CHAPTER I.

SIGNS OF COMING TROUBLE.

“I’m sick of seeing it raining, and that’s a fact, Hugh. Seems to me it’s been pouring down in bucketfuls for a whole week now!”

“Three days, to be exact, Billy. The worst is yet to come, I’m afraid.”

“You’ll have to explain that conundrum to me, Hugh, because I don’t seem to catch on to what you mean.”

“Stop and think what a tremendous lot of snow fell last winter, Billy. Everybody in Oakvale said it beat the record. And now they report that it’s started melting at a great rate in the mountains. And here’s the rain and sudden warm weather.”

“That would be a bad combination, for a fact!”

“It might make a serious flood for all the valley below. As we came along on the train that brought us here, I noticed the water was lapping the embankment in a number of places. I hope they don’t have a washout that would keep us marooned here in Lawrence, and away from home.”

The boy whose name was Billy, and who was a good-natured looking, stoutly built chap, dressed, underneath his raincoat, in the khaki of a scout, whistled and allowed a gleam of additional interest to sweep across his face as he exclaimed:

“Gee whittaker! That _would_ be an interesting experience! And Hugh, two members in good standing of the Wolf Patrol, Oakvale Troop of Boy Scouts, might find some bully opportunities for showing what scouts can do in emergencies. Between you and me I don’t know but what I’d be glad of a chance to be marooned in the flood belt, so as to watch the circus.”

The two lads were Hugh Hardin and Billy Worth, whose names have become household words to such boys as have had the pleasure of reading previous volumes of this series.

Since there may be new readers who are making the acquaintance of the lively members of the famous Wolf Patrol for the first time, perhaps it would be only fair for us to turn back a little and say something concerning Hugh and his friends.

At first, the new movement had not taken hold in Oakvale with any great speed, so that the Wolf Patrol composed the entire membership of the troop. But Hugh Hardin, Billy Worth, Bud Morgan, Arthur Cameron, and the other members began to have such a grand time that more boys evinced an ardent desire to join.

So another patrol had been started, and the good work continued from month to month, until, at the time this story opens, there were the Hawks under Walter Osborne, the Otters with Alec Sands as leader, the Fox Patrol in charge of Don Miller, and a new detachment to be called the Owls, which Lige Corbley had recently been organizing.

Besides being the leader of the Wolf Patrol, Hugh sometimes acted as assistant scout master in the absence of Lieutenant Denmead, a retired army officer who gave considerable time to the boys, for whom he felt sincere affection.

These lads had many times been in camp on the slopes of Old Stormberg Mountain, near their native town; and in and upon the clear waters of the lake they had paddled, fished, swam, and enjoyed every aquatic sport known to them.

Many of them were posted in all the valuable knowledge that a true scout deems essential to his well-being. Occasions had arisen whereby certain favored members of the troop had been enabled to pass through rather remarkable experiences in other sections of the country.

One of these trips, detailed at length in earlier volumes, took them to the encampment of the state militia, where the boys were enabled to prove their mettle by serving in the Signal Corps. From the commander they received many compliments on account of their proficiency with the flags and in heliograph work.

Some of them had even taken a trip to the Sunny South, visiting the coast region in Florida, where they found a chance to assist the Life Saving crew in their work of rescuing shipwrecked mariners from watery graves.

At another time, they were given the privilege of being in company with the Naval Reserve Corps aboard a Government war vessel at the annual drill. Thus they learned a great deal more about the means of coast defense which Uncle Sam has at his disposal than they could ever have picked up second hand or from books.

These experiences, and many others that have been treated in detail in the preceding volumes, had made seasoned veterans of some of the Oakvale Scouts. Hugh and Billy in particular had gone through so many different adventures that they often had occasion to wonder what would come along next on the program.

Their last real exploit had been the cleaning up of their native town. For the accomplishment of this useful service they had received the unstinted thanks of the clubwomen, who had long wrestled with the problem without being able, unassisted, to accomplish any reformation.

When the scouts took hold, backed by these public-spirited women, who proceeded to see that the ordinances were strictly enforced, a wonderful change came over the whole community. Previous to that time, at every windstorm, the streets were a sight to behold—filthy with flying papers and all sorts of trash. But quickly order came out of chaos, despite the plottings of a set of mean boys who endeavored to frustrate the work of renovation.

And now Oakvale was known as a model town in so far as cleanliness was concerned. Why, it seemed as though everyone living there took special pride in keeping up the good work. If a stranger carelessly happened to throw away the wrapper from a newspaper he had taken from the postoffice, the chances were ten to one half a dozen boys, or even small girls, in fact, would chase after him to ask him to please pick it up and deposit it in one of the big cans marked “I EAT TRASH” that stood at convenient corners of the main thoroughfares.

But when we meet Hugh and his best chum on the present occasion, they are far removed from their home town. It came about in this way, and after all was one of those simple matters that so frequently arise to throw people in the way of new and novel experiences.

Hugh’s folks had occasion to send a valuable package to a lawyer who lived in the city of Lawrence, situated over a hundred miles from Oakvale. Of course, had they chosen, this could have been dispatched by express; but it happened that, in order that he sign papers before witnesses, a personal interview with the gentleman was necessary.

