CHAPTER XXI

PLUNGED IN THE LAKE

All the time that the Radio Boys had been working to construct the raft, Buck Looker had remained just where they had left him, never even offering to help. But now, when he saw the raft actually made and floating, he gave a yell and struck out for it.

“He’s not going to get on that raft,” muttered Bob, grimly. “He’s better off in the water, anyway. We’ll let him hang on with the rest of us, but if he gets on top he’s just crazy and mean enough to knock some of the radio stuff overboard.”

“It would be a pretty mean stunt, after we saved his life, but I know well enough that he’s capable of it,” said Joe. “We’ll have to keep him off, that’s all.”

By this time Buck was close to the raft.

“Keep off, Buck!” shouted Bob. “Hang on to the raft, if you want to, but don’t climb up on it.”

Either Buck did not hear him or he decided to ignore the warning. In a few more strokes he had reached one corner of the raft and started to climb aboard. His weight tilted the raft at a sharp angle, and some of the equipment started to slide down toward that end.

Joe was nearest to Buck, and he saw that there was not an instant to lose. He rapidly pulled himself along the side of the raft, and when he got within reach dealt Buck a blow that made him loose his grip on the raft. The clumsy structure returned to an even keel, while Buck snarled at the Radio Boys in anger and resentment.

“What are you trying to do, Joe Atwood—drown me?” he blustered. “If I was on dry land I’d make you feel sorry for hitting me that way.”

“If you were on dry land you’d be burnt to a crisp right now,” said Joe, scornfully. “We saved your worthless life at all sorts of risk to ourselves, and then you repay us by trying to dump our radio apparatus into the water.”

“I suppose you’d like to save that junk even if you let me drown, wouldn’t you?” whined Buck.

“It seems to me that it’s worth a lot more than you are,” snapped Herb. “If the choice were left to me, I’d say save the radio, every time.” Of course, he did not mean this, but he spoke in anger.

Buck gave him a black look, but made no further reply, and when he saw that the boys were determined not to allow him on the raft, he contented himself by hanging to the side, as the others were doing. Indeed, as Bob had said, this was the best way, after all, for it was the only escape from the fierce heat of the atmosphere. The Radio Boys took off their tattered coats and spread them over the radio outfit in order to protect it from the blistering air.

The boys pushed the raft further and further from shore, as the fire reached the water and burned fiercely. As they rounded a bend in the shore, they became aware that they were not the only living creatures who had sought refuge in the lake. Dotted about over the surface were the antlered heads of several deer, together with a number of smaller animals. But in addition to these harmless creatures the boys could see several shaggy black heads that undoubtedly belonged to members of the bear tribe.

“There’s a chance for you, Jimmy,” said Herb, unable to refrain from his jokes even in the face of this new danger. “You were telling us how you enjoyed killing bears for breakfast. As far as I can make out, there are enough bears in this immediate neighborhood to satisfy the most ambitious hunter. How will you take ’em—one at a time, or all together?”

“Gee, willikins!” exclaimed Jimmy. “I’ll steal some of Buck’s thunder, and tell you what I’d do to ’em if we were all on dry land. Seeing we’re all in the lake, the only thing I can think of is to call loudly for assistance.”

“Now you’re stealing Buck’s stuff again!” Herb pointed out, and, in spite of their desperate situation, the boys could not help laughing at the ludicrous expression on Buck’s face, half of anger and half of shame. However, they had little time for laughter. Several of the bears had sighted the raft and were coming over to investigate.

Now, in times of fire or flood, the wild creatures seem to forget their savage instincts for the time being, and in the common peril seem to pursue a policy of “live and let live.” The bears in the lake were too terrified to have any desire to attack the boys, but they were tired of swimming and wanted some place where they could rest. The raft looked inviting, and as the boys were unarmed it was hard to see what effective resistance they could make to the powerful animals. Once let them start to climb aboard, and the raft would inevitably be swamped and all the radio apparatus lost.

The boys were not slow to realize this, but that was of little avail unless they could think of some way to drive the animals off. All this flashed through their minds as they gazed blankly at each other, while the bobbing black heads came steadily closer. Buck Looker did not even try to think, and could only gaze terror-stricken at the approaching brutes while his teeth chattered from fright and he whimpered like a whipped puppy.

“Aw, cut out that blubbering, can’t you?” exclaimed Bob, impatiently. “How can we think of anything when that noise is going on?”

“B-but they’ll kill us all,” moaned Buck. “We’re as good as dead already.”

“Say, you’d be a lot better dead than alive, seems to me!” exclaimed Joe, contemptuously. “If you can’t do anything else, keep quiet, as Bob says. If you give us a chance we may save your worthless life once more to-day.”

“If we only had a gun or two!” said Herb. “I haven’t even a jackknife to put up a fight with.”

“We’ve got about the most powerful force in the world to-day right at our command, haven’t we?” demanded Bob, with a note of suppressed triumph in his voice.

“What do you mean?” they demanded, all together.

“Why, electricity, of course,” said Bob. “That raft is loaded down with it. We’ve got two fully charged storage batteries there, haven’t we? And any number of induction coils? If we work fast, we may be able to give the bear family the shock of their lives when they arrive.”

The others caught his idea in a flash.

“You mean connect up the batteries with the primary coil and give the bears high voltage juice from the secondary coil, is that it?” questioned Joe.

“That’s just it,” replied Bob. “But we’ll have to step lively, or they’ll be here before we can get ready for them. You and I can do the hooking up, Joe, while the others keep the raft steady and try to scare the bears off for a little while. I’ll climb aboard first, while you fellows put your weight on the far side so that our ship won’t tip too much.”

This maneuver was accomplished without a hitch, and Bob was soon safely on the raft. Out that far on the lake the air was a little cooler, so that it was possible to work without being scorched. Once aboard, Bob helped Joe to clamber on, and then they fell to work like madmen, stripping wires and making connections. The batteries they connected in series, thus doubling their voltage, and then connected them to the primary coil of their inductance unit. Fortunately the latter was an unusually large and powerful one, and the induced voltage in the secondary was very heavy. Owing to the high resistance of the secondary the amperage was necessarily low, but when the primary circuit was made and then suddenly broken the induced voltage in the secondary was of such strength as to give a paralyzing shock to any object with which it might come in contact. One side of the secondary was grounded to the water, and then their impromptu shock-giving apparatus was ready for use.

And not a minute too soon. The bears, five in number, had been circling about the raft, somewhat doubtful about its nature, but without doubt desperate enough to rush at it as soon as they became familiar enough with it. Bob had hardly made the last connection when Jimmy uttered a warning cry.

“They’re coming, Bob!” he yelled. “All five of them at once!”