by Morgan Scott
CHAPTER XXXI.
SOMETHING WORTH DOING.
It was during the first week in January that the great sensation of thewinter took place in Oakdale. The January thaw came on early, andseveral days of warm rain, swelling the streams and overflowing theponds, was followed by a freezing night or two, which left Lake Woodrima glare of white ice and brought out every boy and girl who owned apair of skates. The rising water had forced the opening of the biggates in both the upper and lower dams, and a flood from Lake Woodrimpoured down through the channel into the small pond at the south of thevillage. Above the dam for some distance the sweep of the currenttoward the open gate had carried away many huge cakes of ice, and allalong the shores the rise made it necessary for the skaters to takeprecautions about getting out onto the lake.
Rod Grant, having found that he could skate fairly well, was there, buthe still persisted in keeping much by himself, avoiding as far aspossible the advances of the boys, many of whom were now more thanwilling to be friendly with him. Barker also was there, but he tookparticular care to keep away from Rod, whom, in spite of JoshuaHaskell’s story, he yet persisted in pretending to believe guilty ofthe dog shooting.
The skaters had been warned to keep away from the ice in the vicinityof the dam, especially that portion of it directly above the open gate,where the current was strong. Nevertheless, with her usual recklessdaring, Lelia Barker skated out toward that dangerous spot, unmindfulof the pleading of Sadie Springer and the shouted words of several boyswho came hurrying toward her. At the very edge the ice was thick andapparently strong, but suddenly a cry of horror went up as the skaterssaw a huge cake slowly cleave off and detach itself from the generalmass. Another followed almost immediately, and the foolhardy girl wasborne away on that second cake.
A boy, skating with all his might, dashed past several terrifiedfellows who had stopped to stare helplessly at the trapped girl.Reaching the edge of the ice from which the second cake was swiftlyreceding, the skater made an amazing and desperate leap across the openwater. His momentum carried him to the floating icecake, upon which hestruck sprawlingly as his skate irons shot out from beneath him. Acrossthe cake almost to the far edge he slid, nearly sweeping the girl fromher feet. The heel of one skate rasped into the ice and checked him,but only the size of the cake prevented it from tipping sufficiently tolet him slide into the water. Swiftly he scrambled back to the centerof the cake and stood up.
It was Rodney Grant, and his face was quite as pale as that of thegirl, although his voice was calm and steady as he spoke.
“We’ve got to get off this thing right lively, or it will beat thestuffing out of us when it goes tumbling and smashing down through thegate. There’s only one chance. You’ve got to get wet, and you sure musttrust me. Don’t grab me round the neck.”
There was no time for another word. They saw him seize her round thewaist, lift her bodily from her feet, and then start across the cakewith his back toward the dam. Into the icy water he plunged, carryingher with him.
Then began a fierce fight for life, watched by horrified boys andweeping girls. Some of the boys had presence of mind enough to dash forthe nearest shore, tear off their skates, and attempt to get out uponthe dam to offer assistance. They were too late, however, to be of anyservice in that way.
Strong swimmer though he was, Grant, encumbered by the helpless,frightened and half drowned girl, could not overcome the suction of thewater, which relentlessly bore him toward the open floodgate.Fortunately, he did succeed in getting well clear of the huge icecake,which broke up into several crashing, grinding pieces as it was bornethrough the open gate. At last, whirled onward, he turned all hisefforts to the seemingly hopeless task of supporting the girl andkeeping his own head above water.
Shouting boys ran down the bank of the stream below the dam. Theircries were heard in the village, and men came hurrying out to learnwhat had happened.
For a moment or two the boy and girl disappeared in the swirl of whitewater directly below the dam. Few thought ever again to see either ofthem alive, but sudden cries went up as a human head appeared in themidst of the channel and Rodney Grant was seen still clinging to LeliaBarker as he battled with the current.
“The rocks,” cried Phil Springer—“they’ll be dashed on the rocks!They’re goners!”
In the midst of the stream some ledges thrust themselves, white andslippery, even above the swollen torrent. Ordinarily these ledges stoodout high and dry, forming a sort of an island. Grant knew they werethere. He knew likewise that the icy chill was benumbing him and hisstrength was failing. If the stream carried them down into the lowerpond the chances were a thousand to one that the current would suckthem beneath the ice, and that surely would be the end. To the youngTexan those ledges seemed the sole possible means of salvation, and,regardless of the threatening bruises or injuries that might besustained when cast upon them, he fought with every atom of hisstrength against being borne past.
