CHAPTER II
BATTLING WITH A GREAT FLOOD
Fortunately for the Pony Rider outfit, Tad Butler's forethought hadsaved much of their provisions, for the "chuck" had been suspendedfrom the crotch of a sapling where it now swung high and dry abovethe water that was swirling below it.
Not trusting the guide to pack the provisions Tad took that task uponhimself, while his companions, with the exception of Stacy Brown,were getting the other equipment together for a hurried move. BillyVeal, in the present emergency, was about as useful as a wooden man.Too frightened to keep his mind on his work, whatever he did he didbadly.
"Who was the man who recommended Chops to you, Professor?" called Tad.
"The banker at Asheville, sir. Why?"
"Oh, nothing much except that I'd like to be a judge and have thatbanker come up before me just once--just once, mind you."
"I am inclined to agree with you, young man," replied the Professor."Were there a reasonable chance for him to get home alive I should befor sending Veal there at once."
"What are we going to do now?" cried Ned running up to them, nowfully clothed, with oilskins covering his body down to the knees.
"We are going to try to get out of here. Hurry with the tents.Strike the camp in a rush, boys!" commanded Tad.
"If we wait long enough the lightning will do that for us," jeeredStacy.
"No levity, gentlemen," was the Professor's stern command. "This isa time for action, not so-called humor."
"Yassir," piped the fat boy.
The tents came down quickly, but they were not packed with the usualcare. Instead they were folded up hastily and stowed in the packs ofthe various boys. The lads worked like tentmen striking circus tentswhen looking forward to a long run to the next town. The result wasthat the equipment was ready for moving in almost record time. Thewater was plainly rising as Tad could see by the light of theflickering lanterns.
"Now, Professor, we are all ready," announced Butler finally. "Whatwould you suggest?"
"I am depending upon you, Tad. I thought you had some plan in mind.However, so long as you have asked me, I would suggest that wecontinue on upstream."
"I think it would be wiser to go the other way," advised Tad. "Guide,is there any place below here where we can make a dry landing?"
"Yassir."
"That's good. How far below?"
"Right smart piece, sah."
"How far?" demanded Tad insistently.
"Right smart, sah."
"You can't get anything out of him," grumbled Butler disgustedly.
"How far is 'right smart,' Chops?" interjected Rector.
"A right smart, sah."
"A mile?"
"Yassir."
"Two miles?"
"Yassir."
"You see, Professor," spoke up Tad with a shrug of the shoulders."We can expect no help from Chops. We've got to trust to our ownjudgment."
The Professor nodded reflectively.
"Why do you prefer to go down rather than upstream?" he asked.
"For the reason that we shall meet higher water up there, and besidesthis we shall be beating against the flood instead of going with it.You will find the going easier downstream than the other way."
"I am inclined to think you are right. But the difficulty is that wedon't know what we are going to meet that way now."
"We shall have to take our chances, that's all. And the sooner weget started the better. We'll be swept off from this camp groundpretty soon. You see how rapidly the water is rising?" remindedButler.
"Then we will go downstream. Get ready, boys."
"We're ready," cried Ned.
"I'm not ready," answered Stacy. "I--I've got to tie my shoe. I--"
"Let him tie his shoe. He can follow along when he gets ready. Wedon't propose to stay here and drown," declared Ned.
"I'll lead the way with a lantern," announced Tad. "Chops, you rideup next to me. Ned, you follow along at the rear with a secondlantern. In that way we shall be pretty well able to see what we aredoing and what is going on along the line."
"An excellent idea," approved Professor Zepplin. "You have a wisehead on your shoulders, Tad."
"But a wet one," laughed the Pony Rider Boy, mounting his pony andwading it cautiously into the rapidly moving water. "Come on there,Chops. Why are you hanging back?"
"Yassir," answered Billy Veal riding in after Tad with evidentreluctance.
The water was up to the bellies of the ponies. The little animalsput back their ears. They did not like the task before them. Chunkyhad trouble with his mount and for a moment it looked as though thefat boy would be dumped into the flood. After a brief battle,however, he managed to get his horse headed in the right direction.
For the first half hour the boys made their way along without greatdifficulty, though they could tell that the water was rising all thetime. At first they had held their feet up, to keep them out of thewater. But now they were riding with feet in stirrups, well down inthe water. Their feet were already benumbed with the cold, theponies were snorting, and the night seemed to be growing blacker withthe moments.
All at once Ned's voice was raised above the roar of the water in awarning shout.
"Pull to the right!" he called.
The word was passed along quickly, whereat every one forced his ponyagainst the steep wall on the right-hand side. They were none toosoon. A great tumbling shape went tearing by, raking the legs andsides of the horses. Billy Veal, not having got out of the wayquickly enough, was caught, and his pony was swept from its feet.The colored man fell, uttering a yell of fear.
