“They will be just the thing.” Presently the pair had their feet in boots several sizes too large for them, but they grinned, and went down into the yard. Their first care was Her Highness. The water had run up a little way under her, but she hadn’t suffered any damage. Jim got into the cock-pit and shifted the wheels to the floats, and that done the boys continued the tour of inspection.
“If it rains any more, by George, there will be the deuce to pay.” They went to the edge of the Lake, but could not follow its rim because the inundations were deep and many of them ended in treacherous swampy stretches. Where the cedar-rimmed cliff came close to the lake’s edge, the water pounded high above all previous marks, and some of the lower ones were being undermined by the strength of the waves.
“Looks like a regular ocean,” Jim remarked thoughtfully as they stood on a promontory which jutted out in defiance of Old Champlain’s fury. “Say, where’s that Carrying Point?”
“Further down. About half way to the village. Remember the day we were coming up and you noticed a neck of land, lake on both sides, that connected the two larger sections of North Hero?”
“Oh sure. Little stretch with a beach and roadway.”
“That’s it. Mom told me it got its name from Revolutionary days. Pirates and smugglers coming down from Canada with loads of goods in small boats, carried their boats across this piece and would get away from the officers, or whoever happened to be chasing them. It’s quite historic. A bigger craft coming along would have to go all the way around and by that time the smugglers could lose them plenty. They’d hide among some of the lower islands, or even go on straight.”
“Great old place. Obliging of Champlain to arrange itself so conveniently. Smashing guns, look at that water. It’s hammering in all directions. Too bad if it spoils crops, but it sure looks as if it is going to. Did you hear your Aunt say whether the turkeys are dying off because of the dampness?”
“Hezzy reported a hundred have turned up their toes.”
“Rotten. Why don’t they have a good warm place to keep them when the weather is had?” Jim exclaimed wrathfully.
“That’s the funny part of it, Buddy, they have got a real up-to-the-minute house, brooders and everything,” Bob replied soberly, then added, “Gosh, I do wish we could do something about it.”