He made it, too. The water flung them up on the dripping ledges, andthere he somehow found a cleft into which the fingers of his right handgripped, while his left arm still held the girl hugged fast.
“A rope! Bring a rope!” shouted scores of voices.
Two boys ran panting to Stickney’s store, returning with a huge coil ofstout rope, which some men assisted them in carrying.
“How are we going to get it out to them?” was the question.
Then Bunk Lander appeared. He ripped off his coat and vest and brokethe laces of his heavy shoes, which he kicked aside.
“Gimme one end of that rope!” he snarled. “What’s the matter with ye,anyhow? Hurry up! Do you want to see ’em drowned?”
“What are you going to do?” asked Phil Springer.
“I’m going to swim out there. Don’t talk. Tie that rope round my waist.Come on up-stream farther. I’ve got to start just below the dam, or thecurrent will carry me past ’em. Come on, you snails!”
“You can’t do it—you can’t ever do it!” sobbed a voice.
“Who says I can’t?” snapped Bunk. “Oh, is it you, Barker? You ought tobe doing something. You watch and you’ll see me do it.”
Into the comparatively still water just below the northern end of thedam Bunk waded unhesitatingly, with the end of the rope tied round hiswaist.
“Pay it out free!” he called back. “Don’t bother me by letting it gettaut.”
In another moment, with the water almost up to his armpits, he plungedforward and began swimming with powerful strokes straight out towardthe current. It caught him soon and began carrying him down the streamwith increasing rapidity as he progressed.
“He can’t do it! He’ll never make it!” cried some of the spectators.
Bunk did not hear them, and it would have made no difference if he had.He realized that a single moment of hesitation or one false strokemight defeat him, and onward he swam, still heading across the current.Nearer and nearer he was carried to the ledges, and as he tipped hishead sidewise to forge still farther toward midstream a sort of maddesperation filled his heart.
“I’ve got to do it!” his soul seemed to cry. “I must, and I will!”
An eddy caught him. Fortunately, it helped to bear him in the rightdirection. A few more strong strokes, and, in spite of his position, healmost laughed aloud with triumph. Now the spectators were yelling:
“He’ll do it! He’ll make it!”
Onto the ledges Lander was borne, and he also succeeded in getting ahold which he could maintain. Carefully he dragged himself out upon hishands and knees until he knelt on the very apex of the rock. Then withone hand he gripped Grant’s collar and assisted Rod in obtaining a moresecure position. Lelia seemed unconscious. The two boys looked intoeach other’s eyes, and what they saw there sealed a compact offriendship as lasting as life itself.
“Good old Bunk!” chattered Rod.
“Boo!” said Lander. “This water’s awful cold. Say,” he added, pul
lingin the slack of the rope, “we’ll take a turn round under her armsfirst, then under yours next, and I guess I can hang on all right ifthem fellers on shore have got gumption enough to pull us out.”
They made the rope secure beneath Lelia’s arms, leaving enough of thefree end to take a turn round Rod and Lander also. Then, signaling tothe twenty men and boys on the shore who were ready to pull, they slidfrom the ledge.
By this time Main Street bridge just above the pond was lined withpeople who had been brought out by the shouts of alarm. Gaping, theywatched the rope drawn in until Grant and Lander, lifting Lelia Barkerbetween them, rose to their feet and waded to the bank. Then thespectators cheered and shouted and screamed like mad, for they hadwitnessed a double act of heroism that would long be remembered inOakdale.
Of the three who passed through that terrible experience in the icywater Rodney Grant was the first to recover, and the following dayfound him apparently as well as ever. Lelia Barker was ill for a day ortwo, but she likewise came through it surprisingly well. Lander was notso fortunate, for he caught a heavy cold, which quickly developed intopneumonia. Everything possible was done for him; he had the constantattendance of two physicians, and a trained nurse was secured to watchover him faithfully.
Having a naturally rugged constitution, Lander made a good fight forlife, and one day word went round through Oakdale that the doctors saidthe crisis was past and the boy was safely on the road to recovery.
When the time came that Bunk could receive visitors, Rodney Grant wasthe first one admitted to his bedside. Looking somewhat emaciated andvery pale indeed, Lander was bolstered up amid a mass of soft pillows.His eyes shone with a light of pleasure and a grin overspread his faceas he beheld the caller.
