CHAPTER X
DODGING THE SNAGS AND THE SNARES
A minute later both motorboats lay anchored in the middle of theswift-flowing Radway, and about sixty feet apart.
"What's the matter?" shouted Jud, taking it upon himself to learn thefacts in the quickest possible time, so that signal flags were not used.
"Something's happened to our motor; but Jack thinks he can fix her up,given a little time," came in the voice of Bobolink.
"Well, call on us if we can help out any," Paul shouted; for the slappingof the water against the sides of the boat, as well as over the stones oneither hand, made it hard to hear plainly.
"What if they can't fix the motor up?" remarked Phil Towns; "I hope thatwon't mean we've got to spend the whole night out here in the middle ofthe river."
"Oh I if it comes to the worst, we can tow her ashore; and then it's campon the river bank for ours," announced Paul, cheerfully. He always seemedto have plans made up in advance, as though anticipating every troublethat could arise, and getting ready for it.
"Huh! that mightn't be so bad, after all," grunted Joe Clausin; and evenGusty Bellows and Little Billie nodded their heads, as if agreeing thatthere were things less desirable than camping on the bank.
The minutes dragged along, until half an hour had gone. Even Paul beganto show signs of restlessness. He finally made a megaphone of his hands,and called to Bobolink:
"Tell Jack to step up; I'd like to ask him a question or two."
"Ay, ay, sir," replied the other, touching his forelock in trueman-o'-war style, and immediately the head of Jack appeared.
"What's the good word, Jack?" asked the Commodore of the expedition. "Canyou make the mend, d'ye think; and just about how long is it going totake you?"
"Between five and ten minutes, not more," came the reply; "I've got thehang of it now, and the end's in sight."
"Whoopee! that sounds good to me!" shouted Gusty Bellows, waving his hat.
Five minutes had hardly passed before they heard the familiar pop-pop-popof the _Speedwell's_ motor exhaust.
"How is it?" called Paul once more.
"Fine and dandy," answered Bobolink, waving his bugle; and giving a fewvigorous blasts to indicate that victory was nigh.
"They're hauling in the anchor, which is a good sign," declared Nuthin.
Presently both boats were again breasting the stream. Apparently noserious result had come from the accident, save that more than a goodhalf-hour had been wasted. But still Paul declared that he had hopes ofmaking their destination before darkness set in.
The sun was getting very low, and the river looked desolate indeed. Itwas bordered by swampy land; and where the ground showed, there seemed tobe such a vast number of rocks that farming had never been attempted.
"What d'y'e suppose is in those marshes?" Gusty asked, after they hadpassed about the fifth.
"I understand that a lot of cranberries are gathered here every Fall, andsent down to the cities for the market," Jud Elderkin replied.
"And seems to me a bear was killed last year somewhere up here," Nuthin'put in, rather timidly. "So I'm glad you brought that gun along, Paul. Weare not lookin' for a bear, because we never lost one; but if he _did_come to camp it'd be nice to feel that we could give the old chap a warmreception."
"Huh! I can see the warm reception he'd get," chuckled Jud."Seventeen trees would each one have a scout sitting up in thebranches as quick as hot cakes. Guess Paul would have to be thereception committee all alone."
"Don't you believe it," remarked Gusty Bellows; "You'd see me making forthe axe in a _big_ hurry, I believe in an axe. It makes one of thegreatest weapons for defence you ever saw. I've practiced swinging itaround, and I know just how to strike."
"Well, we'll remember that; won't we, fellows?" remarked Jud, with alaugh. "Plenty of axe exercise Gusty needs, to keep him in trim forbears; and I can see now how our firewood is going to be attended to."
They kept pushing on all the while; and there was never a time that thelookout did not have to keep his eyes on the alert, because of the trapsand snares that lay in wait for the voyagers up the rough Radway.
"Great river, I don't think!" Joe Clausin ventured to remark, after theyhad done considerable dodging, to avoid a mass of rocks that blocked theway in a direct line.
"Still, you'll notice that there's always a passage around," said Paul."It's that way with nearly everything. Lots of times we don't see theopening till we get right on it, and then all of a sudden, there's thepath out."
