And get our blankets and let's put up a makeshift tent for Bess to use. She must get off her wet duds and wring them out and dry them. Hi! wake up that Tubby Blaisdell. We want his help."

Ferd proceeded to walk right over the fat youth on his way for more fuel and that effectually aroused the lad.

"Hey--you! what are you about?" yawned Tubby. "Can't you find another place to walk on but _me_, Ferd Roberts?"

"I've got to walk _some_where," quoth Ferd.

"Why! you're all wet," gasped Tubby. "And so are you, Dave! And those other fellows--I declare!"

"Wake up and do something, Tubby," commanded Dave. "We want to get a tent up, There's been an accident, and Bessie Lavine is wetter than any of us. Let's have your knife."

"My--my knife?" yawned Tubby, rolling over slowly to reach into his breeches pocket.

This was too good a chance for Ferd to resist. Tubby was rolling near the edge of the bank as Ferd came back with his arms full of broken branches. Ferd put his foot against Tubby's back and pushed with all his might.

"Hi! Stop that! Ugh!"

Tubby rolled over once--he rolled over twice; then, with many ejaculations and bumps rolled completely down the slope, amid the laughter of the boys and girls above him.

Tubby missed the canoes--by good luck--and rolled with a splash into a shallow pool at the river's edge.

"You mean thing!" he yelled, getting up with some alacrity and shaking his fist at Ferd. "I--I'm all wet."

"So are we, Tubby," Dave said. "You belong to our lodge now. Come on up here with that knife of yours. Didn't I tell you I wanted to use it?"

The other boys were scurrying after stakes and blankets, while the girls fed the fire till it roared high, and Bessie stood in the heat of the flames.

"What do you think of the boys _now_, Bess?" Frank Cameron whispered in the victim's ear. "Some good--at times--eh?"

"Now, don't worry her, Frank," commanded Mina, the tender-hearted. "The poor, dear girl! See--she's just as wet as she can possibly be."

"Oh, and wasn't I scared!" gasped Bess, honestly. "When that bank went down I thought I was right on my way through to China! I did, indeed."

"I was so thankful Dave was there," said Wyn Mallory, thoughtfully. "You see, Dave is one of those dependable boys."

"I've got to admit it," gasped Bess. "He's some good. Why! he caught me just as I was slipping off that tree. I _can't_ thank him!"

"Never mind," said Wyn, cheerfully. "It is decided, I guess, that the boys may be of some use to us this summer, after all."

"That's so, if we're all going to run the risk of drowning," Grace Hedges observed.

"I am going to learn to swim better," declared Bess. "I'll just put my t--time all in on _that_. But, oh, girls! I am so wet!"

"Tent's ready, ladies!" shouted Dave Shepard. "Make her take her clothing off, Wyn. We fellows will get the professor and go over to the other side of the island for a swim. Ferd and I have got to strip off and wring out our trousers, anyway. And I reckon Tubby is some wet."

"That's all right," grumbled the fat youth, waddling after his mates. "I'll pay Ferd out for that--you see!"

The boys were back in an hour and a half. By that time Bess had been made quite presentable, for her garments had been dried over the fire. However, the girls were dressed in a way to stand--as well as might be--such accidents as Bessie had met.

The girl who had declared boys no good frankly shook hands with Dave before they embarked again, and thanked him very prettily for his help in time of need.

"Go ahead! get a medal for me," said Dave. "Pin it right _there_," and he pointed to the lapel of his jacket. "I'm a hero. Keep on praising me, Miss Lavine, and I'll grow as tall as a giraffe."

"And that's the highest form of animal life--ask the professor if it isn't," chuckled Frank Cameron.

But they were all very thankful that nothing serious had resulted from the accident. There was an after-result, however, that promised to be unpleasant. They had been so delayed at the island that it was half-past three before they got off. There was still a long stretch to paddle to Meade's Forge at the foot of Honotonka Lake.

And, swiftly as they paddled, the sun was setting when they arrived at the Forge. Besides, a heavy cloud was coming up, threatening a storm. Indeed, lightning was already playing around the horizon behind them.

There was no hotel at the Forge, and no good place to stop for the night. Mrs. Havel was out in her canoe waiting for them. Gannet Island, where the boys were to camp, was in sight, and the camping place the girls had had selected for them was even nearer.

"We had better go at once," said the professor, earnestly. "We will stop and help you erect your tents first----"

"No, you will not," returned Mrs. Havel. "The girls and I have got to learn to be independent. Besides, your stores are waiting for you over there on the island, and I understand from the boatmen that the things are not yet under cover. You must hurry. We'll get along all right; won't we, girls?"

