ationed. Joe had now struck bottom with his feet, and at once went
ashore.

"We must do something!" he panted. "We can't let Darry be drowned!"

"He must be caught under the branches," said Lambert. "As the tree hit
him it turned partly over. Perhaps----There is his foot!"

He pointed to the tree--and there, sure enough, was Darry's left foot,
kicking wildly above the surface of the river. Then the boy's head came
up, but only for a moment.

"Save me!" he spluttered, and immediately disappeared.

"This is awful!" groaned Joe. "Can't we throw a fishing-line over the
tree and haul it ashore?"

"A good idea!" answered Lambert. "We'll take two lines."

He caught up the fishing-tackle, and lines in hand ran along the river
bank until he was below the tree. The others followed, and helped him to
get the lines into shape. Then a quick cast was made, but the lines fell
short.

"Too bad!" came from Joe. "Quick, try once more!"

"The tree is turning over again!" shouted Biggs, and he was right. As
some other branches came into view, they beheld Darry, caught in a
crotch and held there as if in a vise.

Another cast was made, and then a third, but all in vain. Then the tree,
with its helpless victim, moved forward more rapidly than ever, in the
direction of the roaring falls, which were but a short distance off.

CHAPTER XI.

SOMETHING ABOUT DRILLING.

"Darry is lost! Nothing can save him now!"

Such was the agonizing thought which rushed through Joe's brain as he
watched the progress of the drifting tree as it moved swiftly toward the
falls of Rocky Pass River.

He knew the falls to be over thirty feet high. At the bottom was a
boiling pool which sent up a continual shower of spray. Nobody entering
that pool could survive.

Darry, too, realized his peril, and continued to call for help. Had he
been able to loosen himself he would have leaped into the water, but he
was weak and helpless, and his voice could scarcely be heard above the
rushing of the rapids.

Joe and the three soldiers continued to run along the river bank, over
rough rocks that cut their feet and through bushes which scratched them
in scores of places. At last they came out on a point directly above the
falls.

The tree still spun on, and Joe closed his eyes to shut out the sight of
what was to follow.

Suddenly Lambert let out a shout:

"The tree is caught! It has stopped moving!"

Again Joe looked, and he saw that what the sol