Saboteurs on the River Part 9

Trees and bushes grew thick and green along either bank of the run.

Several times the girls were forced to muddy their shoes in order to proceed. In one shady glade, a bullfrog blinked at them before making a hasty dive into the lilypads.

There was no sign of a boat or any structure remotely resembling an ark.

And then, rounding a bend, they suddenly saw it silhouetted against a darkening sky.

"Why, it looks just as if it had rolled out of The Old Testament!" Louise cried in astonishment.

The ark, painted red and blue, rose three stories from the muddy water. A large, circular window had been built in the uppermost part, and there were tiny, square openings beneath. From within could be heard a strange medley of animal sounds--the cackling of hens, the squeal of a pig, the squawking of a saucy parrot who kept calling: "Noah! Oh, Noah!"

Louise gripped Penny's hand. "Let's not go any nearer," she said uneasily. "It's starting to rain, and we ought to make a double dash for home."

A few drops of rain splashed into the stream. Dropping on the tin roof of the ark like tiny pellets of metal, they made a loud drumming sound. The disturbed hens began to cluck on their roosts. The parrot screeched loudly, "Oh, Noah! Come Noah!"

"Where is Noah?" Penny asked with a nervous giggle. "I certainly must see him before we leave."

As if in answer to her question, they heard a strange series of sounds from deep within the woods. A cow mooed, and a man spoke soothing words.

Soon there emerged from among the trees a bewildering a.s.sortment of animals and fowl--a cow, a goat, a pig, and two fat turkeys. An old man with a long white beard which fell to his chest, drove the creatures toward the gangplank of the ark.

"Get along, Bessie," he urged the cow, tapping her with his crooked stick. "The Lord maketh the rain to fall for forty days and forty nights, but you shall be saved. Into the ark!"

Penny fairly hugged herself with delight.

"Oh, Louise, we can't go now," she whispered. "That must be Old Noah. And isn't he a darling?"

CHAPTER 7 _ARK OF THE MUD FLATS_

Unaware that he was being observed, Old Noah again rapped the cow smartly on her flanks.

"Get along, Bessie," he urged impatiently. "The Heavens will open any minute now, and all the creatures of the earth shall perish. But this calamity shall not befall you, Bessie. You are one of G.o.d's chosen."

None too willing to be saved from impending doom, Bessie bellowed a loud protest as she was driven into the over-crowded ark. Next went the goat and the squealing pig. The turkeys made more trouble, gobbling excitedly as the old man shooed them into the confines of the three-storied boat.

His task accomplished, Old Noah wiped his perspiring brow with a big red handkerchief. He stood for a moment, gazing anxiously up at the boiling storm clouds.

"This is it--the second great flood," he murmured. "For the Lord sayeth, 'I will cause it to rain forty days and forty nights and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.'"

As he stood thus, gazing at the sky, Noah made a striking figure. In his prime, the old man evidently had been a stalwart physical specimen, and advancing years had not enfeebled him. His face was that of a Prophet of old. A certain child-like simplicity shone from a pair of trusting blue eyes whose direct gaze bespoke implicit belief.

"Let's speak to him," Penny urged. Although Louise tried to hold back, she pulled her along toward the ark.

Old Noah heard the girls coming and turned quickly around. After the first moment of startled surprise, he leaned on his crooked stick and inquired with a kind smile:

"Why have you come, my daughters?"

"Well, we were curious to see this fine ark," Penny replied. "We picked up one of your floating blue bottles with a message in it."

"Blessed are they that heed the warnings of the Lord," murmured Old Noah.

"I, his servant, have prepared a place of refuge for all who come."

By this time rain was falling steadily, and Louise huddled against a tree trunk for protection. "Penny, for Pete's Sake--" she protested.

"Follow me, my daughters," bade Old Noah, motioning for them to cross the gangplank into the ark. "Inside you will find food and shelter."

"We could use a little shelter," said Penny, glancing questioningly at her chum. "How about it, Lou? Shall we go inside and meet the animals?"

Louise hesitated, for in truth she was a bit afraid of the queer old man.

"Come, my daughters," Noah bade again. "Have no fear. The Lord sayeth, 'Noah, with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt enter into the ark.'"

"We'll drown if we stay outside," laughed Penny, following boldly after the old man. "Come on, Louise."

Unmindful of the falling rain, Noah stooped to pick up a bedraggled kitten from underfoot.

"It's a very nice boat," Penny remarked, dodging under the shelter of the roof. Louise huddled close beside her.

"A st.u.r.dy ark," agreed Old Noah proudly. "Many, many months did I labor building it. The Lord said, 'make thee an ark of gopher wood.' But of gopher wood there was none to be had. Then the Lord came to me in a dream and said, 'Noah, use anything you can find.' So I gathered timbers from the beaches, and I wrecked an abandoned cottage I found in the woods. I felled trees. And I pitched the seams within and without as the Lord bade me."

"What animals do you keep inside?" Penny inquired curiously.

"Well, mostly creatures that aren't too exacting in their needs," said Noah, perching the wet kitten on his shoulder. "The Lord sayeth two of every kind, male and female. But it wasn't practical. Some of the animals were too big to keep aboard the ark."

A disturbance from within the boat interrupted the old man's explanation.

"Excuse me, daughters, I've got to fasten Bessie in her stall," he apologized. "If I keep her waitin' she's apt to kick the ark to pieces!"

Old Noah disappeared into the lower story of the boat. Peering in the open door, the girls saw row upon row of stalls and cages. There was a sty for the pigs, a pen for the goat, a little kennel for the dog, low roosts for the fowls. The walls of the room had been whitewashed and the floor was clean.

"What a life Old Noah must lead!" Louise whispered to Penny. "Why, it must be worse than being a zoo keeper!"

In a moment the old fellow reappeared. Beckoning to the girls, he led them up a little flight of stairs to the second floor of the ark.

"This is my bird room," he said, opening a door.

"h.e.l.lo, Noah!" croaked a brilliantly colored parrot, fluttering on her perch. "You old rascal! Polly wants a slug o' rum!"

Noah glanced quickly at the girls. "I am humble and ashamed," he apologized. "But the bird means no evil. I bought her of a sailor, who, I fear had wandered from the ways of righteousness."

Placing a drink of water near the parrot, the old man directed attention to a cage containing a pair of doves.

"When the flood waters recede, I shall send these birds forth from a window of the ark," he explained. "If they return with a branch of a bush or any green thing, then I shall know that the Lord no longer is angry."

"How long do you imagine it will rain?" Louise asked absently, staring out the little round window.

"Forty days and forty nights," answered Old Noah. Taking a bag of seed, he began to feed the chirping birds. "While your stay here may be somewhat confining, you will find my ark st.u.r.dy and snug."