The rope recovered, they had no further reason to remain in that vicinity. When they could do so without the little old maid’s keen eye being fastened on them, Billy and Tip and Monkey would exchange grins and suggestive shrugs; but they were very careful to keep straight faces if they fancied she were watching them.
Hugh had mapped out a plan of campaign when starting up the valley. It was his intention to cover the inundated territory fully, so that when they turned back to town they could feel they had not left any one at the mercy of the flood who should have been looked after.
So he kept changing his course in what might be called a zigzag way, now steering toward the left shore, and again heading in the direction of the opposite one. Billy called it “tacking,” for their advance up the valley was by a series of eccentric movements.
Shortly after having rescued Miss Maria in a manner which she would never recall without more or less resentment, the scouts discovered another waving signal that meant trouble. In this instance it was a farmer who was known to be well to do, and who had quite a family, among the rest a couple of boys of twelve and fourteen.
They had lingered too long at home, from some cause or other, and were in somewhat of a panic lest the night come on to find them facing dreadful hours of darkness and despair.
Hugh was surprised at the lack of smartness shown by those two lusty lads. He was sure that if they had belonged to the scouts they would at least have found some way of constructing a safety device in the shape of a raft by means of which the entire family might have been ferried across the water to the high land.
The coming of the launch was the signal for more or less cheering on the part of these two boys. They had let their stock loose some time before, so that it had probably found safety in the distant hills, swimming the flood.
As they had done on other occasions, Hugh and his comrades bustled about, and not only got the farmer and his family aboard but managed to also save a few bundles of wearing apparel that the good housewife insisted on taking along.
“The farmer seems to keep watching us as if he had something on his mind,” was what Hugh whispered to Tip Lange about the time they were ready to once more make a start, intending to land all their passengers the next time they drew in to the shore.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he has,” replied the Lawrence scout, “and I think I can give a pretty close guess what it is.”