a faint breath of air rustled the tree leaves. In the quiet of the forest, the sound was ominous.
“Here she comes!” muttered Brad.
Scarcely had he spoken when a rumble of thunder echoed through the woods. A few drops of rain filtered down between the thick canopy of leaves.
Then, wind and rain came on with a rush which sent the two boys deeper into the woods for shelter.
Though they flattened themselves against the lee side of two large oaks, they could find no protection. The rain began to fall in a torrent. It lashed their faces, streamed down their slickers and soaked their shoes.
Limbs loosened by the wind came crashing down. Now and then a vivid flash of lightning etched an electrical pattern across the dark sky.
“It’s not very safe here,” Brad said, ill at ease.
“We ought to seek shelter deeper in the woods, or get out entirely,” agreed Dan, buttoning his slicker tighter about him.
Even as he spoke, a brilliant flash of lightning etched across the sky, so bright that momentarily it blinded the two boys. And the following roar of thunder made them jump.
Simultaneously, came a ripping, tearing sound which told them that the heart of a mighty tree had been struck.
“Gosh! It’s that big oak!” Dan exclaimed, squinting through the rain.
The big tree came crashing down, smashing away smaller saplings and bushes in its path.
“It might just as well have been this one,” Dan murmured, gazing uneasily up into the mass of swaying, wind-twisted boughs above his head. “We’re in a bad spot!”
“How right you are,” murmured Brad.
A bright flash of lightning made the woods as bright as day. In that moment the boys saw the wind whirling like a vicious animal in the treetops. And two hundred yards away another tree fell, making a resounding crash as it toppled.
The sight spurred the Cubs to sudden decision.
“Dan, I know Mr. Hatfield wouldn’t want us to risk staying here in this storm,” Brad said, seizing his companion’s arm. “Come on, boy, we’re getting out of here!”
CHAPTER 9
A Rising Creek
Alarmed by the intensity of the storm, Dan and Brad made a dash through the whipping trees, seeking an open area. Rain now was descending with furious power, lashing directly into their faces.
“Gosh, I can’t see a thing!” Dan gasped. “Which way is the road?”
Brad turned on the beam of his flashlight, but it failed to penetrate the blinding wall of rain.
Just then the lightning flared again, revealing an opening through the bushes. Beyond Brad glimpsed the old logging road, a river of rainwater despite its under-base of gravel.
“This way, Dan!” he shouted encouragingly. “Follow me.”
Sloshing through water and mud, they reached the barrier fence and climbed over. The blinding sheet of rain all but blotted out a view of the pavement.
“We’re safer here anyhow,” Brad said as they emerged from the woodland. “Brother! Is this a storm?”
The rain showed no signs of slackening. However, now that the boys were in a cleared area, the wind seemed less menacing.
“It’s dropping a little,” Brad observed, studying the treetops along the pavement. “The crest of the storm probably has passed.”
“But the rain is still wet,” Dan shivered. “And it’s steady. No sign of a let-up.”
Along the ditches, muddy water was rushing at a furious rate, draining toward the nearby river.
The two boys scarcely knew which direction to go. They could recall no houses close by where they might seek shelter. The nearest habitation was Mr. Holloway’s camp across the river, but they had no boat.
“There’s a filling station up the road about a quarter of a mile!” Brad recalled, shouting to make himself heard above the roar of the wind. “Let’s go there!”
Dan nodded and followed his companion. Rain drove directly into their faces, closing off their view and making it difficult to walk.
“I sure wish a car would come along,” Brad muttered.
Now that they would have welcomed a ride, the busy highway suddenly had become a deserted thoroughfare.
Struggling on, the Cubs presently came to a stone bridge arching over a creek. Upon reaching it, the boys noticed that already its murky waters were within two inches of flooding the pavement.
“Wow!” Brad exclaimed, pausing to glance briefly at the raging torrent. “She’s coming up fast—and I mean fast!”
“Isn’t this the same creek that flows through Mr. Silverton’s property, Brad?”
“That’s right.”
“If the log jam hasn’t been cleared out before this, the water’s likely to start backing up in the pheasant runs just as Mr. Hatfield predicted!”
“I’m afraid of it,” Brad agreed. “Saul Dobbs ought to have looked after things. But if he failed to, well, this storm will sure make a mess of things at the farm.”
The boys stood a moment longer watching the torrent race beneath the stone archway. So fast was the creek rising that they could see the lapping waters nibbling away at the concrete. It would soon cover the pavement.
“Twenty minutes and the water will be running over the road,” Brad said. “If it’s clearing out at the pheasant farm, all well and good. But if it starts backing up there, Dobbs is in for plenty of trouble.”
Dan made no reply. The two boys pushed on through the slanting rain without meeting or being passed by a car. Finally, soaked and muddy, they reached the filling station.
An attendant, seeing them coming, flung open the office door.
“You look like a couple of drowned rats,” he laughed. “Here, shed those coats before you flood the place!”
Brad and Dan stripped off their slickers and wiped their dripping faces with a coarse towel which the attendant brought from one of the rest rooms. Then they sat down by the electric heater to outwait the rain.
“This is a regular cloudburst,” the filling station attendant remarked, watching the rain pelt against the window. “Worst storm we’ve had this summer.”
“May we use your telephone?” Dan requested.
“Sure. Go ahead. It’s your nickel.”
Dan dialed Mr. Hatfield’s number, intending to tell the Cub leader that he and Brad had taken refuge at the filling station.
There
