They
were the only people likely to be in immediate danger from the
fire if it spread. The cousins might easily reach the
Vanderwiller's island, warn them of the fire, and return to town
before it got very late, or before the fire crossed the wood-
road.
They rumbled along, soon striking the corduroy road, having the
thick forest on either hand again. The ditches were running bank
full. Over a quagmire the logs, held down by cross timbers
spiked to the sleepers, shook under the wheels, and the water
spurted up through the interstices as the horses put down their
heavy feet.
"An awful lot of water fell," Tom said soberly.
"Goodness! The swamp is full," agreed Nan.
"We may have some trouble in reaching Toby's place," the boy
added. "But maybe,"
He halted in his speech, and the next instant pulled the horses
down to a willing stop. "Hark-a-that!" whispered Tom.
"Can it be anybody crying? Maybe it's a wildcat," said Nan, with
a vivid remembrance of her adventure in the snow that she had
never yet told to any member of the family.
"It's somebody shouting, all right," observed Tom. "Up ahead a
way. Gid-ap!"
He hurried the horses on, and they slopped through the water
which, in places, flowed over the road, while in others it
actually lifted the logs from their foundation and threatened to
spoil the roadway entirely.
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