CHAPTER XXVIII

THE HURRICANE

The words of the Seminole chief’s son were startling enough, and, coupled as they were with the strange sound of the wind, alarmed the boys and the professor.

“What’s the matter?” asked Rose, coming to the tent flap as she heard the commotion outside. It was the first time the girls were made aware of the presence of the Indians. The professor explained, asking the young ladies to remain cool as the danger might not be as great as they feared.

“Oh! What will become of papa?” cried Nellie. “His houseboat may be wrecked!”

“Maybe the chief knows something of the _Wanderer_,” suggested Olivia to Mr. Snodgrass. “Ask him, please.”

To the surprise of all the Indian chief said he had seen the houseboat on Lake Okeechobee on his way to Butterfly Lake. He described the location and this showed it had moved away from the blocked passage. Ottiby had not tried to enter Butterfly Lake through that waterway and so, was not aware that it was choked up.

“He has seen father’s boat!” exclaimed Nellie. “Was he all right?”

“Him walk back and forth on deck quick,” replied the Indian with a smile.

Never had the boys seen such a disturbance of the elements. The rain came down in sheets and the tent, made of double canvas as it was, leaked like a sieve. There was such power to the wind that, had the tent not been protected by the surrounding forest, it would have been blown over.

The girls were very much frightened, and cowered down in a corner under such coverings as they could secure to keep the rain from leaking in on them. Bob was protected with his chums’ raincoats and, throughout the hurricane, kept murmuring in his delirium about pleasant sunshiny days.

At last the storm reached its height. The tent seemed fairly to lift loose from the guy ropes, but they were strong and well fastened, and the fury of the wind was cheated. The thunder appeared to gather all its powers for a tremendous clap, following such a stroke of lightning that it seemed as if the whole heavens were a mass of flame. Then with an increase in the fall of rain, which lasted for ten minutes and completed the drenching of everyone in the tent, the tropical outburst was over.

Lanterns which had blown out were relighted and the flaps of the canvas house opened. Ned and Jerry hurried out to wring some of the water from their clothes, while the professor sent them to the motor boat, which had been covered with a heavy tarpaulin, for some dry clothes for Bob. The lightning still flickered behind a mass of clouds in the east and brought out in sharp outline the tops of the trees on the distant mainland. Jerry looked at them for a moment. Then he called out:

“Our island’s floating away faster than before!”

It needed but a glance to show this. Because of the fury of the hurricane the floating forest had been torn loose from the temporary anchorage on the bottom of the lake and was being swept along like a boat.

“I wish it would take us somewhere so’s we could get off this lake,” remarked Bob, as he pulled the _Dartaway_ in and proceeded to get the clothes from the lockers.

In the morning they found themselves several miles from where they had been the night before. The day was a fine one after the storm, and the girls forgot their fright and the discomforts of wet clothes.

“Look!” cried Rose suddenly, pointing ahead. “There are the three dead trees that marked where we left the houseboat.”

“So they are,” added Olivia. “Maybe this island will float over there and we can see if the houseboat is waiting for us.”

“But you forget the blocked passage,” said Nellie.

The island, on which the party was, continued to move slower and slower as the wind died out. Jerry, who was aiding Ned in the task of getting breakfast, went down to the shore of the floating island for a pail of water. He saw the three dead trees, and noted the girls looking at them and talking about what has happened since they went fishing. He also saw something else.

What it was caused him to drop his pail and set up a shout. The professor and Ned, followed by Ottiby and his son, came running up to him.

“What is it?” asked Ned.

“The passage!” cried Jerry. “See, it is clear now. The hurricane must have blown the mass of trees and vegetation away and we can get into Lake Okeechobee now!”

“Then we can get back to papa on the houseboat!” exclaimed Olivia. “Oh, girls, isn’t it fine! The very storm we were so afraid of has done us a favor!”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Jerry went on, as he and Ned got into the _Dartaway_. The girls insisted on going also, and soon the five were puffing toward where could be seen a narrow stream leading from Butterfly Lake. In a short time they were up to it and Jerry’s surmise was found to be correct. The hurricane had blown the small floating island clear through the passage into Lake Okeechobee and that big body of water was now accessible from Butterfly Lake.

“There’s the _Wanderer_!” exclaimed Olivia, pointing ahead, and the others, looking, saw the houseboat moored at the entrance to the passage. They also saw Mr. Seabury pacing the upper deck. At the sight of the motor boat he waved his hands and set up a shout of welcome.

“Father! Father! Here we are!” cried Nellie as Jerry sent the _Dartaway_ straight for the _Wanderer_.