So Hugh had been delegated to take the little journey, for no one doubted his sterling ability, or that he would accomplish every detail with scrupulous exactness, since his record along such lines spoke for itself.

Billy Worth decided to accompany him, pretending that, with such a valuable paper in his possession, Hugh needed a guard to keep him from being held up on the road and robbed. The truth of the matter was, that Billy just felt like taking the trip since it was during the Easter holidays, and he chanced to have money enough in his savings bank to cover the expenses.

They were on the way to the lawyer’s office while expressing their several opinions, as already given, with regard to the bad state of the weather. It was their intention, after the interview had been accomplished and all details carried out to the letter, to return home at once by the first train.

As had happened repeatedly before in their careers, their well-laid plans were destined to be rudely upset by circumstances over which neither of the boys had any control. In playing them this little trick, a favoring fortune placed it within their power to witness, and take part in, some of the most remarkable scenes of any that had come within the scope of their experience.

They had never been in the little city of Lawrence before, but since most of the business houses were located on the main street they had little difficulty in finding the offices of the lawyer to whom Hugh had been sent.

Mr. Jocelyn knew of their coming; indeed, was expecting their arrival on the eleven-thirty train. Much of their trip, however, on account of the threatening waters, had been accomplished at diminished speed. It was now a full hour after the set time.

The attorney had made all allowances for the delay, having doubtless called up the station agent on the ’phone, and learned just why the train from the East was so late.

The boys found Mr. Jocelyn waiting for them and with everything ready, so that the object of Hugh’s journey could be speedily and successfully carried out.

A half hour afterward the two lads descended from the office of the lawyer. Hugh felt his pocket in which he had pinned the precious document that was the cause of his visit to Lawrence with satisfaction.

Mr. Jocelyn had apologized for not asking them to stay to lunch with him. He lived some miles out of town, and intended to hurry back home immediately, as he had a sick wife whose condition gave him much anxiety. Besides, he lived not very far from the river, and the rising waters also added to his grave concern.

It was a matter of no consequence whatever to Hugh and Billy where they ate, so long as the food was fairly decent, and their money held out. Accustomed to camp fare, they knew how to take things as they found them, and seldom made any complaint; which philosophy, after all, is one of the finest traits any lad can have, and one that scouts are apt to have ingrained into their dispositions after a few camping tests.

“We can’t get out of here until that two-thirty-seven train for the East,” Hugh was saying, as they swung along the main street. The sky overhead was heavy gray, and threatened to send down another downpour of rain at any time to add to the misery of the situation.

“I noticed that there was a pretty good lunch counter down at the railroad station,” remarked Billy. “You see, some of the trains make a meal stop here at Lawrence. So they prepare for a rush of custom. I reckon we can fill up there, and be handy for the train when it comes along.”

“A good idea, Billy, to hit two birds with one stone,” declared Hugh. “While I think of it, there’s another thing we might do at the same time.”

“What’s that, Hugh?”

“We have to pass the postoffice on the way down to the station, you may remember,” said the patrol leader.

“Yes, I saw where it was,” Billy replied. “That habit of noticing things, which scouts are drilled in, can be made use of by a fellow everywhere. Nowadays I’m always looking to the right and to the left, and let me tell you it’s mighty few things that escape my eye. But tell me what the postoffice has to do with our going back home. You don’t think of sending that paper by mail after all, I hope, Hugh?”

“After going to all the trouble I have?” cried the other. “Well, I should think not, Billy. It’s a whole lot safer in my pocket than with the mails, even if I registered the package. But about the postoffice—I just happened to remember that it’s a part of the program daily, at our town, to receive the Government weather report, and post the same on the bulletin board. I suppose they do likewise here in Lawrence.”

“Oh, I see now what you’re after,” observed Billy hastily. “You think that, with these unusual conditions hanging over this section of country, Uncle Sam might get out special flood reports and predictions.”

“That’s it,” Hugh declared. “I’ve got an idea something like that must have happened, because when we were passing the postoffice I could see quite a crowd hanging around, mostly men; and Billy, they seemed to be talking in knots, as though discussing something mighty serious.”

“And Hugh, that crowd is bigger than ever now. Look yonder, and you can see how it stretches out into the street. People are heading that way, too, from all directions, you notice. It looks to me as if there is something doing that has all the earmarks of a tragedy.”

The two boys turned grave faces toward each other. Although Billy may have spoken rather light-heartedly about his desire to witness a flood, at the same time he could appreciate something of the horror that always attends such a catastrophe; and the prospect of being involved in so sweeping a disaster gave him a strange thrill in the region of his heart.

They hastened their footsteps. Others were to be seen running toward the postoffice, and often stopping to make inquiries of those they knew. Since the two members of the Wolf Patrol were absolute strangers in town, they did not depend on getting their information at second hand, but pushed their way through the gathering crowd, until they found themselves inside the building given over to the service of the postoffice department.

“Here you are, over this way!” said Hugh, as he elbowed through the thick mass of humanity, and on all sides they began to hear gloomy expressions and forebodings.

There was a paper posted on the wall, which engaged the attention of the surging throng. The scouts saw that there was a line or two of typewriting on it, which they managed to read with bated breath, and this was what the notice said:

“Heavy rains predicted for to-night and to-morrow all through the Eastern section. Flood conditions will prevail, possibly to an unprecedented extent in some quarters.”