Afloat on the Flood, Page 4

  CHAPTER IV

  A BRAVE RESCUE

  They could hear shouting on the shore, though not daring to pay anyattention to it just then, lest it distract their minds from thedangerous business they had on hand.

  No doubt some one had discovered that a little child was comingfloating down on the swollen current of the river, and the startlingnews was being communicated from mouth to mouth with the astonishingcelerity with which such things can travel.

  Had the boys but glanced toward the bank they would have seen peoplerunning madly to and fro, and gathering in larger clusters than everwherever they could get a chance to see out upon the raging waters.

  Max had calculated things carefully. He did not want to make anymistake when he clambered over the railing, because such a thing mightbe fatal to whatever hope he had of rescuing the child.

  They could now see plainly that it was a little boy. He was clingingto some part of the surging roof, which seemed to be in danger ofcapsizing at any moment, for it wobbled fearfully. Max prayed that itwould hold its own until he had been given a chance to do his part. Healso hoped that he would have sufficient strength in his arms to snatchthe child, and then hold him, while his chums tugged and pulled to getthem both safely up to the bridge.

  As he watched the coming of the fragment of a roof, he was doing somenice calculating, making up his mind just how he must seize upon theone he wished to save, and allow nothing to keep him from obtainingfull possession. He had feared that the child might have been tiedthere by his mother, and had such proven to be the case a rescue musthave been well nigh hopeless; but the closer the onrushing object camethe more Max assured himself that there did not seem to be any obstacleto his success.

  He was over the rail now. Those on shore must have seen what the boymeant to try and accomplish, for all of a sudden a terrible hush hadfallen on the gathered groups. Every eye was doubtless glued on thefigure that clung to the rail out there, over the rushing waters,waiting for the proper second to arrive. Women unconsciously huggedtheir own little ones all the tighter to their breasts, perhaps sendingup sincere thanks that it was not their child in peril; and at the sametime mute prayers must have gone out from many hearts that the braveboy succeed in his mission.

  "Steady, Max, old pal!" said Steve, who was braced there for theexpected strain. "Don't worry about us, for we'll back you up. Get aclutch on him, and the rest is going to be easy. Ready now!"

  Max heard all this but was paying no attention to what was being said.His whole mind was concentrated on the swaying roof of the wreckedcabin, and the piteous sight of that frightened little fellow clingingdesperately there.

  He could not depend on anything his chums might decide, but musthimself judge of the proper time to drop down. The swiftness of thecurrent had to be taken into consideration, as well as the swaying ofthe wreckage.

  When he felt sure of himself Max suddenly let go his precarious hold onthe lower part of the railing. It was a bold thing to do, and musthave sent a shudder through many a breast ashore, as men and women heldtheir breath, and stared at the thrilling spectacle.

  Fortunately Max Hastings was no ordinary lad. He not only had afaculty for laying out plans, but the ability to execute the same aswell. And besides that, his love of outdoor life had given him such amuscular development that athletic feats were possible with him such aswould have proven rank failures with many other boys.

  His judgment proved accurate, for he dropped exactly upon the fragmentof the cabin roof, and directly in front of the crouching child. Thelittle fellow must have been watching him, for instantly two hands wereoutstretched toward Max as though some intuition told the child thathis only hope of escape from the angry flood lay in the coming of thisboy.

  Like a flash Max swooped down upon him. His movements were wonderfullyquick, because he knew that this was absolutely necessary when copingwith such a treacherous enemy as that moving flood.

  He snatched the child up in one arm and held him almost fiercely to hisbreast. If the little fellow gave utterance to any sort of cry Maxfailed to hear it, though that in itself might not be so very strange,for there were all sorts of roaring sounds in his ears just then.

  Almost at the same instant he felt himself roughly plucked off hisfeet, and being swung upward. His comrades were tugging at the ropesavagely, knowing that unless they were very speedy Max would findhimself engulfed in the waters; and the work of rescue be made doublydifficult.

  The rope proved equal to the terrific strain, thanks to Toby's goodjudgment when selecting a braided line with which to play the role ofcow puncher and lariat thrower.

