CHAPTER XXII
THE WAR OF THE ELEMENTS
"This way, Frank! Turn a little to the left!"
"That's Jerry shouting! Do you hear him, Will? Keep up your heart! We'regoing to cheat the old fire yet!" cried Frank.
His companion seemed to pluck a little new spirit from the encouragingshout, and his lagging feet began to show more animation. In this waythey hurried out of the already burning forest, and found themselves onthe brink of the swift current of the valley stream.
"Jump in! The water's fine!" shouted Jerry, who, with Bluff, hadsubmerged himself up to his shoulders.
"But my camera! I can't ruin it in the water!" shouted the obstinateWill, as he looked eagerly around for some place to conceal the objectwhich he held in so much reverence.
"Under those rocks! We chucked our guns there!" called Bluff, pointingout the spot, in his eagerness to help matters along.
Will hastened to thrust the beloved camera into the cavity that laybeneath the rocks, and Frank, nothing loth, also pushed his rifle intothe same place. Then it was ludicrous to see how quickly they made aplunge into the river.
Their immersion did not come a minute too soon. Frank knew that Will'sgarments were on fire in several places, and did not doubt but that hisown must be in the same condition, for the sparks were raining allaround them.
"This is all right," said the irrepressible Jerry, jumping up and downas he tried to hold out against the strong current.
"All I know is that we are in luck to have this blessed old riverhandy," said Frank, with more or less feeling in his voice, as hewatched the fire flash from tree to tree in pursuing its course.
"Yes, it's a queer world. Only a few days ago it came near ending mylife up at the cataract, and now it makes amends by saving it," remarkedJerry.
"The fire doesn't seem to jump across the river," observed Will.
"No; and I don't think it will, unless the wind changes quickly," saidFrank.
"But it seems bound to get to our camp inside of an hour or two. Whatd'ye suppose they'll do with all the duffle?" inquired Bluff uneasily.
"I'm not worried about that. Mr. Mabie will scent trouble a long wayoff, and find a refuge among the rocks, if necessary; but I'm inclinedto think the fire will never get to him," replied Frank.
"Do you believe the wind will shift, then, and blow back on us?" askedWill.
"I'm not a wind prophet. What I had in mind was that the fire would beput out before it got three miles from here."
"Put out! Do you mean to say they've a fire department up here?"demanded Will.
"Why, certainly; but it doesn't cost them a cent to maintain it.Somebody just pulls the string, and the water comes down," laughedJerry.
"Oh! I see now what you mean! It's going to rain!"
"Hear! hear. He's tumbled to it at last! Sometimes it seems to me thatwe'll just have to get out a special dictionary for Will, so he can findthe answers to conundrums without waste of time or energy," declaredBluff.
"That's the penalty every genius has to pay," remarked Will composedly.
Every now and then the boys were compelled to duck their heads beneaththe surface of the river, for the heat became unbearable. When the worstof the fire had gone by on the wings of the furious wind, things beganto change a bit for the better.
"Say! don't you think we might be getting out of here now?" demandedWill, whose teeth, strange to say, were rattling together with the chillof the mountain stream even while the air was still heated around them.
"I suppose it will be safe, and we can stand the heat if it will assistto dry our clothes. Though for that matter, fellows, it's ten to one wewill be soaked through and through again before we get to camp."
"This is mighty unhealthy, I think. Such rapid changes always encouragedangerous ailments," remarked Will, whose father, now dead, had been aphysician.
"All the same, I know several fellows who were very much pleased to makea sudden change a little while back," asserted Jerry.
They crawled out on the bank. Will, of course, made straight for therocky niche toward which he had cast many an anxious look while standingin the river.
"Good! Everything is all right, boys! Not a bit of damage done, that Ican see!" he called out.
They kept close to the river in making their way along. Perhaps the mainidea in this was to have a handy refuge in case a sudden need arose.
