CHAPTER XVIII.

MORE SERIOUS NEWS.

"Help! hurry up!"

That was what Smithy was calling, in agonized tones that thrilled everyone of the other scouts. They were rushing pell-mell along the trail which Davy and Thad had made in going to and coming from the river, and which the other pair had also followed when they went to take an observation. Now and then one of them would find a root or a vine, and take a header, but only to scramble erect again, and resume the furious forward rush.

The river was close by, and at least Smithy had not lost his voice, for he still kept up his cries; though getting hoarse through the excitement, and the constant strain on his voice.

Then those in the lead discovered their chum. He seemed to be lying flat on his chest at the very brink of the swift flowing river; and while one hand gripped an exposed root belonging to a tree, the other was stretched over the edge of the bank.

"It's Bumpus!" gasped Giraffe; "and he's fallen in!"

No one took the trouble to offer any objection to this explanation. Indeed, from their previous experience with Bumpus it seemed the most natural thing in the world to expect the clumsy scout to tumble overboard every chance he got. They could in fact look back to any number of similar accidents during the time the patrol had been taking these outings in the woods and on the waters.

"Hold him tight, Smithy!" snapped Thad, trying to increase his pace, which was rendered a difficult thing to do because of the many obstacles that must be encountered and overcome.

"Good boy, Smithy, keep a-going!" cried Davy, greatly excited.

No doubt these cheery symptoms of coming help did much to encourage Smithy to maintain his frenzied clutch upon the one who was in the water; for he was still holding on when Thad arrived on the spot, accompanied by Giraffe, the best runner of them all.

Down alongside Smithy they both dropped. Yes, there was poor old Bumpus in the flood, swimming with hands and legs, and spurting great volumes of the muddy water out of his mouth with each splurge. It chanced that it was quite deep there, and the river ran like a mill race; so that if Smithy had released his grip for a single instant the unlucky Bumpus must have been swept down-stream like a log, in spite of his strenuous efforts.

When his clothes were soaked through, the stout member of the patrol was apt to weigh several hundred pounds; so it was small wonder that, unaided, Smithy could do next to nothing looking to his rescue--just hold on desperately, and shout for help.

But when Thad and Giraffe took a grip it was a different matter. Altogether they started to drag the imperiled scout up out of his impromptu bath.

"Yo-heave-o! Up you come, my boy! One more pull, Thad, and we've got him. Wow! what an elephant he is!"

So saying, Giraffe bent again to the task, with the result that Bumpus was soon hauled over the edge of the crumbling bank, and dragged to a place of security. There he lay, sprawled out, gasping for breath, and shedding gallons of water from his soaked khaki suit.

The boys gathered around, staring at him. Although they often poked considerable fun at Bumpus, it was of an innocent sort, for they were exceedingly fond of him.

"Well, you sure look like a great big grampus hauled up on the beach!" remarked Giraffe, with pretended scorn, though to tell the truth in all probability he did not really know what a grampus was, only that it lived in the sea, and stood for something clumsy and large.

"Next time you feel like taking a bath, Bumpus, don't be so greedy. You're some size, but the river's on a flood now, and too big for you!" said Davy; and turning to Thad he continued: "Like as not your stick will show that she jumped up a foot or more when Bumpus dropped in."

"It's a bad time to get your feet crossed, suh, when you-all happen to be on a river bank!" Bob White hinted.

"You're all away off; I didn't stumble, this time, anyhow, and I wasn't trying to take a bath either," spluttered the soaking Bumpus, as he sat up and started wiping his face with a very wet sleeve.

"How about that, Smithy; what happened to him?" asked Thad.

"The bank caved in under him, that's the truth," replied the other scout. "He was wanting to see just a little further down the river, when all at once he went in. I really couldn't tell you just how I happened to catch hold of him by the back of his coat, because I don't know myself; but I thought it my duty to call out, and try to get some help. You see, he was too heavy for me to lift. I almost broke my back trying, as it was."

"I should think you would!" declared Giraffe; "and it's a lucky thing we heard you calling. Only for that what would you have done, Smithy?"

"I was trying to think all the while," replied the other. "You see, I didn't dare let go my hold, for the current is terribly swift here. I had half an idea that if only I could work along the bank a little, it might shoal some, and then Bumpus would be able to get a footing. But I'm glad you came when you did, for I was rapidly becoming exhausted."

Smithy generally spoke with great exactness, and used words that few of his comrades ever bothered with in their conversation; that was one thing connected with his previous condition that persisted in clinging to the former dandy of the patrol.

"You did the right thing, and that's a fact!" commented Allan; "I don't believe there's a single fellow who could have raised Bumpus. But, Thad, he's beginning to shiver in this air; don't you think we ought to get him over to the fire?"