  Max felt the water around his legs, but that was all, for he did not godown any further than his knees; and yet the suction was tremendouseven at that.

  He was now being slowly but surely drawn upward, and this was a taskthat called for the united powers of the three who had hold of therope. Bandy-legs had been wise enough to wrap the end around a beamthat projected from the flooring of the bridge. He did not know whatmight happen, and was determined that Max should not be swept away onthe flood, if it came to the worst.

  When they had drawn their comrade far enough up so that Steve, callingon the others to hold fast, bent down and took the child from the graspof Max, it was an easy matter for the latter to clamber over the railhimself.

  Steve was already holding the rescued child up so that those on shorecould see that the attempt at rescue had met with a glorious success;for he was naturally proud of his chum's work.

  A deep-throated hum broke out; it was the sound of human voicesgathering force; and then a wild salvo of cheers told that the goodpeople of Carson could appreciate a brave deed when they saw it, nomatter if disaster did hover over the town, and kept them shiveringwith a dread of what was coming next.

  Some of the more impetuous would have started to rush out on thebridge, in order to tell Max what they thought of him; only thatseveral cool-headed men kept these impulsive ones back.

  "Keep off!" they kept shouting, waving the crowd away; "if you rushedout there now it would be the last straw to send the bridge loose fromits moorings. Stay where you are, men, women! You would only invite aterrible tragedy by going on the bridge!"

  "Bring the child to us, boys!" some of the men shouted, waving to thelittle group out there; since the mountain was not to be allowed tocome to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain.

  "Take him across, Max!" said Bandy-legs. "Steve, you take him!" urgedMax, not wishing to be lionized, because he happened to be an unusuallymodest lad, and it bothered him to have men and women wanting to shakehim by the hand, telling him how brave he was, and all that.

  Steve wanted to protest, but he could see that his chum really meantit, and did not intend to allow himself to be made a hero of, if hecould help it.

  "Oh! all right then, I'll go, Max, while you look out for my camera,like a good fellow. But see here, if you think I'll let anybodymistake me for the one who grabbed up this baby from the raft at therisk of his life, you've got another guess coming to you, that's right.I'm meaning to tell everybody that it was Max Hastings did it. Huh!any fellow could just keep hold of the end of a rope, and pull up likewe did. That was the easiest part of it. You wait and see if you getout as slick as you think you will. They'll remember, and lay for youlater on. If you will do these things, why, you've got to take yourmedicine, that's all."

  So saying Steve hurried toward the shore, carrying the little childtenderly in his arms. Doubtless some one would be sure to recognizethe small chap who had had such a narrow escape from a terrible fate;and if not just then, he would be well looked after until his folksturned up later on.

  The wildest sort of reception was given Steve when he once got ashore.He could be seen trying to fend off the many hands that wereoutstretched to seize upon his digits, and give them a squeeze ofapproval, for deeds like this arouse the warmest sentiments in thehuman heart. In vain did Steve declare that it had been Max who hadtaken
all the risks in the endeavor to save a precious little life; butthe crowd would not keep back, and insisted that he let them do himhonor. He had done his part in the rescue work at least, and wasentitled to their congratulations, and they would not be denied.

  Steve hastened to push his burden into the arms of the first woman whomanifested the least desire to get hold of the child; and after that hepressed his way out of the crowd, heading once more for the imperiledbridge.

  "Better come off there, now, Steven!" warned a gentleman who wasstanding near the approach to the structure; "there isn't one chance ina thousand that she'll hold out much longer, and it might be all yourlives are worth to go down with the wreck when the time comes!"

  But Steve was young, and filled with the spirit of adventure. Besides,after having been out there so long he had become partly used to thesickening tremor, and did not mind its warning as much as before.

  "That's for Max to say, Mr. Harding," he called back. "If he thinksit's getting too dangerous for us, we'll sure come in right away. I'vegot to leave it with Max."

  Two minutes later and he joined his chums, who were still near themiddle of the bridge, again looking up the river anxiously.

  "See another baby coming along?" demanded Steve, as he joined them.

