“Well, she did root under my blanket, I tell you,” Billy insisted; “and being waked up so suddenly, how could I tell the difference between a grunt and a growl? I only hope she stays away the rest of the night and lets a poor tired scout get his regular sleep.”
Apparently it would require much more than an occurrence of this sort to keep Billy wakeful. Inside of ten minutes Hugh could hear his regular breathing, from which he concluded the other was again off to the land of dreams.
The balance of the night passed without any further alarm. Perhaps Tip did not secure much sleep, and was the happiest fellow in the party to see the gray dawn coming in the east. Still, it had been a great experience for Tip, and one he would not soon forget.
All of the boys were soon up and doing. While two of them saw to it that the blankets and other coverings were returned to the launch, the others looked after the preparations for their morning meal which, thanks to the generous judge, would not be as primitive as it might have been.
After they had eaten breakfast, the start was made up the current. Monkey had been smart enough to fix some sort of tally so as to know how high the river rose while they slept.
“Just seven inches, fellows,” he had announced the first thing; and then, as the expedition was about to leave their moorings, Monkey declared with considerable delight: “Would you believe it, the water is actually going down! Sure it is, for here you can see where the stick is wet for an inch above the level!”
“Bully!” cried Tip. “Things will soon be on the mend, and poor old Lawrence will get back to looking like it was before the flood, all but our bridge, which is gone where the woodbine twineth.”
“Never mind about that,” said Billy, “so long as none of your folks went downstream with it.”
They found it slow work breasting the current, but then, as a rift appeared in the leaden clouds overhead, everyone was soon feeling greatly encouraged.
“There’s the judge waving to us!” said Tip, and of course everyone hastened to reply to the salutation from the high ground back of which the home of their good friend lay, safe from danger.