CHAPTER XXIII
THE RISING WATERS
"IT _is_ rising, Roger," admitted the older boy, seriously, as hesurveyed the tumbling waters, rushing along with a noise like thechurning of a score of grist mills, such as the one near the St. Louissettlement.
"Do you think it will keep on increasing all day, Dick?" asked theother, with a ring of alarm in his voice.
"It may," was the reply. "That will depend on how far up the river thatheavy rainfall extended. If it covered the whole watershed, then theriver here must keep on getting bigger for a good many hours before itreaches a crest."
"But we never knew the Missouri to rise at this late time in thesummer, did we, Dick?"
"Not anything like this, that's sure, Roger. Of course, after a heavystorm it always creeps up. But this is really a flood, and will botherthe exploring expedition for a day or two, I think."
"Oh, but they have boats, and will think little or nothing of it,Dick," the younger boy went on. "But what a bad fix it finds us in!What if the water does keep on coming up and up all day; won't it coverthis little island and perhaps wash it away?"
"Oh! hardly that," Dick hastened to answer. "It has stood many floodsin the spring time, because these trees have had a chance to grow."
"But even if that rushing water only covers the island, where will webe then, I'd like to know? Ugh! it makes me shiver to think of it," andRoger turned to look once more at the roaring river.
"Of course I don't know where we'll be," Dick observed, calmly; "but ifwe've got the good sense I think we have, chances are two boys aboutour size will be perched in the branches of the largest tree on theisland, with all their stores about them, waiting for the waters to godown again."
"Oh! and I never thought of that, either!" exclaimed Roger, apparentlysomewhat relieved in his mind, as he noted that one of the trees wasof some size.
"The worst thing about that plan," continued Dick, "is that we've gotto lose our horses; and I hate to think of that more than I can tellyou."
"Will they be drowned, do you think?"
"Well, horses can swim, you know; and they might get ashore if weturned them loose in good time. But even then, we'd never be able totrack them; and our job of overtaking the expedition would be madeall the harder. Still, we will not be the ones to give it up, Roger.Nothing could make us do that, could it?"
"No, indeed, it could not," replied the other boy, firmly. "But, Dick--"
"Yes, what idea has come into your mind now?" asked the other lad,encouragingly.
"Why, when you spoke of turning the horses loose, and letting them havea chance of reaching the shore, I thought what a fine thing it would beif we were holding on to the saddles at that time. Why, they'd just towus to land with them, you see!"
"Yes, if they got there, which isn't a sure thing at all," repliedDick. "But we will decide all that later on. Perhaps the river willrise only a little more, and then come to a stand-still. And, in caseof the worst, we've always got that tree there. Even if it shouldbe undermined by the flood, and carried away, we might stick in thebranches."
"And float down the river, you mean," added Roger. "That would saveour lives, of course; but think how we'd feel, going away from CaptainLewis mile after mile. Why, this makes me think of what our fatherstold us about that flood up along the Ohio, that was the cause of theircoming further West."[5]
"That's a fact, it does; and they came near being drowned in thatsame flood, too, didn't they?" said Dick. "But let's begin to get ourpackages ready, in case we have to climb this tree. It's just as wellto be prepared, even if we never have to carry out that plan."
"But you really think we will have to, don't you, Dick?" persisted theother.
"If the water gets high enough to cover our island, yes," was thereply; "because there's really no other way. But these summer floodscome and go quickly. It isn't like the early spring time, when theground is frozen, and the downpour can find no way to soak into it, sothat it all rushes off."
Dick was a good fellow to have along on an occasion of this kind.He always managed to appear cheerful, no matter how seriously theconditions affected him; and besides this, he was so very fertile inresource. Seldom did there arise a sudden emergency but that Dickproved himself capable of suggesting an immediate remedy. In thisparticular he resembled his father, Bob Armstrong, who, in the old dayson the Ohio, used to be looked up to by his younger brother, Sandy, onthis account.
It was far from cheerful work, however, standing there keeping trackof the gradual rise of the river. And it lacked the interest that theymight have found in the task had they been at home, and only curious toknow what height the water would reach before starting to as speedilydecline.
Now they had everything at stake; and it meant great peril to them ifthe little island should be completely submerged.
