"Yes I have, but I did not know that it meant anything alarming."
"It shows that the wind is throwing a great strain on the trees and that there is too much play in the roots for the good of the trees--and ourselves," he added. "I hope our supplies do not fall down under the whipping they are getting."
The provisions had been slung in sacks from a rope strung between two trees, about ten feet above the ground, to keep them out of reach of Henry and other prowling animals.
"How long have you been up?" asked Grace.
"Half an hour or so. I went up to the ridge to the rear of the camp, thinking that I had heard something unusual going on up there, but hurried back when the rain started. What I heard must have been the trees creaking."
They listened to the storm for several minutes, Tom Gray trying to interpret the sounds.
"Awaken the girls!" he directed, acting upon a sudden resolution. "Get them out as quickly as possible." Tom had heard a sound coming from the ridge that stirred him into quick action. "Tell them to fetch the blankets and our rifles. We mustn"t lose any of those things."
"Will you call Hippy and Joe?"
"Yes, yes. Hurry!"
"Turn out!" shouted Tom at the opening of Hippy"s tent. "Be lively.
Blankets and weapons with you."
"Wha--at, in this storm?" wailed Hippy.
"Better get wet than get killed," retorted Tom, springing over to Joe Shafto"s tent. Joe answered his hail with a sharp demand to know what he wanted.
"Pile out as quickly as possible. We are likely to have trouble. And call your bear off."
Henry was sniffing at Tom"s heels and growling ominously, but he obeyed the incisive command of his master and retired to his position in front of her tent.
The girls, he found, were already out of their tents, blankets over their heads, all shivering in the chill rain, all too cold to speak except Emma Dean.
"I--I to-o-old you something was go-going to happen," she stammered.
"The v-v-v-voice of nature to-o-old me so."
"N-n-n-nature is an old fogy," jeered Hippy mockingly. "Nothing has happened and I don"t know why we have been dragged out into this rotten storm."
"Follow me and watch your step," directed Tom tersely. He led the way to the river and along its bank to the tethering ground. "Lead your ponies to a safer place, further up the stream," he ordered.
This hurried departure from their camp was a good deal of a mystery to the Overland Riders. They did not understand why, nor did Tom Gray tell them.
"Hippy, help me tie the horses," he said, after having gone several rods further up stream. "One at a time with the ponies, folks, then go make yourselves as comfortable as possible under the bluff of the bank. The bushes there will offer you more protection from the wind and rain than the trees would."
Shortly thereafter Tom and Hippy joined their shivering companions, and the party, with blankets stretched over their heads, huddled miserably as they sat on the wet ground under the blanket roof, Hindenburg on Hippy"s lap, and Henry outside in the rain licking the water from his dripping coat of fur.
"How are you, J. Elfreda?" teased Grace.
"Saturated and satiated," answered Miss Briggs briefly.
"I wonder what the voices of nature are saying at the present moment?"
mused Hippy. "If they feel anything like I do, their remarks are more forceful than elegant."
"Even if you were to hear them you would be mo wiser," observed Emma.
"Only persons with unusual minds can read the messages that nature conveys."
Someone under the blanket roof giggled, and Hippy articulated "Ahem!"
"As I was about to say--What"s that?" he exclaimed sharply.
A boom, that reminded all who heard it of the explosion of a high-powered sh.e.l.l at a distance, smote the ears of the Overland Riders.
Then a succession of resounding reports and terrific crashings shook the earth.
"Stay where you are!" shouted Tom Gray as, with single accord, the girls sprang to their feet and started to run. They halted at sound of Tom"s voice.
Something from the air struck the ground with a thud, and Hippy Wingate toppled over against Elfreda Briggs and sank down, uttering a faint moan.
"Hippy"s hurt! Something hit him. Quick, Tom! Show a light!" cried Miss Briggs.
Tom Gray flashed a ribbon of light from his pocket lamp and sprang to his companion.
"Hippy! Hippy!" he begged.
Nora uttered an anguished wail, and in an instant her arms were about Lieutenant Wingate"s neck.
"Let go and give him air," commanded Tom.
Hippy lay as he had fallen, half on his side, one arm doubled under his head. A red welt across his forehead showed where the blow that felled him had fallen.
The reverberating crashes that had shaken the earth were dying out and now seemed much further away than at first.
CHAPTER VIII
THEIR FIRST DISASTER
"Oh, what has happened?" begged Anne tremblingly.
"The logs went out," answered Tom briefly.
"Di--did a log hit Hippy?" questioned Emma.
"I don"t know what hit him. Fetch water," directed Tom, who was fanning the unconscious Hippy with his hat.
Joe Shafto had run down to the stream and, at this juncture, came up to them with a hatful of water, which she handed to Tom. Grace took Tom"s hat from him and did the fanning while her husband was bathing Hippy"s face. The rain had become a misty drizzle and the wind had died out entirely, but the trees were dripping moisture that soaked into the clothing of the Overland Riders more effectively than had the downpour of a few moments before.
It was nearly half an hour before Lieutenant Wingate regained consciousness, and it was some little time later before he could hold a sitting position, for his head was swimming.