CHAPTER VII
TO THE RESCUE
"Look! Look!" cried Andy.
"He's drowning!" yelled another of the excited lads on the bank.
"Must have been taken with a cramp!" exclaimed Jack.
"And the others are either too much occupied in saving themselves, or they don't know he's gone down!" added Frank. While he was speaking he was rapidly divesting himself of his shoes and his heavier articles of clothing.
"Where are you going?" demanded Andy.
"To save him of course!"
Frank plunged into the river and with long, even strokes headed for the spot where the unfortunate oarsman had gone down. By this time the others had succeeded in getting a hold on the overturned shell.
A moment later they seemed aware that one of their number was missing, and after some excited shouts and calls the lad nearest the bow of the shell let go and dived, evidently with the intention of bringing up his comrade.
"He's too far to the left," commented Andy in a low voice. "Frank stands a better chance of getting him."
"I wonder why some of the others don't go after him?" remarked Jack. "What's the matter with them?"
"Maybe they're afraid of getting cramps, too," suggested Ward. "They might take a chance, though."
"There the fellow comes up who dived down," exclaimed Andy. "He couldn't locate him."
"Yes, and there's the fellow who had a cramp!" cried Ward, pointing some distance away from the slowly drifting shell. A body shot into view. A hand and arm were raised in a mute appeal for help, and then the lad went down for the second time. But the current of the river was carrying him toward Frank, who was swimming strongly.
The elder Racer lad had seen the boy rise, and changed his course accordingly. A little later, he, too, disappeared from sight.
"Frank's gone!" gasped Jack.
"Not him," said Andy confidently. "Frank can swim like a fish on top or under the water. Once he stayed under two full minutes. He's probably taken a deep dive. Watch and you'll see him come up!"
Eagerly the lads on the shore watched. It seemed like many minutes but in reality it was only a few seconds before Frank reappeared.
"He hasn't got him!" cried Ward.
"Then he'll go down again," said Andy grimly, and Frank did. Meanwhile the lads on the shell were helplessly clinging there. They saw Frank's brave efforts and realized that he was more expert than any of them.
"There he comes!" was the excited cry raised in a chorus by the three on the bank as Frank shot up from the water and encircled in one arm was the helpless and limp form of the half-drowned lad. There came a faint cheer from those on the shell, toward which Frank struck out.
"It won't do him any good when he does get there," said Andy excitedly. "They can't right it and put that chap aboard. We ought to go out in a boat. Isn't there any at the boathouse, fellows?"
"A couple of old ones I guess," answered Jack. "Come on, let's look."
They were not far from the ruin that passed for a boathouse, and as they approached they saw a fairly-good boat drawn up on the shore.
"That will do!" cried Andy. "That wasn't here the day we came."
"No, that belongs to Bill Spalter, who does odd jobs around the school," hurriedly explained Ward. "I guess you can take it."
Andy began shoving off the craft.
"You come with me, Jack," he said. "That's about all it will hold," he added to Ward, who nodded comprehendingly.
With strong strokes the two lads pulled toward where Frank was swimming with his burden. Shouts from those on the shell told him someone was coming to the rescue and Frank turned to where they pointed back of him, and swam to meet his brother.
"He's pretty far gone, but I guess we can bring him around," panted the elder Racer lad, as he helped Andy and Jack get the rescued one into the boat. "Get ashore as fast as you can," he added as he himself clambered in.
It was fortunate that Frank and Andy knew the rules for reviving partially drowned persons. They worked vigorously over the unconscious lad when they reached the platform about the boathouse, and soon had most of the water out of his lungs. Then they tried artificial respiration.
"This is like the time when we rescued Paul," said Andy, referring to their summer spent at Harbor View.
"Don't talk—work," advised Frank. And they did work to such advantage that in a little while the rescued one opened his eyes.
"He's all right now," said Frank, with a sigh of relief. "But it was a close call. He had a bad cramp."
"Where are the others?" asked the lad faintly.
"They're all right," answered Jack. "They've got the shell ashore now and righted. They'll be here for you soon."
"You fellows are all right!" declared the lad who had been so near death. "Crawford is my name, Tom Crawford. I'm from Waterside."
"We're from Riverview," spoke Jack, and he named himself and his companions. "Are you all right now?"
"I guess so—yes, I'm all right," and Tom Crawford, who seemed to be a manly young chap, proved his words by walking about. "A little weak in the legs," he confessed with a smile.
"We can row you to your school," suggested Frank, "though this boat isn't very good."
"Oh, no, thanks, I wouldn't think of troubling you. I can walk, I guess."
"You won't have to. Here comes the shell after you," said Andy. "How did you come to upset?"
"It was my fault, I guess. I don't pull a very good stroke yet. You see we're only the freshman crew, but some of the fellows are better than I. I caught a crab, when we were trying to avoid an old boat, and we went over. Then I got a cramp. But it was bully of you to come out and get me," he added, taking Frank's hand in a firm clasp. "I'll never forget it. You saved my life."
"Pshaw! Any one would have done it," said Frank.
There were more thanks and congratulations from the other members of the freshman eight when they reached what passed as the landing stage for the Riverview boathouse. Frank and Andy, though, noticed that there was something of a coldness between their two chums and the other school lads.
"What's the reason for that?" asked Frank when the shell had been rowed away, after renewed thanks on the part of Tom Crawford. "Why, aren't you friendly with those fellows?"
"Well, they've always been our rivals," explained Jack. "There is considerable jealous feeling I guess, just as there is between us and Milton Academy. That's another school farther up the river. You see we used to play both of them on the diamond and gridiron, as well as race them on the river. But of late years there has been nothing of that sort."
"It ought to be changed," declared Frank, and, though the others agreed with him, they saw no way of bringing it about.
"Well, it's getting late and we'd better be getting back to school," said Jack, after a pause. "I should think you'd want to change your togs, Frank."
"I do. I'm a pretty looking sight, I guess. Come on."
As Frank was going to his room, he met in the corridor Professor Callum. The crabbed instructor looked at the wet figure, scowled and rasped out:
"Well, what have you been doing? Falling in the river?"
"I went in to save a lad who had a cramp," explained Frank.
"Humph! Well I want to tell you one thing, Mr. Racer. I don't allow students to dirty up this dormitory. I'm in charge I'd have you know, and the next time you get wet change your clothes before you come in here. We can't be paying janitors to clean after you boys all the while."
Frank said nothing, but kept on to his room.
"Nice pleasant sort of a man; isn't he?" observed Andy grimly.
"Sort of that way," admitted his brother sarcastically.