  "Not yet, I'm glad to say," replied Max, who was not so inflated overthe grand success that had attended his first life saving effort thathe wanted other opportunities to confront them immediately.

  "L-l-looked like they came near p-p-pulling you to p-p-pieces, Steve,"remarked Toby, with a grin.

  "That's right," agreed Steve, frowning; "everybody tried to grab myhand at the same time, and me a telling them all the while I didn'thave a thing to do with saving the child, only hauling on the rope.Say, I know now why you wouldn't go ashore, Max; you didn't want to bemobbed, did you? It's just terrible I'm telling you all. If I eversave anybody's life I'm going to take to the woods right away, tilleverybody forgets it."

  "I saw Mr. Harding talking to you; what did he say?" asked Max, smilinga little to find that Steve was so modest.

  "Oh! like a good many more of 'em he thinks we're taking too bigchances staying right along out here, and that we ought to comeashore," Steve replied.

  "He means it for our good, all right," ventured Bandy-legs, "and youknow, fellers, he had a boy drowned year before last, so I reckon he'sworried about us more than a little. What did you tell him, Steve?"

  "That I'd leave it to Max here," came the reply.

  "Which is putting a lot of responsibility on my poor shoulders,"remarked that worthy, with a shrug.

  "Well, you're our leader, and as long as we believe you know best weexpect to follow out your ideas," Steve went on to say.

  "That sounds pretty fine, Steve," observed Max; "but right now if Itold you I thought we'd better go ashore you'd kick like a steer."

  "Oh! well, you see there doesn't seem to be any very great danger aslong as a big tree ain't swooping down to strike the bridge a crack;and besides, what if another baby happened to come sailing along on araft, what'd we think of ourselves if we'd gone up on the bank, andcouldn't even make a break to save it?"

  Steve argued fairly well, and Max did not attempt to press the matter.To tell the truth he was tempted to linger to the very last in the hopeof being instrumental in doing more good. If one child had been sentadrift in the flood, perhaps there might be others also in need ofsuccor. And so Max, usually so cautious, allowed himself to be temptedto linger even when his better judgment warned him of the terriblerisks they ran.

  "Some of that crowd think we're sillies for staying out here, don'tthey, Steve?" Bandy-legs asked, after a little time had elapsed,without their sighting any more precious cargoes coming down on theflood.

  "Yes, I heard a lot of 'em say things that way, because they've got anotion in their heads the bridge is agoin' out any old minute. Butthere's another lot that don't believe shucks. I heard one boy saythere wasn't a bit of danger, and that we got all the credit of beingmighty reckless and brave without taking any big risk."

  "Bet you I can give a guess who that was," ventured Bandy-legs,instantly.

  "Let's hear, then," Steve told him.

  "It sounds like that braggin' Shack Beggs," was the guess Bandy-legshazarded.

  "Go up head, old scout," chuckled Steve; "because you hit it the firstshot. Yes, that's who it was, Shack Beggs, and both the other bullieswere along with him, watching everything we did out here, and lookinglike they'd be mighty well pleased if the old bridge did break looseand carry us all down river, hanging on like a parcel of half drownedrats."

  "I wouldn't put it past them to help things along, if only they knewhow they could start the bridge loose," Bandy-legs affirmed,positively, which showed what sort of an opinion he had for the trio oftough boys whom they had chased off, at the time they were robbing poorold Mr. McGirt, who kept the little candy shop that had been invaded bythe rising waters.

  "L-l-lucky for us they d-d-don't know h-h-how," said Toby, vigorously.

  "It seems that when you get to talking about any one they're almostsure to appear," Max told them; "and look who's coming out on thebridge now."

  "Why, it's Shack Beggs, sure it is!" declared Steve.

  "Wonder what's he's up to?" muttered Bandy-legs. "We'd all better keepour peepers on that feller if he comes around. Why, I wouldn't put itpast him to give one of us a sudden shove, and then laugh like he wascrazy to see what a splash we made when we fell in. If I ketch himtrying anything like that, mark my words Shack Beggs'll take a headerinto the river as quick as a flash. He'll find that two c'n play atthat game!"