"Oh, dear! Listen!" cried Nellie. "Suppose one of the trees should come down on the autos!"

"That is what I was afraid of," added her mother. "I think we had better get out of here."

"All right, if you say so," answered d.i.c.k. "I was only thinking about the awful wind. It's going to hit us pretty hard when we get out on the open road."

The automobiles had drawn up side by side, so that those in one machine could converse with those in the other. Now d.i.c.k started up one of the touring cars and was followed a minute later by Tom, at the wheel of the other automobile.

Once in the open air, those in the machines realized how furiously the wind was blowing and how heavily the rain was descending. The automobiles fairly shook and shivered in the blasts, and despite their efforts to keep themselves dry all those in the automobiles were speedily drenched. The downpour was so heavy that the landscape on all sides was completely blotted out.

"Oh, d.i.c.k! what in the world shall we do?" gasped Dora, and it was plainly to be seen that she was badly frightened.

"I'd turn in somewhere if I only knew where," answered her husband, trying his best to peer through the rain-spattered wind-shield. "I don't see anything like a house anywhere around, do you?"

"No, I can't see a thing."

d.i.c.k was running along cautiously, and now, of a sudden, he put on the brakes. Just ahead of him had appeared a flood of water, and how deep it was there was no telling.

"Listen!" cried Mrs. Stanhope, when the automobile had come to a standstill. "Did I hear somebody calling?"

Scarcely had she spoken when there came another vivid flash of lightning followed by more thunder, and then a downpour heavier than ever. As the lightning flashed out d.i.c.k was surprised to see a girl splashing through the water on the road and running toward them.

"Look! Look!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Unless I am mistaken it's Ada Waltham!"

"It is! It is!" exclaimed Dora. "What in the world is she doing out alone in such a downpour as this!"

As the girl on the road came closer to the touring car d.i.c.k threw up one of the curtains, opened the door, and sprang out to meet her.

"Oh, Mr. Rover!" gasped Ada Waltham, "is it really you? How fortunate!

Won't you please help me?"

"What's wrong?" he demanded quickly.

"Chester! He's lost!"

"Lost! Where?"

"He tried to cross the river yonder in the storm, and the bridge broke and let the automobile down. I managed to save myself and jumped ash.o.r.e, but he was carried off by the torrent." The rich girl clasped her hands nervously. "Oh, please save him, Mr. Rover! Please do!"

By this time the second automobile had come up, and d.i.c.k waved to Tom to stop. Seeing that something was wrong, Tom quickly alighted, followed by Sam.

"What's wrong?" came from both of the new arrivals, as they gazed at Ada Waltham in astonishment.

"Miss Waltham says her brother is lost--that he has been carried off in the flood of yonder river," answered d.i.c.k.

"Oh, please hurry!" burst out the girl eagerly. "Please hurry, or it will be too late! I don't think Chester can swim."

"All right, we'll tell the others where we are going and then we'll do what we can," answered d.i.c.k. "But if that flood is very strong we may have----"

d.i.c.k was unable to finish his speech. Just then there came more lightning followed by a deafening crash of thunder. Then the very heavens seemed to open, to let down a torrent of water which seemed to fairly engulf them.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" came from the women and the girls. "Oh! what a terrible storm!"

"It is a cloudburst! That's what it is!" gasped Sam.

"You're right!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tom. "Look! See how the water in the river is rising! It's a cloudburst and a flood!"

Tom was right--there had been a cloudburst, but fortunately not directly over the heads of our friends, otherwise they might have perished in the terrible downpour which immediately followed. The catastrophe had occurred at a point about a mile farther up the river, and now the waters from this flood were coming down with great swiftness and rising higher and higher every instant.

"We've got to get out of here," was Sam's comment. Already they were standing in water up to their ankles. "We've got to find higher ground."

"Oh, Sam! Sam! please don't let my brother drown!" pleaded Ada Waltham, catching him by the arm.

"We'll do what we can to save him, Ada, but we've got to save ourselves first," he answered.

"See! there is a little hill ahead," came from d.i.c.k, as he did his best to look through the rain, which was coming down as heavily as ever. "Let us run to the top of the rise, then we'll be in less danger from the flood if the river gets much higher." He turned to the distracted girl.

"Come, you had better go with us, then we will see what we can do for your brother."

"Oh, d.i.c.k! d.i.c.k! If you don't hurry we'll be swept away, sure!" cried Dora, and then made room so that Ada might get in beside her.

In a moment more the three Rovers had re-entered the touring cars, and then the machines were sent forward through the water, which was now nearly a foot deep on the roadway.

"Oh! I never saw such a storm in my life," was Mrs. Laning's comment.

"If only we get out of this alive!" breathed Mrs. Stanhope. Being naturally a very nervous woman, she was on the verge of a collapse.

Running with care through the swirling water that covered the roadway, they at length reached a rise of ground several feet above the flood.

Here they stopped at the highest point they could gain, bringing the machines side by side.

When the storm had started in earnest the three Rovers had donned their raincoats. Now, with rain caps pulled well down over their heads, they once more alighted.

"If you can show us where your auto went into the river we'll see if we can locate your brother," announced d.i.c.k to Ada Waltham. "Maybe he got out and is walking somewhere around here," he added, by way of encouragement.

"Oh, dear! I'm so nervous I can scarcely stand!" gasped the girl, and when she reached the ground they had to support her.

Splashing along through the water that covered the roadway, they slowly progressed until they gained a point where the youths felt it would be impossible for Ada Waltham to go any farther.

"There is what is left of the bridge over yonder," cried the girl, pointing with her hand.

The Rovers looked in that direction and saw a few sticks of timber sticking out of the swirling waters, which were running down stream as turbulently as ever.

"I don't think there is any use of looking for Chester around that bridge," was Tom's remark. "Most likely he was carried down stream--how far there is no telling. I think the best thing we can do is to take a look farther down."

"That is just my opinion," returned his older brother. "I think you had better return to the autos. It won't do any good for you to remain out in this storm," he continued to the girl.

When the party got back to the cars they found a farmer and his grown son standing by the machines.

"I was just telling the ladies you had better run your automobiles up to my place," said the farmer. "It's about ten or fifteen feet higher than this, and, consequently, just so much safer. Besides, the ladies can come into the house."