“Hello, Roddy, old fel,” he said. “I’m glad to see ye. I guess I’ve hada pretty tight squeeze of it, but you know I’m the toughest feller intown—everybody says so—and it’ll take more’n this to kill me.”
Grant grasped Lander’s hand with a strong yet tender pressure.
“Bunk, old chum,” he said in a voice that was husky in spite ofhimself, “I can’t find words to tell you how glad I am that you’recoming through all right. Everybody is glad. The whole town has heardthe favorable report, and there’s general rejoicing.”
“You don’t say!” muttered Bunk whimsically. “That’s mighty queer, and Idon’t just understand it. They’ve told me how the fellers have been’round every day to ask how I was gettin’ on; they say even Barker’sbeen here more’n once. Seems queer folks in Oakdale should care a rapabout me.”
“Bunk, they do care—everybody cares. You’ll find when you get out thatyou haven’t an enemy in this town—that every living soul in Oakdale isyour friend.”
“Oh, say! you can’t include Barker. I s’pose he come ’round to ask justfor a show of decency, ’cause I helped you save his sister from beingdrownded.”
“You’ll find even Barker your friend. Doubtless it was a bitter pillfor him to swallow, but he came to me like a man and owned up that hewas all in the wrong, asked my pardon, and begged me to shake handswith him.”
“Get out!” said Bunk “You don’t mean it! Well, come to think of it, itwas just about the only thing he could do.”
“But he was sincere, I have no doubt of that. He acknowledged that hewas satisfied I didn’t shoot his dog, even before Cooper received theletter from Davis.”
“The letter? What letter?”
“Oh, I forgot you didn’t know about that. Spotty, having gone to workin Belford and decided that he’d right likely never come back here,wrote Chipper Cooper, owning up to the shooting of Silver Tongue. Infact, he rejoiced in it and wanted Barker to know that he did it.”
“Oh, say, Roddy, some of the fellers ’round here who tried to smirchyou must have felt pretty cheap and sheepish when they heard that.”
“Without exception they have acknowledged their mistake, and I havefound them a pretty decent bunch, after all. They’re all good friendswith me now. They’re just waiting to see you get out, in order to giveyou a rousing reception.”
Bunk was silent for several moments, the look of doubt upon his facegiving way to one of growing satisfaction and happiness. Presently hespoke again.
“Rod, do you remember what you told me about the feller who hadstrength enough to be decent and stick to it in spite of everything,finally comin’ out on top of the heap? I didn’t believe it then, butnow I kinder guess you was right. I was discouraged and didn’t cal’late’twas any use for me to try to be decent, but I tell you right now thatI’m goin’ to turn over a new leaf, stop wastin’ my time loafin’, andtry to do something worth doin’.”
“Bunk,” returned Rodney, “when you get out you’ll find the whole townthinks that you have already done something worth doing.”
THE END
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Transcriber's Notes
Italicized words or phrases are presented by surrounding the text with _underscores_.
Bold-face works or phrases are presented by surrounding the text with equal signs (=).
Table of Contents - added apostrophe after "Rod" orig: III. Rods Wonderful Jump
page 42 - changed semicolon to comma orig: schoolmates; his manner had
page 75 - removed dash from "get-away" to make usage consistent throughout book orig: having made his spectacular get-away
page 76 - changed "amuscade" to "ambuscade" orig: with his amuscade by the fake
page 77 - changed "proceded" to "proceeded" orig: When I heard the key turning in the lock I proceded
page 93 - added double-quote at end of sentence orig: Said he naturally felt somewhat anxious.
page 106 - removed dash from "him-self" to make usage consistent throughout book orig: what happened to him-self
page 121 - removed dash from "near-by" to make usage consistent throughout book orig: near-by shore
page 133 - added dash to "hangout" to make usage consistent throughout book orig: come over and see my old hang-out
page 195 - changed comma to period at end of sentence orig: mad about it, too
page 259 - changed "peurile" to "puerile" orig: Such a subterfuge is palpably peurile
page 269 - changed "be" to "he" orig: Ere Rod slept that night be spent a long time
page 306 - added dash to "upstream" to make usage consistent throughout book orig: Come on upstream
Note: "make-up" and "makeup" are used with and without a hyphen in the book - these are left unchanged - it appears that "make-up" is used to refer to face paint, while "makeup" is used to refer to character traits
