CHAPTER X.

MR. JASPER CHANGES HIS MIND.

Billy Worth entered into the game with his customary eagerness. There had been so much of tragedy connected with their experiences thus far in the rescue of the numerous flood victims, that what promised to be a rift in the clouds appealed to him with considerable force. Billy was always ready for fun.

He saw that Hugh was following the example of a famous man, Alexander the Great, who, when offered the Gordian knot to unravel, simply cut it with his sword. Since so much remained to be done for others, they could not afford to waste time with a captious old woman who, having been hoisted to that limb, was afraid to let go of it for fear lest she should be dropped into that terrible waste of water below.

So Billy took the hatchet and began to climb the tree. Miss Maria did not at first comprehend what his intentions were, and even started scolding the boy for meaning to force her to put her faith in that slender clothes line.

When he deliberately began to hack away at the limb upon which she placed her faith, she realized the impending catastrophe, and shrilly chided him for what she called his treachery.

Billy kept grimly at work. He was making splendid progress, for it happened that the boat hatchet had a keen edge, and Billy had always prided himself on being something of a woodsman chopper.

“Hold hard below!” he called out presently, at which Miss Maria gave a shriek and changed her hold from the security of the now bending limb to the clothes line over her head.

Hugh and the others made sure to have the rope taut, for they saw that the limb was getting ready to fall of its own weight, since Billy had cut more than halfway through it.

Then came a crackling sound, more shrieks from the little old maid, and she was discovered dangling in the air, kicking furiously, and almost wild with fright.

Suppressing their desire to laugh, Hugh and his comrades immediately started to lower her by slacking up on their end of the rope. When she came within reach they guided her into the boat, although in more or less danger of having their share of knocks from her energetic kicks into space.

When she found that she had been safely landed, Miss Maria almost collapsed; but at least she appeared to be so completely out of breath that the scouts were spared another scolding harangue.

The rope recovered, they had no further reason to remain in that vicinity. When they could do so without the little old maid’s keen eye being fastened on them, Billy and Tip and Monkey would exchange grins and suggestive shrugs; but they were very careful to keep straight faces if they fancied she were watching them.

Hugh had mapped out a plan of campaign when starting up the valley. It was his intention to cover the inundated territory fully, so that when they turned back to town they could feel they had not left any one at the mercy of the flood who should have been looked after.

So he kept changing his course in what might be called a zigzag way, now steering toward the left shore, and again heading in the direction of the opposite one. Billy called it “tacking,” for their advance up the valley was by a series of eccentric movements.

Shortly after having rescued Miss Maria in a manner which she would never recall without more or less resentment, the scouts discovered another waving signal that meant trouble. In this instance it was a farmer who was known to be well to do, and who had quite a family, among the rest a couple of boys of twelve and fourteen.

They had lingered too long at home, from some cause or other, and were in somewhat of a panic lest the night come on to find them facing dreadful hours of darkness and despair.

Hugh was surprised at the lack of smartness shown by those two lusty lads. He was sure that if they had belonged to the scouts they would at least have found some way of constructing a safety device in the shape of a raft by means of which the entire family might have been ferried across the water to the high land.

The coming of the launch was the signal for more or less cheering on the part of these two boys. They had let their stock loose some time before, so that it had probably found safety in the distant hills, swimming the flood.

As they had done on other occasions, Hugh and his comrades bustled about, and not only got the farmer and his family aboard but managed to also save a few bundles of wearing apparel that the good housewife insisted on taking along.

“The farmer seems to keep watching us as if he had something on his mind,” was what Hugh whispered to Tip Lange about the time they were ready to once more make a start, intending to land all their passengers the next time they drew in to the shore.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he has,” replied the Lawrence scout, “and I think I can give a pretty close guess what it is.”

“Suppose you tell me, then?” suggested the patrol leader.

“Why, you see, when we started this scout racket here, his two boys, Tad and Ben Jasper, were mighty wild to join the troop, but their dad put his foot down flat against any such ‘foolishness,’ as he called it. He seemed to have the idea in his head, like a lot of other people do who will not take the trouble to read the Boy Scout Manual, and learn what the movement represents, that it was intended just to make soldiers of all American boys as they do over in Europe. And no one could ever get him to listen to reason, though my father and others tried to show him.”

“I kind of suspected it might be that way,” said Hugh, with a smile. “That would account for the helplessness of his boys when they found themselves up against a situation like this. Scouts would have had that family ashore hours ago. They have never learned to think for themselves. I hope it’s going to prove a grand lesson for Mr. Jasper; and let me make a prediction, Tip, which is that inside of two weeks you’ll be enrolling the names of Tad and Ben Jasper on your roster.”