"Sounds good t-to me; fire's what I w-want, and l-lots of it too!" stammered the stout scout, trying to get to his feet, in which effort he was ably assisted by willing hands. "As t-to that bank, how'd I k-k-know it was goin' to c-c-cave in on me, t-t-tell me that, will y-y-you?"

They hurried him along as fast as he could be urged, and all the while he kept shedding little streams of water, as though he carried an almost inexhaustible supply. When finally the camp was reached, with the wondering Step Hen giggling over the comical sight Bumpus presented, they made the late swimmer disrobe, and hung his clothes around so that they would dry in the heat of the fire.

Bumpus himself was wrapped in blankets until he looked like a swathed mummy, and told to just lie there. Under all this manipulation of course his chilled blood regained its normal temperature, and he declared he felt as snug as a "bug in a rug!"

Even this excitement did not cause Giraffe to forget that he had business on his hands, and supper was taken in charge with the customary results; for they presently found themselves sitting down to a "bountiful repast," Davy called it, to the evident complete satisfaction of the eminent cook.

By the time they were ready to roll up in their blankets and try to get some sleep, the clothes hanging from various bushes were thoroughly dry; so that Bumpus could don the same. This released all the extra blankets with which he had been swathed, which was a matter of vital importance to their various owners.

The fire they expected to keep going more or less all through the night. Besides the comfort that it brought through the necessary heat, its bright glow did much to dissipate the gloom around them, and render their situation less cheerless.

Giraffe insisted on keeping his gun close at his side, for he said there could be no telling whether they were safe there or not. If the island did happen to be the hiding-place of some desperate criminal, who might think to steal a march on them as they slept, he wanted to be ready to repel boarders.

He even had Thad promise to give a certain signal should anything out of the way happen while they slept; just as though Thad would be awake all through the night, and know about the same.

But the long hours of darkness dragged on, and there was no alarm. Some of the boys slept through the entire night without arousing once; but there were others who felt more of the weight of responsibility resting upon them, and who frequently sat up to look around, or else got upon their feet, in order to put more wood on the camp fire.

Morning broke and found them apparently in just the same condition as when they had wrapped their blankets around them, and lay down with their feet toward the fire, hunter-fashion.

Thad was the first up, and when Allan awoke it was to see the patrol leader returning over the trail that led to the river bank.

It was easy to decide that the other must have been over to learn what his tally-stick had to tell about the condition of the flood.

"How about it, Thad; falling, I hope?" Allan asked, as he stretched himself, after getting on his feet.

"Yes, and rapidly into the bargain, just as we expected would be the case," came the reply. "That rain could not have extended all the way up to the sources of the river, you see; and it will run out in a big hurry."

"Then we may be able to get across to the mainland before a great while?" queried Allan.

"We'll talk about that while we're eating breakfast," Thad told him; "and as the sun is coming up I reckon we'd better waken the rest of the crowd. They've had a grand good sleep, I take it. Give Giraffe a push, Allan, will you, and roll Bumpus over a few times till he says he's awake; that's the regular program with him, you know." One by one the scouts sat up, and yawned, and stretched, as sleepy boys are apt to do when they have not been allowed to have their last nap out. Of course Davy did not forget how Thad had made a flood-tally over at the river, which fortunately Bumpus had not kicked away when he took his unexpected plunge with a portion of the crumbly bank.

"I reckon, now, Thad, you've been over to see what's doing," he remarked, while Giraffe fixed his cooking fire, and set about beginning operations looking to having breakfast under way. "And if that's so tell us how she stands. Did it drop half a foot or more during the time we snoozed?"

"More like three feet," replied the other; "and if Bumpus fell over in the same place again he'd find the water hardly up to his waist, with little current in place of that mill race of yesterday. Yes, things begin to look encouraging all around, boys!"

"Like fun they do!" bawled out Giraffe just then, as he stood up, and turned a very red and angry face toward the rest of the scouts.

"Why, what ails you now, Giraffe?" asked Smithy, who, generally calm and cold as an iceberg himself, frequently took the others to task when they showed signs of great excitement.

"I'm as mad as a wet hen, I tell you, and I wish somebody'd kick me for not doing what I first meant to last night, ask Thad to set a watch!" exploded the tall scout, stamping on the ground, and grinding his teeth.

Thad smelled a rat immediately.

"Anything been taken, Giraffe?" he asked hastily.

"Anything?" roared the other; "why, there isn't half enough left to give us a decent meal. I reckon I might be satisfied, but where the rest of you are going to come in beats me. Yes, this island is inhabited, all right, and they're a set of low-down thieves at that. You hear me talking, fellows!"