CHAPTER XX--CURLY PLAYS AN HEROIC PART

Mrs. Rachel Parsons' name was one "to conjure with," as the saying goes. Ruth and Helen had marked that fact before. Not alone in the vicinity of Merredith plantation, but in the cities and towns through which the visitors had come in reaching the cotton farm, they had observed how impressive her name seemed.

Several of the ladies who had been listening avidly to Miss Miggs' declaration that she had been robbed, now hastened to disclaim any intention of offending Mrs. Parsons' niece and her friends.

But the angry Nettie was not so easily pacified. She was actually in tears, it was true, but, as Helen said, "as brave as a little lioness!" In the cause of her school friends she could well hold her own with these scandal-mongers.

"I am surprised that anybody knowing my aunt should believe for a moment such a ridiculous tale as this woman utters," Nettie said, flashing an indignant glance about the group.

"It is self-evident that if Aunt Rachel invites anybody to her home, that the person's character is above reproach. That is all _I_ can say. But I know very well that she will say something far more serious when she hears of this.

"Come, Ruthie and Helen. Let us go downstairs. I am sorry I cannot take you immediately home. But be sure that, once we are away from Holloway's, we shall never come here again."

"Oh, Miss Nettie!" gasped the hotel keeper's wife. "I did not mean----"

"You will have to discuss that point with Aunt Rachel," said Nettie, firmly, yet still wiping her eyes. "I only know that I will take Ruthie and Helen nowhere again to be insulted. As for that woman," she flashed, as a Parthian shot at Miss Miggs, "I think she must be crazy!"

The girls descended the stairs. At the foot Nettie put her arms about Ruth's neck and then about Helen's, and kissed them both. She was not naturally given to such displays of affection; but she was greatly moved.

"Oh, my dears!" she cried. "I would not have had this happen for anything! It is terrible that you should be so insulted--and among our own people. Aunt Rachel will be perfectly wild!"

"Don't tell her, then," urged Ruth, quickly. "That woman will not be allowed to say anything more, it is likely; so let it blow over."

"It cannot blow over. Not only did she insult you, and her cousin allowed her to do so, but their attitude insulted Aunt Rachel. Why! there is not a person in this hotel the equal of Aunt Rachel. The Merrediths are the best known family in the whole county. How Mrs. Holloway _dared_----"

"There, there!" said Ruth, soothingly. "Let it go. Neither Helen nor I are killed."

"But your reputations might well be," Nettie said quickly.

"Nobody knows us much here----"

"But they know Aunt Rachel. And I assure you they will hear about this matter in a way they won't like. The Holloways especially. She'd better send that crazy woman packing back to the North."

At that moment a shout arose from the front veranda. The girls, followed by Norma screaming in renewed fright, ran to the door. The water was still over the flooring of the veranda, but it had not advanced into the house.

The group of excited men on the porch were pointing off into the river. Out there it was very dark; but there was a light moving on the face of the troubled waters.

"A boat is coming!" explained somebody to the girls. "That's a lantern in it. A boat from across the river."

"A steamboat?" cried Helen.

"Oh, no; a steamboat would not venture to-night--if at all. And there is none near by. It's a bateau of some kind."

"Bet it's the old bateau from the cotton warehouse across there," said another of the men. "Jimson is trying to reach us."

"And what can he do when he gets here?" asked a third. "That burning house is bound to fall this way. Then we'll have to fight fire for sure!"

"Well, Holloway has a bucket brigade all ready," said the first speaker. "With all this water around, it's too bad if we can't put a fire out."

The fire was illuminating all the vicinity now, for the flames had burst through the roof. The whole of one end of the cottage was in a blaze, and the wall of the hotel nearest to it was blistering in the heat.

The hotel proprietor stood there with his helpers watching the blaze. But the girls watched the approaching boat, its situation revealed by the bobbing lantern.

"If that is Mr. Jimson," said Helen, "I hope he can take us back across the river."

"And he shall if it's safe," Nettie said, with confidence. "But my! the water's rough."

"Oh, Miss Nettie! Miss Nettie!" groaned Norma. "Yo' ain' gwine t' vencha on dat awful ribber, is yo'?"

"Why not, you ridiculous creature?" demanded her mistress. "If you are afraid to stay here, and afraid to go in the boat, what _will_ you do?"

"Wait till it dries up!" wailed the darkey maid. "Den we kin walk home, dry-shod--ya-as'm!"

"Wait for the river to dry up, and all?" chuckled Helen.

"That's what she wants," said Nettie. "I never saw such a foolish girl."

The bobbing lantern came nearer. Just as it reached the edge of the submerged island, there arose a shout from the men aboard of her. Then sounded a mighty crash.

"Hol' on, boys! hol' on!" arose the voice of Mr. Jimson. "Don't lose yo' grip! _Pull!_"

But the negroes could not pull the water-logged boat. She had struck a snag which ripped a hole in her bottom, and had been rammed by a log at the same time. The bateau was a wreck in a few seconds.

The six members of the crew, including the boss and Curly Smith, leaped overboard as the bateau sank. They had brought the boat so far, after a terrific fight with the current, only to sink her not twenty yards from the front steps of the hotel!

"Throw us a line--or a life-buoy!" yelled Jimson. "This yere river is tearin' at us like a pack o' wolves. Ain't yo' folks up there got no heart?"

One of the negroes uttered a wild yell and went whirling away down stream, clinging to a timber that floated by. Two others managed to climb into the low branches of a tree.

But Jimson, the fourth negro, and Curly Smith struck out for the hotel. After all, Curly was the best swimmer. Jimson would have been carried past the end of the hotel and down the current, had not the Northern boy caught him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the steps.

There he left the panting boss and plunged in again to bring the negro to the surface. This fellow could not swim much, and was badly frightened. The instant he felt Curly grab him, he turned to wind his arms about the boy.

The lights burning on the hotel porch showed all this to the girls. Ruth and Helen, already wet half-way to their knees, had ventured out on the porch again in their excitement. Ruth screamed when she saw the danger Curly was in.

The boy had helped save Mr. Jimson; but the negro and he were being swept right past the hotel porch. They must both sink and be drowned if somebody did not help them--and no man was at hand.

"Take my hand, Helen!" commanded Ruth. "Maybe I can reach them. Scream for help--do!" and she leaned out from the end of the veranda, while her chum clung tightly to her left wrist.

The boy and the negro came near. The water eddied about the porch-end and held them in its grasp for a moment.

It was then that Ruth stooped lower and secured a grip upon the black man's sleeve. She held on grimly while her chum shrieked for help. Jimson came staggering along to their aid.

"Hold on t' him, Miss Ruth!" he cried. "We'll git him!"

But if it had depended upon the spent warehouse boss to rescue the boy and his burden, they would never have been saved. Two of the men at the other end of the porch finally heard Helen and Nettie and came to help.

"Haul that negro in," said one, laughing. "Is he worth saving, Jimson?"

"I 'spect so," gasped the boss of the cotton warehouse. "But I know well that that white boy is. My old woman sho' wouldn't ha' seen _me_ ag'in if it hadn't been fo' Curly. I was jes' about all in."

So was Curly, as the girls could see. When the boy was dragged out upon the porch floor, and lay on his back in the shallow water, he could neither move nor speak. The men tried to raise him to his feet, but his left leg doubled under him.

It was Ruth who discovered what was the matter. "Bring him inside. Lay him on a couch. Don't you see that the poor boy has broken his leg?" she demanded.