The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes | Page 7

caught Dick with one hand off the wheel, and, before he
could catch hold again, the youth found himself flung heels into the air
and over the _Swallow's_ stern.
Down and down he went into the lake waters, until he thought he
would never come up.
The turn of affairs bewildered him, and he did not come fully to his
senses until his head struck one of the timbers of the raft.
He clutched the timber as a drowning man clutches the proverbial straw,
and tried to draw himself to the surface of the lake, only to discover, to
his horror, that there were timbers to both sides of him, cutting off his
further progress upward.
"Must I be drowned like a rat in a trap!" was the agonizing thought
which rushed through his brain, and then he pushed along from one
timber to another until the last was reached and he came up, almost
overcome and panting heavily for breath.
"Help! help!" he cried feebly, and presently heard his brothers answer

him. Then the lifeline was thrown, but it fell short and did him no good.
By the red fire and the rockets he saw the position of the Swallow, and
saw his brothers, but was too weak to even signal to Sam and Tom.
It was with an effort that he at last drew himself to the top of some of
the lumber. This movement came none too soon, for a moment later
one of the outside chains of the raft broke, and fully a third of what was
left of the lumber was scattered in all directions.
"Hullo, Bragin! is that you?"
The cry came from out of the darkness and from the other end of the
top lumber.
"Are you calling to me?" replied Dick, in as loud a voice as he could
muster.
"Is that you, Bragin?" repeated the voice.
"I am not Bragin," answered Dick. "Where are you?"
"Here." And the unknown repeated the cry until Dick located and
joined him. He was a burly lumberman of forty, with a heavy black
beard and an equally heavy voice. He gazed at the youth in
astonishment.
"Hullo! Where did you come from?" he demanded.
"From the yacht this lumber raft just struck."
"Did the shock knock ye overboard?"
"It did."
"Humph! I thought ye was Bragin."
"I came pretty close to being drowned, for I came up under the
lumber."

"Well, we aint out o' the woods yet, young man. Didn't see nuthin o'
Bragin, did ye?"
"I've seen nobody but you."
"Then he must be down to the lake bottom by this time."
"He was on the raft with you?"
"Yes. He and I left the tug to see to the chains when the storm came
up."
"Where is the tug?"
"The raft broke away from her at the fust blow. A fool of a greenhorn
was a-managin' of the thing, an' this is the result. Come here--it's safer."
Dick was perfectly willing to crawl closer to the burly lumberman, who
was a good fellow, as could be seen by a glance.
"We'll be all right, if this section o' the lumber keeps together," went on
the lumberman. "There are four chains here, so it ought to hold."
Once safe, for the time being, Dick began to wonder about the fate of
the Swallow.
"Did the yacht go down?" he asked anxiously.
"I reckon not, young man. They burned red fire, you know. They
wouldn't do that if there was much trouble aboard."
"That is true." Dick was silent for a moment. "I wish I could get back to
her."
"Be thankful that ye aint at the bottom o' the lake. If we kin outride this
storm we'll be safe enough, for the tug will be lookin' for the raft when
it gits light."
Slowly the hours wore away, and in the meanwhile Dick learned that

the lumberman's name was Luke Peterson and that he was from the
timberlands of Michigan.
"I used to be in the United States service on the lakes, hunting down
smugglers between here and Canada," said Peterson. "But that was
years ago."
"Do they do much smuggling?" asked Dick.
"More than most folks think," was the decided answer.
The lumberman listened to Dick's tale with interest. Of course the story
had to be short, and was frequently interrupted, as high waves would
come along and almost sweep them into the lake. Both lay flat,
clutching at the lumber and at the huge chains which held it, and which
had thus far refused to part, although the strain upon them were
tremendous.
It was about two o'clock in the morning when the storm, according to
Dick's calculation, reached its height. The waves literally drove over
the raft from end to end, and it