Roger had constructed a contrivance whereby they were able to knowjust how fast the water rose. This was a stick which he had marked offin inches, and driven into the ground at the edge of the river. Byconsulting it every little while they were enabled to learn the truth,and it was a continued disappointment.
"It looks as if we'd have to climb, sooner or later, Dick," declaredRoger, when several hours had passed, and they had three times beenforced to retreat before the advance of the flood, removing their"tally stick" on each occasion.
"I'm sorry to say it's getting that way," replied the other, shakinghis head.
"But what about the horses?" demanded Roger.
"Well, we've got them here by the tree, and when we have to mount upamong the branches we can turn them loose," answered his cousin.
"But, Dick, if they have to go, poor things, why make it harder forthem?"
"I see what you mean, Roger; you think we ought to cut the ropes now,and let them swim for the shore. It does you credit, too; but I hardlybelieve it would work."
"Why wouldn't it?" asked Roger.
"For this reason," came the reply. "Horses are affectionate. They getaccustomed to people, and these ones know us well, because we'veraised them from colts. Now, the chances are that, if we turned themloose at this minute, they would refuse to leave us until the waterforced them to swim. Even if you pushed one off the island, I feel surehe would try hard to get back again. So what's the use of turning themloose now?"
"Perhaps that's so," admitted Roger. "I was only thinking of giving thepoor beasts a better chance to get ashore; because the higher the waterrises the harder it will be for them to swim."
After that they stood watching and waiting; but with only the mostdismal forebodings as to what was to come. And indeed it was anythingbut pleasant to think of being made prisoners in a tree that would becompletely surrounded by a raging flood, perhaps for another night andday. And then the loss of their horses was going to make their task ofovertaking the expedition all the harder.
So the morning passed, and while on several occasions Roger indulged innew hopes that the water had come to a stand at last, these were onlyfated to be dashed to the ground on his next anxious inspection of his"tally stick," when he learned that the flood was actually making upfor lost time.
"How much longer will we have, Dick?" he asked, when, for the thirdtime, he had made this unpleasant discovery.
"At the rate it seems to be crawling up our stake, it will only be twohours until the water will be at the foot of this tree," replied theother, who had already figured all this out.
"Two hours isn't much time, is it, Dick?"
"Well," replied the other, with a smile, "that all depends on theconditions. You can look back to lots of times when it would seem likean eternity. Remember that night when you slipped and fell over thatprecipice, just managing to get hold of a bush, and holding on whileyou shouted for me to come and help you up, because you couldn't doanything yourself? If you'd had to hang there, kicking your heels inspace, two hours, instead of ten minutes, I think they'd have seemedthe longest you ever knew."
"That's so," admitted Roger, smiling a little hi
mself at the scenewhich his comrade's words recalled. "And just as you say, Dick, we havebeen through a good many hard scrapes together, haven't we; and always,up to now, managed to come out on top? Perhaps we'll do the same thistime, too."
"Why, to be sure we will," declared the other, stoutly, "don't let anyother notion get hold of you, Roger. It's all bound to come out right;haven't we been told that many times by our mothers, when things lookeda little black--and didn't the sky clear every time? We'll escape fromthis island, overtake the expedition, get that paper signed by JasperWilliams, and bring joy to all our dear ones at home. Why, I'm just assure of that, Roger, as that we're standing here right now, wonderinghow we're going to get ashore. But a way will be provided, mark mywords."
Never was a prophecy more speedily fulfilled. Hardly had five minutespassed than Roger clutched the sleeve of his cousin's tunic, and in avoice that trembled with emotion, burst out:
"Look! oh! look, Dick, are my eyes going back on me--is this one ofthose mirages they told us we would meet with on the prairies; or isthat really a boat--yes, two, _three_ of them--down at the bend below,and working up against even all this fierce current? Three boats,Dick--wasn't that what Captain Lewis had with him when he started awayfrom St. Louis? Oh! speak and tell me if I am going out of my mind, andseeing things that I've been dreaming about so long!"
Dick laughed, and hugged his cousin with rapture.
"No, no, Roger, your eyes are all right, and the boats are there!" hecried. "We've only managed to get _ahead_ of the expedition, that'sall. And we'll be saved now, Roger! We've won out at last!"
FOOTNOTE:
[5] See "Pioneer Boys of the Mississippi."