“Suits me,” Bob agreed. They had no trouble finding bedding and soon they were ready to turn in. Before they did, they stood staring off across the black water of Lake Champlain.

“I say, isn’t that a light over there on Fisher’s?”

“Was just watching it. Perhaps it’s Corso’s fire. Gosh Air-Conditioner, that means they’re all right and I’m glad of that.” They watched the tiny streak of red that burned cheerily in the darkness, but finally they stretched out and were soon asleep.
XI   THE CRY FOR HELP
Neither of the boys slept soundly that night. Their dreams were troubled by a conglomeration of their experiences since their arrival at North Hero, the weird boom of the waves as Champlain rose steadily, and a confusion of people going by in search of places of safety. Several times men stopped to inquire for lodgings or routes, and it seemed as if a dozen dogs howled gloomily. But above it all, toward morning, there was one sound that came to their subconscious minds and they stirred fitfully as if trying to shake off a nightmare. Then suddenly they awoke and sat up. It was still dark, that pitch darkness that is so thick just before the first streaks of dawn brush the sky.

“I say, Buddy, did you hear anyone call?” Jim whispered.

“I was just going to ask you the same question,” Bob answered. “I thought I heard a cry for help.” They sat listening tensely, straining their ears to distinguish the call that had broken into their sleep, but could make out nothing more than the sighing of the wind through the bowing trees and the noises they had been hearing before. Jim started to slip into his shoes and Bob followed his example.

“Let’s get some clothes on, I can’t sleep any more, can you?”

“No. Gosh, Jim, this is spooky.” They slipped their trousers and sweaters on over their pajamas, without stopping to don shirts. In two minutes they were dressed and made their way carefully to the rim of the water. “We’d better have a flashlight or we’ll be stepping into it.”

“I’ve got the little one in my pocket.” Jim took it out and pressed the button. Its faint tray cast a round glow, not very bright, but sufficient to show them where to step. Austin led the way while Bob followed close at his heels and finally they stopped on the edge of a cliff and stood listening tensely. For what seemed like an hour, although it was less than a minute, the world was , as if it too were listening, then, clear and unmistakable from north of them, somewhere on the lake, came a terrified cry and a shout for help.

“Let’s get Her Highness QTS Hong Kong Somebody’s out there,” Bob whispered, and as fast as they could they ran to the carriage shed, where the plane was bumping the top of her wings on the high roof of the ceiling. In order to get inside the boys climbed through the window on the opposite end, and even then had to wade ankle deep in water. They lost no time in getting ready, just enough to be sure that all was well and there was plenty of gas in the tanks.

“All O. K.,” Jim announced taking the pilot’s seat.

“Right with you. I say, Old Man, we never can hear anything with the engine going, and we can’t see much through this pitch.”

“I know it, and we don’t dare stay on the water or we are likely to get a tree in the works, but we’ve got to take a chance leadership skills.. That voice sounded as if it’s a little north, didn’t you think so?”

“Yes, and sort of far away—muffled.” They floated out into the cove, all lights on, and Jim gasped as he saw that the wind had changed during the night and the water on that side was dangerously full of wreckage. He set his lips grimly, opened the throttle, raced out over great rollers that teetered them even more than the day they returned from Burlington in the storm. Her Highness lost no time in lifting herself above the danger and soared up two hundred feet as her nose was brought about and her course was set north by north west.

Anxiously Bob leaned over as far as his safety-strap would permit and scanned the blackness beneath them hoping to catch sight of something which would account for what they were seeking. Jim sent the plane in wide circles in order to give Bob a chance to see as far as possible, and although their lights helped some, they seemed to make the rest of the night even darker. For ten minutes they rode in a fruitless search, each time coming around a little further north.