CHAPTER II
THE SAVING OF NODDY
“How did it happen, Andy?” asked Jerry, as he ran along.
“Yes, tell us more about it,” urged Bob.
“Is it the big reservoir dam that’s broken?” asked Ned. “If itis, there’ll be a lot of damage, and yet I don’t hear any greatexcitement,” and he paused a moment to listen if he could catch theroar of rushing waters. But there came no unusual sound from thedirection of the river which bordered the town of Cresville, where theboys lived.
“I don’t know--didn’t see it!” panted Andy. “Old Pete Bumps toldme--said it was the dam--terrible--everything washed away--comeon--wow!”
“Oh, if it was old Pete Bumps, our hired man, who told you, it can’tbe so bad,” returned Bob Baker. “Pete always makes a big fuss overeverything. Let’s take it easy, fellows.”
“You can’t tell,” interposed Jerry. “Something must have happened. Isee a lot of fellows running toward the river,” and he nodded towarda side street, through which could be had a glimpse of a thoroughfareparallel to the one on which our friends were, both extending to thestream. “Come on,” finished the tall lad. “We’ll see what it is,” andhe increased his pace, his companions doing likewise.
While I have just a few moments before the boys reach the river, and inwhich time they are doing nothing but running, and wondering what hashappened, I will take the opportunity to tell you something about thechums, and the various books, previous to this one, in which they havefigured.
The first volume of the series entitled, “The Motor Boys,” told howthe chums got together, and entered a bicycle race. Later on they gotmotor-cycles, and then an automobile in which they had many adventures.They took a long trip overland, got possession of a gold mine, andlater went to Mexico, where they were in great danger. But they managedto escape, and, on a long trip across the plains they rescued thehermit of Lost Lake.
After these adventures, our heroes decided that motor boating wouldsuit them, and they succeeded in getting a fine craft. In the volumenamed, “The Motor Boys Afloat,” is told how the lads cruised in the_Dartaway_, and succeeded in finding the robbers who had broken intoMr. Slade’s department store.
The lads liked motor boating so well that they took a cruise on theAtlantic, during which they solved the mystery of the lighthouse, and,later on, they went to the strange waters of the Florida Everglades.
Naturally, after their adventures on the Atlantic, they turned theirattention to the other ocean, the Pacific, and there they succeeded inlocating a lost derelict.
By this time the science of navigating the air was becoming betterknown, and aeroplanes and dirigible balloons were being perfected.It could not be expected that such lads as the motor boys could bekept from this field of activity, and with the assistance of an oldballoonist of experience, Rupert Glassford, Bob, Ned and Jerry built amotorship. In the book called “The Motor Boys in the Clouds,” I toldhow they made a great trip for fame and fortune, and, some time laterthey went over the Rocky Mountains, and solved the mystery of the air.
Thrilling indeed were the adventures that happened next, for whenthey made their voyage over the ocean they succeeded in rescuingfrom mid-air a certain Mr. Jackson, who was trying out a new kind ofballoon. He and his crew were rendered unconscious by escaping gas,but they were brought around all right after hard work.
In the next book, “The Motor Boys on the Wing,” I told how the threechums sought and found the bank robbers, and recovered the stolenmoney. They had been home from this trip some little time, when theincident narrated in the first chapter of the present volume took place.
I might add that the three chums lived in the town of Cresville, notfar from Boston. Their names you are already familiar with. Bob Baker,the fat lad, was the son of Mr. Andrew Baker, a well-known banker. NedSlade’s father was Aaron Slade, a wealthy department store owner, whileJerry Hopkins was the son of a rich widow, Mrs. Julia Hopkins. Thethree lads were about the same age, full of fun, grit and the love ofadventure.
Many times, though, their fun was spoiled by a mean, bullying lad ofthe town, Noddy Nixon by name, and his crony, Bill Berry. But the motorboys generally managed to get the best of Noddy in the end. In thisthey were sometimes aided by Andy Rush, the excitable little chap, whohad given the alarm about the bursting dam. Andy was always excited,and sometimes by the slightest cause.
Professor Uriah Snodgrass was a well-known scientist. He often wentwith the boys on their trips, and he was continually on the lookout forrare bugs, or other specimens. He was employed by a well-known college,to get various articles for its museum, and often the professor woulddo odd things for the sake of getting a choice insect or reptile.He was a great friend of the boys, and often visited them at theirhouses. He had spent some time with Mr. Slade, who was one of thetrustees of the college to which the professor was attached, and Mr.Snodgrass was about to return to his duties when, in a talk with Ned,the conversation turned to radium, as I have mentioned. But now allthoughts of that, and of Snake Island, were forgotten in the alarmraised by Andy.
“What do you think can have happened, anyhow?” asked Ned, as he racedalong beside Jerry.
“I give it up; but it’s something, anyhow,” was the tall lad’s answer,“and that, in spite of the fact that you’ve usually got to discountwhat Andy says. Look at the crowd!”
As Jerry spoke he and the others reached the end of the street, andcame in sight of the river. They could see that something out of theordinary was taking place, but the stream did not seem to be unusuallyhigh, though it had risen somewhat on account of heavy spring rains.
“The big dam hasn’t burst, or we’d hear the roar of waters,” declaredNed.
“Yes, and we’d see ’em, too,” added Bob.
“Well, something busted, because Pete Bumps told me!” insisted Andy.“Maybe the bottom dropped out of the river--water may be all runningaway--ground sunk in--we’ll all fall through--whoop!”
“Andy!” cried Jerry. “Stop, or you’ll burst! Cool down; can’t you?”