Tad, with quick presence of mind, threw his own body forward andtaking a stiff brace on the right stirrup reached down grasping Billyby the coat collar. Chops was yelling lustily.
"Stop it! Howling won't help you!" bellowed Tad.
A big tree, having been uprooted by the storm, had done the work.But the tree had come and gone almost before the Pony Rider Boysrealized what had occurred. Billy was floundering in the water. Tadwas holding to him with difficulty.
"If you don't stop it, I'll let go," threatened Tad. "You'll drownif I do. Buck up!"
"Let him go! We don't want him," shouted Chunky mockingly.
"Ride up beside me and help me, or I shall let go," gritted Tad,holding to the fellow with all his strength.
Chunky obeyed reluctantly. He was afraid to get mixed up with thisfresh difficulty, fearing that he might be unhorsed. Chunky had senseenough to know what that would mean to him, but he lent his aid asbest he could, and between them they managed to get Chops up on Tad'shorse.
In the meantime Walter had ridden ahead and caught the guide's ponyafter a struggle with the wiry little animal that nearly terminatedin Walter's getting a bath in the cold water, though they all wereabout as wet as it was possible to be. It was not the wetness thatthey feared, however, but the swift current that nearly took theponies off their feet, sure-footed as the tough little animals were.Some further trouble was experienced in getting Chops back on his ownhorse, and it was only by lifting him over bodily while two of themforced the guide's pony over against Tad's mount that they succeededat all.
"If you get into difficulties again I guess you'll have to shift foryourself," declared Butler. "We have about all we can do to look outfor ourselves without attending to you, Chops."
"Ya--yassir."
"Oh, shoot the 'yassir,'" jeered Rector. "Are we all right side upwith care once more?"
"Fit as dry fiddles," cried Tad. "Forward, all! Are you ready,Professor?"
"As ready as I shall be tonight. All hands keep watching the bank oneither side for a landing place."
"I am looking after that. You may all help, of course," replied Tad.
They started on again. In places the current was so swift, where itswirled into a bend of the stream, that Tad was obliged to follow thecurrent, rather than take the more direct course. He felt that hispony could not stand
the added strain were he to go straight ahead.
It was a weird scene, the shadowy figures outlined in the dim lightof the lanterns, the film of spray kicked up by man and horse, thegreat dark walls towering on either side, and the roar of the floodmaking necessary loud talking if one hoped to have his voice reachhis companions. Chops was the only one who really acted as if hewere afraid. Tad Butler rode ahead with all the steadiness of aseasoned trooper going into battle. The others were not far behindhim in composure, though Stacy Brown's eyes were large and staring.
Once more their thoughts were interrupted by a call from Ned, who, asthe reader knows, was bringing up the rear of the procession. Ned'svoice again had in it a note of warning.
"Ask him what it is," called Tad.
"He says he doesn't know," answered the Professor.
Tad halted his pony and turned in the saddle waiting until Ned cameup with him.
"What is it, Ned?" he demanded.
"Don't you hear that noise?"
"That roaring?" asked Butler.
"Yes."
"I've been listening to that for the last sixty seconds," answeredTad, his face drawing down into sharp lines of concentration. "Whatdo you think it is?"
"Water."
"It's something more than mere water. It's a torrent, Ned. This iswhere we get it. Everyone crowd close to the bank," shouted Tad.
"What for? Is--is it another tree?" demanded Chunky.
"It's water and a lot of it. The crest of the flood I think iscoming down. Perhaps it won't last long and perhaps it may endurefor half an hour or so. Hug the wall over here on the left side.It's less exposed there. Chops! Get over here! Be lively!"
They had not long to wait. Already pieces of bark, limbs, tornbranches, roots and sod were tearing their way down the pass, slappingthe legs of the ponies, causing the little animals to rear and plungeand snort, and to make frantic efforts to get out of the way. Thismade it the more difficult for the boys to manage them, to keep themclose to the bank where they would be safer than farther out in thestream.
"There goes my lantern!" yelled Ned. "I'm in the dark."
"You're lucky if you don't find yourself in a darker place in a fewminutes," muttered Tad Butler apprehensively. Just then a piece ofwood hurled against his own lantern shattered the globe, at the sametime tearing the lantern from his hand, leaving only the wire handlein his possession.
Impenetrable darkness instantly settled over the roaring scene, andabove the roar was heard the voice of Stacy Brown.
"Yassir. Nassir!" mocked Chunky.
"Stick tight to the left. Quit your fooling!" shouted Tad.
The Pony Rider Boys on the Blue Ridge; or, A Lucky Find in the Carolina Mountains Page 3