"There she comes!" remarked Bluff, in less than ten minutes.
"What? Where?" asked Will, staring around.
A deep bellow of near-by thunder answered him. Then the rain began tofall in torrents. Will always carried a piece of waterproof cloth, to beused for wrapping around his precious camera on occasions when it wasthreatened with rain. This he brought into use, and at the same timetried to keep the little black box sheltered as much as possible underhis coat.
From one extreme they had jumped to the other. First it was asuperabundance of fire, and now water began to trouble them.
"I'm soaked through again," announced Jerry dolefully, as he allowed thewind to carry him along through the blackened timber.
"And I just bet that old fire has been squashed out before this,"spluttered Bluff. "Don't you say so, Frank?"
"If it hasn't, it soon will be. Did you ever see it come down harder?"
"Must be trying to make up for the drouth of the last two months. Mr.Mabie said that when it did come we'd likely get a drencher. We'regetting it, all right," declared Jerry.
For another half hour they kept on, though the walking was very hard.
"A fine-looking crowd we are," declared Frank, as he surveyed hisblackened leggings and sodden coat.
"But it seems to me things don't look quite so bad around here,"observed Will.
"Well, they don't, for a fact. Frank, we've reached the fire limit, I dobelieve!" cried Bluff.
Everybody was glad to know it, for many reasons. The walking would bebetter, they could by degrees wash off the black stains that had beencovering their clothes, and last, but far from least, the camp would besafe.
"I'll never forget this day's experience, that's sure," Jerry wassaying, half an hour later, as, they still plodded on, with some milesstill ahead of them that must be gone over before they reached camp.
"And every time I look at the picture of the fire it'll bob up before meand make me shudder," remarked Will.
"Talk to me about that, will you! Do you mean to say you had the nerveto stop and snap off some views of that hot old fire while the rest ofus were shinning it as fast as we could?" demanded Jerry.
"Why, of course I did! What do you take me for? Who else would havepreserved that exciting episode for future generations to enjoy, if Ihadn't? That's what I'm here for," replied Will in surprise.
"And I suppose that was what made you so late Frank had to go back andhunt you up, eh?"
"I suppose it was, Bluff; but don't you scold now. I guess you'll enjoythose views as much as any one. There's only one thing I regret,fellows."
"And I can guess what that is. You wish you had taken the rest of us upto our chins in the drink," remarked Frank, whereat Will nodded eagerly,crying out:
"Oh! it would have been a great sight! Think how many times it mightchase the blues away when some of us felt downcast! I wish, now, I hadasked you to go back and give me the chance."
"Tell me about that, will you! Was there ever such anindefatigable--hey, Bluff! Is that the word I want?--artist as our meeklittle pard here? Sometimes he seems so timid, and then again he showsmore nerve than the whole bunch put together. I thought I knew him to adot, but I confess I'm puzzled," grunted Jerry.
"The rain has stopped, fellows," announced Frank a little later.
"But just look at the river! Must have been a cloudburst, as they callit out in the Rockies, Mr. Mabie says. It's just rising right before oureyes!"
"Then they'll have to change the camp, because by this time the watermust be up to where the tents were pitched. Why, see there, Frank! Isn'tthat wat
er over yonder, too, on the right of us?" asked Bluff, pointingthrough the woods.
"As sure as you live, and rushing madly on, too. We are between tworivers, it seems, with the water rising like a tidal wave. Perhaps wemay have to take to a tree yet, fellows," announced Frank after a longlook.
"H'm! These trees are sure handy to have around! We shin up one to avoidall sorts of dangers, it seems to me. And by the looks of that wall ofwater coming down on us just now, the sooner we climb, the better forus!" cried Jerry, suiting his actions to his words, and seizing thelower limb of a friendly oak, into which he clambered hastily, followedby his three chums, just as a five-foot wave swept under them, for allthe world resembling a "curler" rolling in from the ocean and up thebeach.