“Break—” She looked at Bob and laughed, “No, certainly not, if it can come alive through such a night. They were driven to the roof hours ago because the floors of those cottages are fastened to the ground and can’t get away—”
“I don’t know how I can ever thank you fellows—” said the rescued man as he came into the kitchen.
“Aw, please don’t try. We thought we heard you call, so we went to see what it was all about,” Jim said quickly, but he had to take the hand that was extended to him.
“If I had been alone I wouldn’t have howled, but with my wife and baby I had to do anything I could. We were asleep, and it seemed as if an earth-quake gave us a broadside and we were full of water. We just managed to get some blankets to keep the baby warm, and climb through the window. We were on the veranda roof first, but that wasn’t very secure, so we got on the main part. It was good we moved, for the other sections were battered off—”
“My land sakes alive—how awful. Here now, you take this in to your wife and tell her to drink every bit of it like a good girl, and just as soon as I get some more dry things on the baby, she can have him back. He is a cunning little fellow—” Bob was no end relieved that his services as a nurse were no longer required.
“Buster,” he chuckled as he handed the baby to his aunt.
“My land sakes alive. How did you boys happen to get that man and his folks? I never saw the like—never. I thought you were asleep by the barn, and then, all of a sudden, some one said you were out down the lake and you were coming in slow like. Fent got the glasses and saw those folks—my land sakes alive, I never saw the like of it. How did you happen to be out there?”
“We couldn’t sleep, and we thought we heard someone call, so we went out. Reckon we better get dressed, we haven’t got much on,” he added, because several people were trooping into the kitchen and he didn’t want to be the center of an admiration meeting.
“Come down as soon as you’re ready and have breakfast. You must be most starved both of you.” There is nothing like an early morning rescue party to sharpen the appetite, so the boys did not take long to get ready. Jim went down first and just as he came into the living room, the telephone, which was a party line, gave a long persistent ring.
“That’s forever ringing,” Mrs. Fenton called to him. “Will you answer it? I can’t put down the baby for a minute.”