Part 12 (1/2)
”I can hardly see to steer,” said Cora, peering out of the rain-drenched windows of the cabin.
”Want me to take the wheel?” asked Jack.
”No, thank you, I think not. We ought to be almost there now. But I don't know about going over the mountain trail in this storm.”
”Maybe it will stop,” suggested Belle.
”It doesn't act so,” commented Walter.
The thunder had almost ceased, and the lightning was not so startling, but the rain came down harder than ever.
”I declare I can't see either bank of the river,” Cora said. ”I hope I shan't run into anything.”
They kept on for perhaps an hour longer, the rain never ceasing. But they were good and dry in the snug motor boat.
”I think we'd better put ash.o.r.e and find out where we are,” suggested Jack, after a bit. ”We may have run past Riverhead, Cora.”
”Run past it! How could we, Jack? The river's almost too shallow for a rowboat past Riverhead. We'd be aground.”
”Not necessarily. They've lately dredged a channel about a mile beyond, to let boats bring ice down from the houses up above. You may be in the channel,” Walter said.
”I don't believe-” began Cora, when suddenly the boat ran against an obstruction. The occupants were almost thrown off their feet. A grinding, sc.r.a.ping sound was heard and Cora threw out the gears.
”Why-why!” she cried, as she looked out into the dark mist of the storm.
”We've run ash.o.r.e!”
CHAPTER IX-TIED UP
Silence followed Cora's startling announcement-that is comparative silence, for the rain, hissing into the river, and pelting on the deck and cabin roof, made quite a noise.
”What's that you say?” demanded Walter, arising from a stern locker where he had been talking more or less nonsense to Hazel.
”Run ash.o.r.e?” echoed Jack.
”At least I suppose it's the sh.o.r.e,” said Cora, who had stopped the engine, the controls being near the wheel. ”There aren't any islands in this part of the river; are there?”
”Not one,” said Jack. ”It is the sh.o.r.e,” he confirmed after a look through the cabin window.
”Any damage done, Sis?”
”Not to the sh.o.r.e, at any rate. We didn't hit very hard. I saw something looming up through the mist and slowed down.”
”We must be up to Riverhead all right,” remarked Bess. ”Though I haven't noticed anything like a town.”
”You couldn't notice much of anything in this rain,” Cora said. ”We're not aground, at all events,” for they could feel the boat moving down stream under the influence of the current.
”Switch on the searchlight and see if we can discover where we are,”
suggested Belle.