e flood somewhere up the creek. They are warning us to get out
of the way."

The boys instinctively turned to look behind, but the first glance
revealed no cause for alarm.

"All right so far," cried Randy. "The current seems to be getting
swifter though, and I actually believe the water is rising."

He had hardly spoken when Ned uttered a startled cry. "Look! look! there
it comes!"

Around the sharp curve above swept a sloping volume of water, yellow
with mud and foam, black with timber and uprooted trees. It came on with
a rush and a swelling roar, and as the frightened boys watched it with
terrible fascination, a section of a wooden bridge painted red hove in
sight.

The imminence of the danger drove the Jolly Rovers into a helpless
panic. Even Ned was frightened out of his self possession.

The right shore was the nearest, and the boys paddled for it with
furious strokes, not remembering for an instant that it offered the
least chance of safety. The swift current whirled the canoes down stream
for nearly a hundred yards before it would suffer them to glide into the
calmer waters along the bank.

Randy and Clay, being on the outer side, had more to overcome, and were
swept beyond their companions. Ned and Nugget drifted against a
precipitous wall of rock that rose twenty feet before its surface was
broken by the tree or brush.

They looked hopelessly around them, vainly seeking a chance of escape,
while louder and louder in their ears sounded the hissing roar of the
oncoming flood. At the base of the cliff the water was already boiling
and tossing.

CHAPTER XXXIII

AN UNDERGROUND CRUISE

"Paddle on, quick!" cried Ned in an agony of fear. "We may reach a break
in the cliff."

Nugget, who was half a canoe's length in advance had sufficiently
presence of mind to obey. He paddled off with desperate strokes, and Ned
crowded him closely.

A few yards down stream the wall of rock jutted out slightly and then
receded. As the canoes rounded this a great heaving wave--the vanguard
of the flood--tossed them high on its crest and cast them, like a stone
from a catapult, straight toward a black, semi-circular hole in the base
of the cliff. A furious current swept in the same direction, and even
had the boys realized the nature of this new peril they could have done
nothing to help themselves.

Nugget dropped his paddle with a cry of terror and clutched the combing.
The next instant he shot into the gap