CHAPTER XVIII
STRANGE NOISES
The frightened cries of Flossie and Freddie soon awakened Nan andBert, and it was not long before Harry and Dorothy, too, had rousedthemselves.
"What's the matter?" asked Bert.
"Oh, we've gone adrift in the storm," his mother said. "But don'tworry. Papa says it will be all right."
"Come up on deck and see what's going on!" cried Bert to Harry.
He had begun to dress, and now he thrust his head out from his room."Hurry up, Harry," he added. "We want to see this storm."
"No, you must stay here," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "It is too bad a stormfor you children to be out in, especially this dark night. Your papaand Captain White will do all that needs to be done."
"Mamma, it--it isn't dark when the lightning comes," said Freddie. Hedid not seem to be afraid of the brilliant flashes.
"No, it's light when the flashes come," said his mother. "But I wantyou all to stay here with me. It is raining very hard."
"I should say it was!" exclaimed Harry, as he heard the swish of thedrops against the windows of the houseboat.
"Is Snap all right, mamma?" asked Flossie. "And Snoop? I wouldn't wantthem out in the storm."
"They're all right," Mrs. Bobbsey said.
"Oh, what's that!" suddenly cried Nan, as the houseboat gave a bump,and leaned to one side.
"We hit something," Bert said. "Oh, I wish I could go out on thedeck!"
"No, indeed!" cried his mother. "There! They've started the engine.Now we'll be all right."
As soon as Mr. Bobbsey had found out that the houseboat had brokenloose from the mooring ropes in the storm, he awakened Captain White,and told him to start the motor.
This had been done, and now, instead of drifting with the current ofthe creek, the boat could be more easily steered. Soon it had been runinto a sheltered place, against the bank, where, no matter how hardthe wind blew, it would be safe.
"Are we all right now?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as her husband came downto the cabin.
"Yes, all right again," he said. "There really was not much danger,once we got the motor started."
"Is it raining yet?" asked Freddie, who was sitting in his mother'slap, wrapped in a sweater.
"Indeed it is, little fat fireman," his father answered. "You wouldn'tneed your engine to put out a fire to-night."
The patter of the raindrops on the deck of the houseboat could stillbe heard, and the wind still blew hard. But the thunder and lightningwere not so bad, and gradually the storm grew less.
"Well, we'd better get to bed now," said Mr. Bobbsey. "To-morrow weshall go to the big lake."
"Did the storm take us far back down the creek?" asked Bert.
"Not more than a mile," said his father.
"And the man can't tie us in with wire again, can he?" Freddie wantedto know. "If he does, and I had one of those cutter-things, I couldsnip it."
"You won't have to, Freddie," laughed Bert.
"Speaking of that mean farmer reminds me of the poor boy who ran awayfrom him," said Mrs. Bobbsey to her husband, when the children hadgone to bed. "I wonder where he is to-night, in this storm?"
"I hope he has a sheltered place," spoke the father of the Bobbseytwins.
Not very much damage had been done by the storm, though it was a veryhard one. In the morning the children could see where some big treebranches had blown off, and there had been so much rain, that thewater of the creek was higher. But the houseboat was all right, andafter breakfast, when they went up the creek again, they stopped andgot the pieces of broken rope, where the Bluebird had been tiedbefore.
The houseboat then went on, and at noon, just before Dinah called themto dinner, Nan, who was standing near her father at the steeringwheel, cried:
"Oh, what a lot of water!"
"Yes, that is Lake Romano," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We'll soon be floatingon that, and we'll spend the rest of our houseboat vacation there."
"And where shall we spend the rest of our vacation?" asked Bert, forit had been decided that the houseboat voyage would last only untilabout the middle of August.
"Oh, we haven't settled that yet," his father answered.
On and on went the Bluebird, and, in a little while, she was on thesparkling waters of the lake.
"I don't see any waterfall," said Freddie, coming toward his father,after having made Snap do some of his circus tricks.
"The waterfall is at the far end of the lake," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"I wonder if there are any fish in this lake?" spoke Bert.
"Let's try to catch some," suggested his cousin Harry, and soon thetwo boys were busy with poles and lines.
The Bobbsey twins, and their cousin-guests, liked Lake Romano verymuch indeed. It was much bigger than the lake at home, and there weresome very large boats on it.
Bert and Harry caught no fish before dinner, but in the afternoon theyhad better luck, and got enough for supper. The evening meal had beenserved by Dinah, Snap and Snoop had been fed, and the family and theirguests were up on deck, watching the sunset, when Dinah came waddlingup the stairs, with a queer look on her face.
"Why, Dinah! What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, seeing thatsomething was wrong. "Have you lost some more sandwiches?"
"No'm, it ain't sandwiches dish yeah time," Dinah answered. "But Idone heard a funny noise jest now down near mah kitchen."
"A funny noise?" repeated Mr. Bobbsey. "What was it like?"
"Jes like some one cryin'," Dinah answered. "I thought mebby one ob dechilluns done got locked in de pantry, but I opened de do', an' deywasn't anybody dere. 'Sides, all de chilluns is up heah. But I shuahdid heah a funny noise ob somebody cryin'!"
Mrs. Bobbsey looked at her husband and said:
"You'd better go see what it is, Richard."