Danny Orlis Goes to School
Read Danny Orlis Goes to School Online
Authors: Bernard Palmer
Tags: #teens, #high school, #childrens fiction, #christian fiction, #christian testimony, #choices and consequences
by
Bernard Palmer
Illustrated by David Miles
P. O. Box 1099 ⢠Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37133
(800) 251-4100 ⢠(615) 893-6700 ⢠FAX (615) 848-6943
Copyright 1955 by
The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago
Reprinted 2009 with
Permission of Marge Palmer by
Sword of the Lord Publishers
Distributed by Smashwords
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (printed, written, photocopied, electronic, audio or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.
All Scripture quotations are from the King James Bible.
Chapter One - DANGER IN THE SKY
Chapter Two - DANNY'S DISCOVERY
Chapter Four - AN ASSIGNMENT FOR THE YOUNG WOODSMAN
Chapter Five - GETTING ACQUAINTED
Chapter Seven - A DIFFICULT PROMISE TO KEEP
Chapter Nine - THE CABIN ON THE MOUNTAIN
Chapter Ten - THE CALL FOR HELP
Chapter Eleven - AN SOS FROM A WRECKED PLANE
Chapter Thirteen - DANNY PRAYS FOR COURAGE
Chapter Fourteen - LARRY'S PLEA
Chapter Fifteen - DYNAMITE DAN
Chapter Sixteen - DANNY'S PROMISE
Chapter Seventeen - BUFF'S REBUKE
Chapter Eighteen - A GOOD TURN FOR A FRIEND
Chapter Nineteen - TEMPTATION RESISTED
Chapter Twenty - MISSION COMPLETED
He can't land with that float the way it is!
Don't be a fool. You're coming in to see this movie, or I'll know the reason why!
Listen! Somebody's sending Morse code!
Larry took a step toward Danny, his fist drawn back menacingly.
People were in that plane that crashed last night because of you!
Larry was below them about forty feet on a two-foot wide ledge.
You boys really gave us a rough time.
Larry's always getting into some kind of trouble.
That's the price we have to pay for sin.
Danny sat without moving while the others filed out.
I
T
was early morning in northern Minnesota, and the Lake of the Woods was just stirring back into life at the beginning of a new day. It mirrored out from the Orlis dock like a pane of glass, unbroken except for the rippling wake of a lone mallard duck swimming silently past. From across the muskeg a loon called to his mate, and from somewhere deep in the forest, behind the Orlis cabin, came the weirdly human cry of a lynx.
Danny Orlis slipped quietly out of the house, without waking his folks, and walked slowly down to the dock. It wouldn't be long until the forests would become a blaze of color and then drop their splendor to huddle nakedly in the snow.
Danny looked over the scene he loved so well, drinking in the quiet beauty, enjoying once more the morning hush on the northwest Angle. He dropped to one knee beside his faithful dog and ran his fingers through Laddie's soft hair.
"You see, fella," he explained, "we don't have school up here any higher than the eighth grade and...and you wouldn't want me to grow up to be a...a dummy, would you?"
It wouldn't be so bad, he told himself, if he could go some place where he knew someone, where he wouldn't have to be alone. But the Warroad School was so crowded there wasn't a chance of getting in there, and Iron Mountain, Colorado, where his aunt and uncle lived, was so far away that his folks didn't want him to go that far alone. He sighed deeply. That left only the boarding school down at Redlands where he was enrolled. It was small wonder that he felt weak and sick inside.
He straightened quickly and threw a stick out into the placid water. With a yelp of excitement Laddie plunged into the creek and swam determinedly toward it.
Just then Mrs. Orlis came to the cabin door and called, "Danny, come to breakfast!"
From his perch just outside the back door Danny's talking crow, Blackie, called, "Breakfast! Danny! Breakfast! Breakfast!"
The young woodsman grinned. "Come on, Laddie," he called, turning toward the cabin.
Carl Orlis, Danny's dad, who was usually laughing and joking, was strangely quiet during breakfast. When they finished eating, he reached for the big family Bible that lay on the desk just behind him, and opening it to the regular place, began to read.
They were just finishing their devotions when there was a knock at the back door, and Jimmy Baxter, who lived in the cabin just behind the Orlises, came in. He was a tall, thin lad with a scattering of freckles across his nose and a shock of sandy hair that was almost red.
"Hi," Danny said, pushing back from the table.
"Hi," his friend grunted, shifting from one foot to another nervously. He too was strangely solemn. "Thought maybe you'd like to go fishing this morning."
