CHAPTER VIII
A THRILLING RESCUE
"Where are you going, Frank?"
"Oh, out for a walk. Want to come along, Andy?"
"Sure; there's no fun sitting here, and it's too hot to study. What do you say to a row on the river?"
"I'm with you. Let's get some of the other fellows."
"Most of our crowd have gone over to the golf game at Fuller Academy," said Andy, for that amusement had suddenly come into vogue at one of the institutions of learning near Riverview, though the lads at the latter place had not taken it up.
Still, many of them liked to see golf played, and as there was a match on at Fuller, a number of the closer chums of our heroes had gone to it. Frank and Andy had a late lecture which they could not "cut," and so could not attend. Now, however, their study period had arrived, and they were free to do as they liked.
"Let's see if Billy Chase is in his room," suggested Andy, as they passed the dormitory where the Freshmen roomed. But Billy was out, as his fellow-lodger informed the callers.
"Then we'll have to go rowing by ourselves," said Frank.
"I wonder what we'll do this summer?" ventured Andy, when they had pulled some distance up stream. They generally did this, so they could come back with the current, which was strong in the Spring of the year.
"Oh, I guess we'll have to wait and see what dad and mother plan," came from Frank. "They'll likely go to Harbor View again."
"I'm a bit tired of the shore," remarked Andy. "I like clams and lobsters as well as anyone, but I'd prefer a change this summer. That time we spent in the Maine woods just suited me."
"The same here, only we don't want to go to a lumber camp in the summer—in fact, I guess there isn't much doing there at that time of year."
"No, I expect not; but still I vote we don't go to the shore."
"We won't if we can help it. But at the same time we had good fun at Harbor View."
"We sure did," chimed in Andy. "Do you remember when the whale rushed at us?"
"Yes, and what a job we had, with Bob Trent, in getting it ashore."
"And how those fishermen tried to claim it?"
"Yes, and then the time we had finding out who Paul Gale was."
"That was great," agreed the younger lad. "I was hoping we'd have some excitement here, after that mysterious man attacked Billy, but it seems to have died out."
"Yes," agreed Frank. "I haven't seen anything more of him. Guess he's vamoosed."
"Has Billy said anything more to you about his uncle's business?"
"No. I reckon he told us all he could. He sure is a nice fellow—Billy, I mean. I like him better every day."
"So do I," added the other brother, and for some time they rowed on, talking of their chums, and the various happenings at school and elsewhere.
As they rounded a bend in the stream, Andy, casting a look over his shoulder to get the proper course, uttered an exclamation.
"What's the matter?" asked Frank. "Is the current too much for you? It is stronger than I've known it in some time."
"No, it wasn't that, but there's a fellow sitting out on the dead limb of that old, rotten sycamore tree, fishing right over that swift eddy."
"So he is," agreed Frank, looking toward the place where the school lads often went to catch fine fish.
The fishing hole was generally a good spot to pull out the finny prizes, but now the river was swollen with the Spring rains and the water was deep, swirling about in a dangerous pool where the stream backed up around a cut in the bank to make an eddy.
"That fellow'd better look out," went on Andy. "That limb is half cracked through. I know, for I went out on it for a dive last year, and it almost gave way with me. I told the fellows about it, and they've since kept off. He'd better look out."
"Call to him, and warn him," suggested Frank.
"I will," said his brother, and he was just about to raise his voice in a shout when he cried:
"Why, it's Billy Chase!"
"So it is," came from Frank. "He's got an old suit on, and I didn't recognize him. Hi, Billy!" he yelled. "You'd better get off that——"
But that was as far as Frank got. For Billy, looking up, had recognized his friends in the boat. He waved a welcome to them, and the next instant the rotten limb, astride of which he sat over the deep eddy, gave way with a crack, letting him fall into the river with a mighty splash.
"There he goes!" cried Frank.
"Pull! Pull!" yelled Andy. "Maybe he can't swim, and if he gets tangled in the branches he'll drown!"
"Oh, sure he can swim," declared Frank; "but we'll pull up to him, just the same."
"We're coming!" shouted Andy, and he looked over his shoulder, but he could not see his friend. "He's gone under!" yelled the younger Racer lad.
"By Jove! So he has!" gasped Frank. "But he'll come up again! Pull for all you're worth, Andy!"
The brothers bent to the oars and soon they had swept from the current of the river into the quieter waters of the eddy. But even there, because of the swollen stream, it was no easy pulling.
"There's the broken limb!" cried Andy, as it swirled up into view, having been sucked down under the surface.
"And there are Billy's legs!" added Frank. "Look! his trousers are caught on a sharp, broken limb, and he's being held head down!"
"Sure enough!" cried Andy.
"Lively!" yelled his brother. "We've got to get him up quick, or he'll be drowned! You manage the boat, Andy, and I'll see what I can do."
Frank unshipped his oars, and Andy bent his strength against that of the current, to hold the boat near the drifting branch, around which the luckless lad's legs were tangled.
"Cut him loose! Cut him loose! Use your knife!" cried Andy, as he saw his brother vainly endeavoring to disentangle the hem of the trousers from the sharp projection.
"Right, oh!" cried Frank, as he whipped out his keen-bladed knife. In another instant he had cut the cloth. Instantly Billy's feet and legs disappeared beneath the surface of the eddy.
"He—he's gone!" faltered Andy.
"He had to put his legs down to get his head up," said Frank. "Look out for him when——"
He did not have time to say more, for, at that instant, the body of Billy shot up head foremost, floating clear of the entangling branch.
"Grab him!" yelled Andy, but his brother did not need the advice. Leaning over, he caught the half-conscious form of the Western lad, just as Billy was sinking again.
"Can you pull him in alone?" cried Andy, who was still laboring at the oars.
"Yes, you keep the boat steady. I don't want an upset," responded his brother, and he got a firmer grip on his chum's wet clothing. Then with a mighty heave, pulling him over the bow of the craft, Frank got the half-drowned lad out of the water.