The Outdoor Chums After Big Game Part 26

"Under those rocks! We chucked our guns there!" called Bluff, pointing out the spot, in his eagerness to help matters along.

Will hastened to thrust the beloved camera into the cavity that lay beneath the rocks, and Frank, nothing loth, also pushed his rifle into the same place. Then it was ludicrous to see how quickly they made a plunge into the river.

Their immersion did not come a minute too soon. Frank knew that Will's garments were on fire in several places, and did not doubt but that his own must be in the same condition, for the sparks were raining all around them.

"This is all right," said the irrepressible Jerry, jumping up and down as he tried to hold out against the strong current.

"All I know is that we are in luck to have this blessed old river handy," said Frank, with more or less feeling in his voice, as he watched 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 my life up at the cataract, and now it makes amends by saving it," remarked Jerry.

"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," said Frank.

"But it seems bound to get to our camp inside of an hour or two. What d'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 way off, and find a refuge among the rocks, if necessary; but I'm inclined to think the fire will never get to him," replied Frank.

"Do you believe the wind will shift, then, and blow back on us?" asked Will.

"I'm not a wind prophet. What I had in mind was that the fire would be put 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," laughed Jerry.

"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 that we'll just have to get out a special dictionary for Will, so he can find the answers to conundrums without waste of time or energy," declared Bluff.

"That's the penalty every genius has to pay," remarked Will composedly.

Every now and then the boys were compelled to duck their heads beneath the surface of the river, for the heat became unbearable. When the worst of the fire had gone by on the wings of the furious wind, things began to change a bit for the better.

"Say! don't you think we might be getting out of here now?" demanded Will, whose teeth, strange to say, were rattling together with the chill of 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 a.s.sist to dry our clothes. Though for that matter, fellows, it's ten to one we will be soaked through and through again before we get to camp."

"This is mighty unhealthy, I think. Such rapid changes always encourage dangerous ailments," remarked Will, whose father, now dead, had been a physician.

"All the same, I know several fellows who were very much pleased to make a sudden change a little while back," a.s.serted Jerry.

They crawled out on the bank. Will, of course, made straight for the rocky niche toward which he had cast many an anxious look while standing in the river.

"Good! Everything is all right, boys! Not a bit of damage done, that I can see!" he called out.

They kept close to the river in making their way along. Perhaps the main idea 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 to fall in torrents. Will always carried a piece of waterproof cloth, to be used for wrapping around his precious camera on occasions when it was threatened with rain. This he brought into use, and at the same time tried to keep the little black box sheltered as much as possible under his coat.

From one extreme they had jumped to the other. First it was a superabundance of fire, and now water began to trouble them.

"I'm soaked through again," announced Jerry dolefully, as he allowed the wind 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're getting 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 his blackened 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 do believe!" cried Bluff.

Everybody was glad to know it, for many reasons. The walking would be better, they could by degrees wash off the black stains that had been covering their clothes, and last, but far from least, the camp would be safe.

"I'll never forget this day's experience, that's sure," Jerry was saying, half an hour later, as, they still plodded on, with some miles still 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 me and make me shudder," remarked Will.

"Talk to me about that, will you! Do you mean to say you had the nerve to stop and snap off some views of that hot old fire while the rest of us were shinning it as fast as we could?" demanded Jerry.

"Why, of course I did! What do you take me for? Who else would have preserved that exciting episode for future generations to enjoy, if I hadn'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 and hunt you up, eh?"

"I suppose it was, Bluff; but don't you scold now. I guess you'll enjoy those 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 up to 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 might chase the blues away when some of us felt downcast! I wish, now, I had asked you to go back and give me the chance."

"Tell me about that, will you! Was there ever such an indefatigable--hey, Bluff! Is that the word I want?--artist as our meek little pard here? Sometimes he seems so timid, and then again he shows more nerve than the whole bunch put together. I thought I knew him to a dot, but I confess I'm puzzled," grunted Jerry.

"The rain has stopped, fellows," announced Frank a little later.