oing to pass under.
Too bad that there's so much room, because it won't stick fast; so I must
drop down on the roof and grab the child. Everything depends on how you
can get me up again. It's all got to be done like a flash, you see. And
if the rope holds, I'll do my part, I promise you."

"Count on us, Max, and here's hoping you do get hold of the poor little
thing!" said Steve, who had laid his camera aside, the better to use both
hands.

They nerved themselves for the coming ordeal. Teeth were tightly
clenched, and every muscle summoned to do its full duty. Nor could the
emergency be long delayed, because that drifting wreckage of a cabin was
approaching them swiftly, borne on the wild current of the flood, and in
another ten seconds would have reached the middle of the span of the
bridge!

CHAPTER IV

A BRAVE RESCUE

They could hear shouting on the shore, though not daring to pay any
attention to it just then, lest it distract their minds from the
dangerous business they had on hand.

No doubt some one had discovered that a little child was coming
floating down on the swollen current of the river, and the startling
news was being communicated from mouth to mouth with the astonishing
celerity with which such things can travel.

Had the boys but glanced toward the bank they would have seen people
running madly to and fro, and gathering in larger clusters than ever
wherever they could get a chance to see out upon the raging waters.

Max had calculated things carefully. He did not want to make any
mistake when he clambered over the railing, because such a thing might
be fatal to whatever hope he had of rescuing the child.

They could now see plainly that it was a little boy. He was clinging
to some part of the surging roof, which seemed to be in danger of
capsizing at any moment, for it wobbled fearfully. Max prayed that it
would hold its own until he had been given a chance to do his part. He
also hoped that he would have sufficient strength in his arms to snatch
the child, and then hold him, while his chums tugged and pulled to get
them both safely up to the bridge.

As he watched the coming of the fragment of a roof, he was doing some
nice calculating, making up his mind just how he must seize upon the
one he wished to save, and allow nothing to keep him from obtaining
full possession. He had feared that the child might have been tied
there by his mother, and had such proven to be the cas