are getting
pretty well soaked anyway."

The wind was blowing so furiously the cadets had all they could do to
hold their capes tight around their shoulders as they progressed. More
lightning lit up the sky, and then they heard the fall of another tree
some distance away.

"It's going to be a humdinger of a storm," remarked Andy.

"Yes, and I'd give as much as two nickels to be safe back at the Hall,"
came from Fred. The constant thunder and lightning was beginning to get
on the smallest youth's nerves.

Presently the four Rovers caught sight of the river through the trees.
The stream, which at this point was nothing more than a mountain
torrent, boiled and foamed as it dashed over the rocks.

"It certainly is getting high," said Jack, as all paused for a moment to
catch their breath. "I can't remember having seen it like this before."

"Just look at the stuff coming down, will you?" remarked Fred. "There is
a whole lot of good firewood going to waste."

"I guess some one will pick it up by the time it reaches the lake,
Fred," said Randy. "There are a lot of poor people down at Haven Point
who get all their Winter firewood from this river."

"Yes, but it's not all driftwood," broke in Jack. "A good deal of the
timber is cut up in the woods and then floated down. That is quite an
industry among some of the old settlers up there."

The four cadets did not pause very long to survey the scene. Their one
idea was to find some sort of shelter from the storm; and with this in
view they hurried on parallel to the watercourse until they came to the
point of rocks commonly known as the Bend. Here the side of the river on
which they were located arose to a height of from twenty to thirty feet.
In one place there was a sheer rocky wall, but at other places the rocks
were much broken up, and consequently, irregular.

"There is the shelter I had in mind," said Fred, pointing with his hand.
"Come on; I think it will be just the place to get out of this storm."

"Any kind of a shelter will be better than standing out here," answered
Randy, and he and Fred set off on a wild scramble over the slippery
rocks with the others following.

"Be careful that you don't sprain an ankle or break a leg," warned Jack.

"Gee! a fellow would have to be a regular grasshopper to jump over these
rocks," grumbled Randy, and he had scarcely uttered the words when he
slipped down, landing with a thump on his chest.

"Hurt?" queried Jack qui