CHAPTER XXIII

THE PROFESSOR RETURNS

Urged on by the seriousness of their plight, the two boys lost no time in getting to work. With small axes which formed a part of their camp accessories they chopped down several palmetto trees. They were of soft wood and easy to work. Ned and Jerry soon had several rollers made.

These were placed in position to slide the boat on them into the lake, which kept receding.

“How we going to get back into Lake Okeechobee,” asked Ned. “The connecting river must be dried up by this time.”

“Probably it is, but we’ve got to get the _Dartaway_ afloat now or never. We’ll have to take our chances on getting out of here.”

Before rolling the boat down into the receding water the awning was put up and a bunk gotten ready for Bob. Then he was carried down into it. He was too sick to know or care what was going on.

“Now for some hard work,” remarked Jerry, as he and Ned got ready to move the _Dartaway_.

They found it a difficult task. More than once they felt like giving up but they knew they must proceed if they were to have the use of their craft. It took them almost half a day to accomplish it. They used long branches of trees for levers and, inch by inch the motor boat was shoved astern until the propellor dipped once more into the lake.

“Almost done!” exclaimed Ned with a sigh.

“Yes, thank goodness,” echoed Jerry.

Half an hour more of work and the craft floated. The boys brought their camp stuff and packed it into the boat, striking the tent since they could no longer remain on shore so far away from the water. Fortunately the falling of the lake left exposed a hard shell beach instead of a lot of soft mud, or the boys would never have been able to make trips back and forth with their camping accessories.

“Now what?” asked Ned as they sat in the boat.

“We’ll have to wait here, or in this neighborhood, for the professor,” said Jerry. “He’s liable to come back at any minute.”

“If he comes back at all!”

“It does look bad,” admitted Jerry, in answer to Ned’s gloomy words. “But I guess he can take care of himself.”

“Those negroes are ugly customers,” said Ned. “I wish we could come across Mr. Seabury again. He might be able to suggest a plan.”

“I’m afraid we’ll not see him in a hurry. He can’t get to us and we can’t get to him with the river that connected the two lakes all dried up. I wonder what caused this sudden falling away of the water?”

“You’ve got me,” replied Ned. “I’ve puzzled over it until I can’t think straight. But let’s cruise about a bit. It’s hot and we may strike a breeze out on the lake. Perhaps we can find the outlet through which the water is all disappearing.”

To this plan Jerry agreed. It was much cooler with the boat swiftly in motion, and Bob seemed to feel easier. Now and then he would rouse up and ask some question, but, before his chums could answer he would again sink into the stupor of fever. The boat was sent in a wide circle of the lake. It was so large that it did not seem to have grown appreciably smaller when the chums looked at it some distance from shore. But once the beach was approached the appearance of rocks that had long been under water told the story.

“We don’t want to go very far away from where we were camped,” said Jerry. “It would be too bad if the professor should come back and not find us. We must keep within sight of where we were.”

They passed the afternoon cruising about in sight of where they had last seen Mr. Snodgrass. When it grew dark, lanterns were lighted and hung about the boat.

“He can see them from shore and hail us,” remarked Jerry.

“Hark!” cried Bob, suddenly sitting up in his bunk. “My mother is calling me! I’m coming!” he cried and began throwing off the light covering which Jerry had placed over him.

“His mind is wandering,” said Ned as he hurried to his chum’s side. “He fancies he hears some one calling.”

At that moment there came a voice from out of the darkness. A voice sounding far away.

“Boys! Where are you?” came across the water.

“What’s that?” cried Jerry.

“The professor!” exclaimed Ned. “It’s his voice!”

Jerry sprang to the engine and set it in motion.

“We’re coming!” yelled Ned.

Jerry opened the muffler and the sound of the motor’s explosions sounded loud on the still night.

“He’ll hear that better than he will our shouts,” he remarked, as he steered the boat toward where the camp had been.

Bob grew quieter as the motion of the boat soothed him. In a short time the craft was close enough to shore, for the professor’s voice to be plainly heard.

“What’s the matter?” he called.

“Bottom dropped out of the lake,” cried Ned, giving his favorite reason for the strange action of the water. “We’ll come as close as we can. Are you all right?”

“Fairly so,” answered Mr. Snodgrass.

He was soon aboard and, in a few words, the boys told him what had happened since he went away.

“Bob sick!” the scientist exclaimed. “Let me look at him. I have some medicine among my things.”

By the light of a lantern Mr. Snodgrass examined Bob. He seemed grave when he had finished and at once began searching among his boxes.

“Is he--is he very bad?” asked Jerry.

“I’m afraid so,” was the reply. “The fever has been allowed to run too long. You did the best you could, but the medicine you had was not strong enough. What I have will hardly answer but it is the best I can do. It may break up the fever. I’ll try it at any rate.”

The professor soon had a dose mixed and gave it to Bob. In a little while the lad’s breathing was easier, and he seemed to be sleeping more naturally.

“Perhaps it will do,” said the scientist, as he felt of the patient’s pulse.

“Now tell us about yourself,” urged Ned. “We were very anxious about you. What happened?”

“Well, I had rather a narrow escape. Mr. Seabury was right about those scoundrels. They wanted to rob me, and had no intention of leading me to where I could find the rare butterfly. I discovered this when it came night and they said it was two days’ journey further on. I wanted to come back, as I knew you would be worried, but they acted so ugly I thought I had better do as they wished. I stayed with them in a rude camp they made, but I didn’t go to sleep. I heard something which made me think they might attack you boys.”

“They did but we drove ’em off,” said Jerry.

“Good for you! Well, I insisted on being led to the butterflies the next day, but they kept making excuses. Finally I managed to get away by a trick and I started for our camp.

“I lost my way and had to spend another night in the everglades. Fortunately I had my compass with me and I had taken note of the general direction we traveled in. There are some trails through the everglades and I managed to follow them. At last I struck the one along the stream on which they had taken me in their canoe and I knew I was safe. But I didn’t get my butterfly. Now what is this about the falling lake?”

The boys told him, and Mr. Snodgrass looked worried. He could not explain the phenomenon, but said they would make an investigation in the morning.

In spite of his weariness the scientist insisted on sitting up that night with Bob. The boat was anchored well off from shore but near enough to be pulled in by a rope and in the morning Bob was much better though very weak.

“I think he’ll come around,” remarked the professor. “I’d like a different kind of medicine for him, but perhaps we can find Mr. Seabury and his houseboat. He has quite a stock of drugs, he told me.”

“We can’t get to him unless we find another outlet of the lake,” said Jerry.

“Very well, then we’ll look for one,” answered Uriah Snodgrass. “Let’s make a tour of this body of water.”