"Sure thing," Danny answered, "just as soon as I get my work done."
For a while, out fishing along Little McCoy Island, Danny forgot about having to leave the lake country to go away to school. The walleyes were biting, and he and Jimmy had located a big school.
"Boy, look at that string!" Jimmy cried excitedly. "I'll bet you won't be able to catch fish like this down at Redlands."
The smile fled from Danny's face.
"I...I'm sorry," his friend replied.
"That's all right," the young woodsman answered. "To tell you the truth, I was thinking the same thing myself."
Danny laid aside his rod and reel and looked out over the quiet, shimmering lake as though he could never get enough of looking at it.
"You know, Jimmy," he said at last, "I've never told anyone else about this, but whenever I think of going to school at Redlands, I get weak and cold all over."
At that moment the low, monotonous hum of a plane interrupted them. Danny turned, shielding his eyes with his hands, as he tried to spot it. There were a good many planes in the Lake of the Woods country, especially small ones, but he always stopped whatever he was doing to watch them.
"He's probably going to Kenora," Jimmy said. "Acts more like he's headed this way."
For a couple of minutes they watched the sleek aluminum craft. Then Danny noticed something wrong.
"Look!" he cried.
One landing float was securely in place, but the other dangled uselessly from the landing gear.
"Look!" he cried again. "He can never land with that float the way it is!"
Jimmy's eyes bugged wide.
"We've got to signal him!" Danny exclaimed.
With a prayer on his lips he tore off his shirt, stood in the boat, and began to wave it frantically.
Hurriedly Jimmy did the same. "But he can't land anyway, Danny!" he exclaimed. "When the plane hits the water, he'll be drowned."
Danny did not answer. His heart was a lump of ice, and his breath was coming in short, quick gasps.
"O God," he prayed, "help us to save that man in the plane!"
He can't land with that float the way it is!
"
L
OOK!
" Danny cried, his heart choking in his throat. "He's going on! He didn't see us!"
The plane was indeed headed away from them. It was already over the wide expanse of the Canadian mainland, headed north into that vast region that was without roads or towns.
"He's gone," Jimmy said dismally.
Almost at that very instant the plane banked to the right. The boys sucked in their breath sharply. Maybeâsure enough! He was! The plane swung about and headed straight toward them, cutting speed and dropping lower and lower over the water.
The pilot banked sharply around them, so close that the boys could see his tousled hair and leather jacket. A second time he circled them, and a third, while the boys kept waving and motioning to him.
The plane gained a little altitude, circled until it was headed into the wind, then began to glide toward the water, the flaps down and the speed so slow it seemed to hang in the air.
"He's going to land!" Danny exclaimed.
With a prayer in his heart the young woodsman leaped into action! He jerked the starter rope on the big outboard motor. It responded with a roar. The sudden lurch as the prow of the boat raised out of the water almost sent Jimmy sprawling across the seats.
There wasn't a moment to lose! Danny headed straight toward the path of the plane, veered just enough so the pilot would know he wasn't going to crash into the plane, and came around in a shower of spray.
The plane made a good landing, but the instant the dangling float touched, it thrust crazily into the water. The light craft shuddered from nose to tail and heeled over before the startled pilot realized what was happening. The knife-like wing plowed deeply into the lake; the propeller stopped with a sputtering cough; and the plane began to settle back into the water.
Danny had the big motor wide open, sending the boat skimming over the lake toward the hapless plane.
"Hurry!" Jimmy shouted breathlessly. "Hurry!"
Danny reached back and shoved hard against the throttle, but the motor was already laboring as hard as it could.
It seemed to the two boys as though it took them an hour to bring the boat alongside the rapidly sinking craft, but actually it was only a matter of seconds. Danny missed the tail assembly by inches and stopped expertly at the cabin door.
"Come on!" the young woodsman cried to the pilot, standing in the boat and reaching for the door. "Hurry!"
The door was a little out of reach, but Jimmy grabbed an oar and manipulated the boat close enough for Danny to grasp the latch. Somehow they managed to get the door open. Danny gasped when he saw the pilot, face ashen white, sprawled half out of the seat, a big knot rising on his forehead.
"Help me, Jimmy!" he gritted, grasping the pilot beneath the armpits and pulling him.
The plane lurched suddenly and slipped another six or eight inches into the water as both boys scrambled to lift the unconscious pilot out of the plane cabin. As they dropped the injured man heavily into the bottom of the boat, the plane pitched again and slid silently beneath the water.