"Sure!" agreed Frank.

"We haven't come up here to be a burden on the boys, I hope," said Wyn, sturdily.

Wyn was captain, and as both she and Mrs. Havel thought they could get along all right, it was not for the other girls to object. The professor and the boys bade them good-bye and paddled away as fast as possible for the distant island. Even Tubby put forth some effort, for the thunderstorm was surely coming.

Tired as they were, the girls of the Go-Ahead Club made their paddles fly for another half-hour. Then they were in sight of a white birch, to the top of which was fastened a long streamer, like a pennant.

"There's the place!" cried Wyn, recognizing the signal that Polly Jarley had written to her about.

"And yonder is the boatman's place where our stores were left?" asked Mrs. Havel.

"Yes, ma'am."

"We cannot stop for anything now, and must depend for the night upon what we have with us. I don't like the look of that cloud," said the lady.

None of the girls liked the look of it, either. It had now rolled up to the zenith--a leaden mass, looming over them most threateningly. And there was a rumble of thunder in the summer air.

"Oh! what a beautiful spot!" cried Percy.

"See that reach of lawn--and the thick grove behind it. Goodness me!" exclaimed Mina Everett, "do you suppose there are bears in that woods?"

"If there are, we'll catch 'em and eat 'em," said Frank, practically. "Now you know, Mina, there hasn't been a bear shot in this state since your grandfather's time."

"Well, then, if there's been none shot, maybe there are a lot grown up here in the woods," objected Mina.

"Don't scare a fellow to death with your croaking," admonished Percy.

Bessie had known that Polly Jarley had chosen the site for the camp; and she was secretly prepared to find fault with it. But as they drove their canoes ashore on the little, silvery beach below the green knoll where the pennant fluttered, Bess could find in her heart no complaint.

It seemed an ideal spot. On three sides the thick woods sheltered the knoll of green. In front the lake lay like a mirror--its surface whitened in ridges 'way out toward the middle now, for the wind was coming.

"Hurry ashore, girls," said Mrs. Havel. "And pull your canoes well up on the sand. We must hurry to get our shelter up first of all. It will rain before dark, and the night is coming fast."

"Wish the boys had stopped to help us," wailed Grace.

"And let their own stores get all wet--eh?" cried Wyn. "For shame! Come on, girls. To the tent!"

There was a pile of canvas which had been dropped here by the bateau men on their way to Gannet Island that forenoon. There were stakes and poles with the canvas, and the girls had practised putting up the shelter and striking it for some weeks in Wyn's back yard.

They were not so clumsy at this work, therefore; but it did seem, because they were in a hurry, that everything went wrong.

Mina pounded her thumb with a stake-mallet, and the ridge pole fell once and struck Grace on the side of the head. Poor Grace was always unfortunate.

"Oh, dear me! I wish I was home!" wailed the big girl. "And ouch! it's going to thunder and lightning just awful!"

"Now, keep at work!" admonished their captain. "Fasten those pegs down well, Frankie," she added, to the girl, who had taken the mallet. "Never mind crying over your poor thumb, Mina. Wait till the tent's up and all our things brought up from the canoes."

"Here come the first drops, girls!" shrieked Frankie.

Drops! It was a deluge! It came across the lake in a perfect wall of water, shutting out their view of Gannet Island and everything else.

The girls scuttled for the canoes, emptied them, turned the boats keel upward, and then retreated to the big tent, Wyn even dragging the canvas of the cook tent inside to keep it from becoming saturated.

Fortunately the last peg had been secured. The flap was laced down quickly. In the semi-darkness of the sudden twilight the girls and Mrs. Havel stood together and listened to the rain drum upon the taut canvas.

How it sounded! Worse than the rain on a tin roof! Peering out through the slit in the middle of the tent-flap they could see nothing but a gray wall of water.

Suddenly there was a glaring blue flash, followed soon by the roar of the thunder. Several of the girls cried out and crouched upon the ground.

"Oh, dear me! this is awful!" groaned Grace again.

Mina Everett was sobbing with the pain in her thumb and her fear of the lightning.

"Now, this will never do, girls," admonished Wyn Mallory. "Come! we can set up the alcohol lamp and make tea. That will help some. There are crackers and some ham, and a whole big bottle of olives. Why! we sha'n't starve for supper, that's sure."

"I--I don't know as I want to eat," quavered Mina.

"Pshaw! We Go-Aheads must not be afraid of a little storm----"

Wyn's voice was drowned in the clap of thunder which accompanied an awful flash of lightning. With both came a splintering crash, the tent seemed to rock, and for a moment its interior was vividly illuminated by the electric bolt. The lightning had struck near at hand.