The Boy with the U. S. Weather Men | Page 7

his eager eyes
shining out of his pale face. The crippled boy hobbled across the room
on his crutch and grasped his chum tightly by the shoulder. He was
trembling like an aspen-leaf in the wind.
"Scared, Anton?" said Ross. "I'm not surprised. You've a good right to
be."
"I wasn't so scared," the younger lad replied, with the characteristic
desire of a boy not to be thought cowardly, "I just got to wondering,
that was all."
"Wondering if any one was going to come for you?"
"Yes."
"How did you get left behind, anyhow?" queried Ross.
"Oh, it was my own fault, all right," the crippled lad replied. "It was all
because of the dog. You know, Ross, Lassie had pups, last Monday."
"No, I didn't know about it," responded the older boy. "Why didn't you
tell a fellow?"
"I haven't seen you since," Anton explained. "Well, when the levee
broke and the water commenced to come into the house, Dad and Uncle
Jack went and got the two boats we always keep on the river. Dad
picked me up and carried me down on to the porch. I heard him call to
Uncle Jack:
"'You go ahead and get Clara; I've got Anton safe with me.'"
"Then you were with him, weren't you?" queried Ross.
"Sure I was. Just as I was getting into the boat, though, I thought of
Lassie and her puppies and I went back to get them. I called to Dad and
said:
"'I'm just going to fetch Lassie, Dad, and I'll go in Uncle Jack's boat.'

"So, Dad, he called to Uncle, saying that I was to go with him. His boat
was pretty well crowded up, too. Back I went to get Lassie. As soon as
I'd picked up the pups, Lassie was willing enough to come along. The
water was running over the floor and made it slippery. My crutch
slithered on the wet wood and I tumbled down. It was pretty dark, and I
had a job finding the four puppies again. When I did gather 'em up and
started for the porch again, Uncle Jack was gone."
"Without you?"
"He thought I was with Dad, and I suppose Dad was sure I was with
Uncle Jack."
"They ought to have found out and come back after you as soon as they
got together."
"I thought of that," the crippled lad answered, "and that's what I
expected would happen. I suppose, though, they didn't land at the same
place, and so each bunch thinks I'm with the other and isn't doing any
worrying."
"It's a mighty awkward mix-up," declared Ross. "There's no saying
what might have happened to you if Rex hadn't been on the job."
"Was it Rex who brought you here?"
"It sure was," Ross replied, and he described how the terrier had pulled
him by the leg and insisted on his coming over to the house in the
hollow.
"Where's Rex now," queried Anton, "down in our old boat?"
"Yes, he's down there, keeping watch, good old scout," answered Ross.
"He ought to be satisfied now, he certainly made fuss enough to bring
me here. But, look here, Anton, how are we going to get you out? You
don't swim."
"No," answered his chum mournfully, "I can't swim."

"If there was room enough down that stair," said Ross, thoughtfully, "I
could take you on my back, but we'd never get through that door, and
the window would be even worse."
"I'd been thinking of that," Anton answered. "I wondered how Dad
would get me when he found out that I wasn't with Uncle Jack and
came for me. So I made a long rope out of strips of my sheets."
"What's the good of that?"
"Well," said the younger boy, "I was wondering if I couldn't get out of
the window. My arms are awful strong, you know, Ross."
"Yes," the other agreed, "you've plenty of muscle there."
"I thought if I could drop that line out of the window, Dad could grab it
and hold the boat there. Then I could chuck down Lassie and the pups
in a basket--I've got the basket--and slide down the rope of sheets into
the boat."
Ross thought for a minute.
"I don't see why we couldn't do that now," he said. "Suppose we tied a
piece of wood to the end of this rope of sheets, so that it would float,
the current would curl it around the corner of the house so that I could
get hold of it from the boat. If your end of the line was made fast up
here, I could hand over hand the boat right under your window, the way
you say. Why, I could get you out without any trouble at all! Let's