Sure enough, when they were approaching the land, Mr. Jasper, looking as though he had something on his mind that would give him no peace until he had it out, opened the conversation by remarking:

“Is this the sort of thing you scouts learn to do, Tipton Lange? Because, if it teaches boys to be self-reliant and brave and obliging, I’m going to look deeper into the scheme. I realize now that there’s something lacking about my lads. They should have been able to do something to get us out of this scrape. And if being Boy Scouts will build them up so they can take the bit in their teeth and go ahead when a necessity comes along, why, I want to know all about it.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that, sir,” declared Tip, flushing with pleasure, while Tad and Ben pushed nearer, their faces displaying an eagerness they could not disguise. “And my father will be pleased to have you call on him to hear what he has to say about the scout movement.”

“Tell him about the bridge affair, Tip!” suggested Billy, although Hugh made a movement with his hand, and frowned as though he did not like the idea of being forced to hear himself praised.

Tip, however, was only too willing. The time did not allow of any elaborate yarn spinning, but in a brief recital he explained to Mr. Jasper the difference between sheer recklessness and true bravery as exhibited by the actions of Tug Wilson and Hugh Hardin.

Mr. Jasper insisted on shaking the patrol leader’s hand after Tip had finished.

“If that is what it does for boys,” he said heartily, “then my sons shall join a troop at the first opportunity. I don’t want them to grow up with the idea of being soldiers and fighting just for the love of war; but like every father I do hope they will always be brave and self-reliant. Yes, I shall certainly look into this thing. It has been a lesson to me.”

“Mr. Jasper,” said Billy, unable to keep from getting a few “licks” in while he had the chance, “if you were in Lawrence at this very minute you would find more than a dozen scouts in khaki working like beavers with boats and rafts, the last made by themselves, saving stranded people, and trying to salvage some of their possessions before the flood took their houses, for where the current is swift it carries buildings away.”

“If that is true, son,” said the wealthy old farmer, “then the future of the Boy Scout movement in Lawrence is assured, depend on that. I’ve been heading the opposition, but now that my eyes have been opened I’ll be just as hard a worker in its favor, you can depend on that.”

“Hurrah!” cried Billy, waving his hat, as did also Monkey Stallings and Tip, but Hugh was too busy making a landing just then to take his eyes off the shore, or his hands off the wheel.

So they put their human freight, together with Carlo, the big dog, ashore, although the latter did not seem to want to leave his new friends. The Jasper boys wore broad smiles, and no one would ever have suspected that for the time being they were castaways and fugitives from their destroyed home. The fact of the matter was that they had begun to look upon all this privation as a means to an end. Boys always do have a weakness for any Crusoe sort of business; and what they had heard their father say concerning his change of views had filled their hearts with a new joy that could not be crushed just because they were temporary exiles.

“Two more turns across ought to finish our patrol duty,” said Hugh, as the boat again started out upon the wide stretch of dismal waters.

“Then we might get back to town in time to be of some more use there before the night settles down,” proposed Billy.

“That light rain has stopped, for one thing,” remarked Monkey Stallings, trying to discover some loophole of encouragement.

“We’ll hope it doesn’t start in again,” said Billy quickly. “The weather sharps were away off their base when they said another storm was headed in our direction. Well, I wondered what that was coming this way, but now I can see it’s some sort of big animal swimming.”

“A cow it seems like to me,” ventured Tip Lange. “Yet it’s got a big head and gilt balls on its horns. Must be that prize bull Mr. Jasper owns.”

“I think you’ve hit it that time,” Monkey told him. “I reckon the beast may have been trying to stand on some knoll that was higher than the surrounding land, and finally had to swim for it. Look at him making straight for the boat, will you? I’ve heard that when frightened domestic animals will turn to human company for help, and it seems like that is so. Hey! what ails the engine, Hugh?” for the launch had suddenly ceased to keep moving ahead.

“I’ve got to fix something, and there’s no getting around it,” replied the patrol leader. “We can’t risk the danger of an explosion. Five or ten minutes ought to be enough time.”

“But that bull looks like he meant to come aboard here!” ejaculated Monkey, as the swimming beast drew near, with his head breaking through the surface of the water, part of his broad back showing, and his long tail streaming in the rear after the manner of a rudder.

“Get the hook!” shouted Billy, suiting the action to the word by snatching up the push pole, with which he stood on guard. “Here, you, keep off! We’re not in the beef-packing line just now. Head for the shore, and put in your best licks. Why didn’t you keep company with the rest of your herd, instead of loafing out here? No, you don’t, old boy! We couldn’t think of letting you get your hoofs over our rail; you’d sink us in a hurry. Shout at him, everybody, and shoo him off before he upsets the launch!”