"I guess you're right, Paul," observed Joe. "Things do happen to a fellowsometimes, in a funny way, and just when he feels like giving up, he seesthe light. You remember a lot of trouble I had once, and how it turnedout splendidly? And so I learned my lesson, I sure did. I look at thingsdifferent now. It showed me how silly it is to worry over things that youcan't help."
"But all the same," remarked Gusty, "I wish we had a squint at that sameold lake ahead. It's getting sunset, and beyond, Paul."
"I know it, and we must be pretty near the place now," replied the scoutmaster. "Unless we see it inside of ten minutes I'll have to give theword to turn in to the shore at the next half-way decent landing, wherethere seems to be enough water to float our boats."
"There's a good place right now," declared Joe, pointing; "and wemightn't run across as fine a landing again."
"Ten minutes, I said," repeated Paul, positively; because he believedthat there were certain signs to tell him they would come in sight ofthe big lake, from which the Radway flowed, after they had turned thenext bend.
Somehow the others seemed to guess what he had in mind, and all wereanxiously watching as they drew near the bend.
As the trees ceased to shut out their view, they gave a shout of delight,for the lake was there, just as Paul had anticipated.
"Whew! she's a big place, all right!" declared Jud, as they looked towardthe distant shore, where the trees seemed lost in the shadows.
"I never dreamed there was a lake like this so near Stanhope," declaredJoe, as he stared. "That one up by Rattlesnake Mountain could be put in acorner of Tokala, and wouldn't be missed. And say, that must be theisland over yonder; don't you think so, Paul?"
"Look and see if you can sight a cedar growing on the top of the hillthat they say stands in the middle of the island," suggested the scoutmaster, still busy at the wheel; for the danger was not yet all over, asthey had not entered the lake itself, though very near.
"It's there, all to the good!" announced Jud.
"Anybody could see that" added Gusty, who was a little jealous of thesuperior eyesight of several of his comrades, he being a triflenear-sighted.
"Well, if we are going to make a job of it, the sooner it's over thebetter," was the queer remark Joe made; but no one paid any particularattention to his words, they were so taken up with watching the island.
And so the leading motorboat left the noisy waters of the Radway, andglided into the smoother lake, much to the satisfaction of the crew; forthe boys had grown tired of the constant need of watchfulness in avoidingreefs and snags.
Paul shut off power, and waited to see whether the companion boatsucceeded in reaching the calm waters of the big lake as successfully asthey had done. As it was now pretty close to dark, in spite of thehalf-moon that hung overhead, seeing the partly hidden rocks was not aneasy task.
And so he watched with not a little concern the progress of the_Speedwell_ during those last few minutes. But Jack was alive to thesituation; and managed to bring his boat safely through, being greetedwith a cheer from those on board the waiting _Comfort_.
"Now it's straight for the island!" called out Bobolink, as the boatsdrew together, and the motors started as cheerfully as if they had notundergone a hard day's work from the time the voyagers left Stanhope.
"We'll have to make camp by firelight, that's plain," grumbled Gusty.
"What's the odds, so long as we get fairly comfortable for the night?"Bobolink retorted, being
one of the kind who can make the best of a badbargain when necessary. "All we want to do is to get the tents up and afire going, so we can cook something. Then in the morning we'll do allthe fancy fixing you can shake a stick at, and try out all the newwrinkles every fellow's had in mind since our last camp. This is what Ilike. A lake for me, with an island in it that nobody lives on, butp'raps an old wildcat or a she bear with cubs."
"But they say something _does_ live on it, and that he's a terror too; areal wild man that's got hair all over him like a big baboon--I heard itfrom a man that saw him once, and he wouldn't lie about it either," JoeClausin called out.
Although the rest of the scouts mocked him, and pretended to jeer at theidea of such a thing as a wild man existing so near Stanhope,nevertheless, as the two motorboats gradually shortened the distanceseparating them from the mysterious island, they gazed long at the darkmass lying on the still water of the big lake and its gloomy appearanceaffected them.
Just as Joe Clausin had said, it had a real "spooky" air, that, at thetime, with night at hand, did not impress them very favorably.
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