“I can’t seem to,” answered the small lad. “Hey!” he cried, “there goesone house, anyhow,” and he pointed to a structure floating down thestream.
“That’s so!” agreed Bob. “It’s a boathouse, too. I wonder what’s up?”
They saw a moment later. Just above where the street on which they wererunning came out on the river front, was a small stream that joined themain one. This little stream had been dammed up, to provide a flow ofwater for an old-fashioned iron mill that used a turbine wheel. Part ofthis mill-dam had given way because of the heavy rains, and the watersthat were held back had suddenly been released, to flow into the riverproper.
There was quite a crowd collected on the both banks of the river, andemployees from the mill were endeavoring to repair the break in thedam, by putting timbers in it, and filling in the gap with stones, sodand earth.
“Say, this isn’t such an awful flood!” cried Jerry as he took in thescene. “I thought you said the whole town was being washed away, Andy?”
“And you said houses were being carried down,” added Ned.
“Well, there’s one house washed away, anyhow,” declared the small,excitable chap, as if to justify himself.
“That’s so!” cried Bob, “and it’s Noddy Nixon’s boathouse. It’s beenwashed away, and it’s going right down the river.”
“It didn’t take much to wash it away,” said Jerry. “It was built toofar out in the water, anyhow, and the piles it stood on weren’t muchbigger than clothes poles. I always thought it would wash away if thewater got high, and now it has.”
Noddy Nixon had recently built a new boathouse on a piece of land nearthe river. It was just below the mill dam, and, naturally, when therush of waters came, the structure was carried away, for it was notsecurely built. It was now floating down the stream, careening fromside to side in the rushing waters.
“Somebody ought to save that boathouse!” cried Andy.
> “Let Noddy do it then,” answered Jerry. “It isn’t worth an awful lot,and it will be worth less when this flood gets through with it.”
“Look!” suddenly exclaimed Ned. “Some one is in the boathouse!”
He pointed toward it, and, at the same time a cry arose from the crowdson either bank.
“Some one’s in the house!” was the shout. “He’ll be drowned!”
“It’s a man!” yelled Andy.
“It’s Noddy himself!” cried Bob.
The figure on the narrow platform in front of the floating boathousecould now be plainly seen. It was that of Noddy, as Bob had said, andthe bully who had been endeavoring, by means of a long pole, to pushhis house toward shore, now threw up his hands, and cried for help.
“It’s time he did that before,” commented Ned. “The current’s got himnow, and he’ll never get that house to land.”
“Where was he all this while?” asked Bob. “I didn’t notice him atfirst.”
“Guess he must have been on the other side, out of sight,” spoke Jerry.
Noddy was now frantically rushing up and down, calling at the top ofhis voice:
“Help! Help!”
“Say!” suddenly cried Ned. “The rapids! He’ll be down in them soon, andthey’re dangerous with the water as high as it is now! That house willbe knocked to pieces!”
“That’s so!” agreed Jerry. “Noddy ought to swim ashore while he has thechance. Otherwise he may be hurt! I forgot about the rapids.”
The “rapids” were really not very dangerous at low water, but whenthe river rose, and dashed over the jagged rocks, about a mile belowtown, they formed eddies and whirlpools that were exceedingly risky tonavigate. In fact no boats dare risk them with the stream at flood.
It was toward these rapids that Noddy’s boathouse, torn away by thewaters, was rapidly drifting. The crowd soon realized this and beganshouting advice.
“Swim ashore!”
“Get a boat and save him!”
“Jump off!”
“Throw him a rope!”
These were some of the expressions called to Noddy, but he paid no heedto them, continuing to race up and down on the platform, waving hishands, and yelling for help.
“Say, something ought to be done to help him,” remarked Ned in a lowvoice.
“Yes,” agreed Jerry. “It’s Noddy Nixon, and he’s been pretty mean tous, but I suppose----”
“Our motor boat!” interrupted Bob, pointing to a fine boathouse alittle distance up the stream. It was where the boys kept their craft,and was above the point where the swollen mill stream joined the river,and so, consequently, was in no danger.
“I guess it’s up to us to save him,” said Jerry slowly. “Nobody elseseems to have sense enough to do it. There aren’t any other motor boatsnear by.”
“Where’s Noddy’s, I wonder?” asked Mr. Snodgrass, for he knew that thebully owned a power craft.
“He had a collision with the dock the other day, and sprung a leak,”explained Andy Rush, who had cooled down somewhat. “His boat is laid upfor repairs.”
“Like our auto,” put in Ned, for the machine of our heroes was acrossthe river, in a distant town, being overhauled.
“Well, if we’re going to save Noddy Nixon, we’d better be getting amove on!” cried Jerry. “Come on, fellows!”
He raced toward their boathouse, followed by his two chums, theprofessor and Andy Rush. It was the work of but a few minutes tounchain the motor boat, run it out into the stream, start the engineand steer down after the floating boathouse with the frantic figureracing about on the platform.
“Hurrah!” yelled the crowd, when they saw our heroes start out. “Themotor boys to the rescue! Noddy’ll be saved now, all right!”
“Help! Help!” yelled the bully, as his boathouse careened dangerously,almost throwing him into the water.
“The flood’s getting higher,” said Ned in a low voice, as he lookedover the side of the boat. They were opposite the dam now, and in thegrip of the rushing waters.
“Yes, there goes another slice of the dam!” cried Bob, as they saw alarge portion of it slip into the water. The men on top, who had beenendeavoring to stop the gap, had to race for shore.
“Say, we’re going to have our work cut out for us saving Noddy!” criedJerry as he held the wheel in a firmer grasp.