othing
would please me better than to make a camp-fire, build a bark shelter
for the girls, forage through the surrounding country for something to
cook, and prove to everybody's satisfaction that we knew our business
as amateur woodsmen. Don't you say the same, Bandy-legs and Toby?"

"I sure do," replied the former, with considerable fervor, as the
pleasant times spent in former camps seemed to flash before his mind;
"but what ails Toby here, fellers; he's going to have a fit if he don't
get out what's sticking in his throat! Look at him gasping for breath,
would you? What's the matter, Toby; seen another sea serpent have you;
or is it a hippopotamus this time; perhaps a twenty foot alligator.
Here, give one of your whistles, and get a grip on yourself, Toby!"

And the stuttering boy, brought to his senses by the admonition of his
chum, did actually pucker up his lips, emit a sharp little whistle, and
then working the muscles of his face as though trying to make a
grimace, managed to utter just one word, which however thrilled the
balance of the shivering group through and through, for that word was
the magical one:

"_Boat!_"

CHAPTER X

"ALL ABOARD!"

"Where away?" cried Steve, with his customary impetuousness.

"Don't you dare fool us, Toby Jucklin!" exclaimed Bandy-legs,
menacingly; for if the truth be told, he felt a twinge of envy because
it had not been his sharp eyesight that had first detected the coming
of a rescue party.

Max noticed just where Toby was pointing, and without wasting his
breath in asking useless questions he applied himself to the task of
ascertaining just how much truth there might be in the assertion.

Sure enough, he did manage to discover something that had the
appearance of a boat; but as it rose and fell with the waves, now
vanishing altogether from his sight, and then again being plainly seen,
Max made it out to be a rowboat. There were no oars working in the
sunlight, nor could he discover the first sign of life about the
bobbing craft that was coming down on the flood.

"It is a boat, all right!" admitted Steve, presently, while all of them
continued to stare eagerly at the advancing object; "but a derelict you
might say, because there's not a sign of anybody aboard. And from the
way she rolls so logy, I bet you she's half full of water right now."

The girls began to utter little plaintive exclamations.

"But notice that she floats all right, Steve," Max ha