he knew that this was absolutely necessary when coping
with such a treacherous enemy as that moving flood.

He snatched the child up in one arm and held him almost fiercely to his
breast. If the little fellow gave utterance to any sort of cry Max
failed to hear it, though that in itself might not be so very strange,
for there were all sorts of roaring sounds in his ears just then.

Almost at the same instant he felt himself roughly plucked off his
feet, and being swung upward. His comrades were tugging at the rope
savagely, knowing that unless they were very speedy Max would find
himself engulfed in the waters; and the work of rescue be made doubly
difficult.

The rope proved equal to the terrific strain, thanks to Toby's good
judgment when selecting a braided line with which to play the role of
cow puncher and lariat thrower.

Max felt the water around his legs, but that was all, for he did not go
down any further than his knees; and yet the suction was tremendous
even at that.

He was now being slowly but surely drawn upward, and this was a task
that called for the united powers of the three who had hold of the
rope. Bandy-legs had been wise enough to wrap the end around a beam
that projected from the flooring of the bridge. He did not know what
might happen, and was determined that Max should not be swept away on
the flood, if it came to the worst.

When they had drawn their comrade far enough up so that Steve, calling
on the others to hold fast, bent down and took the child from the grasp
of Max, it was an easy matter for the latter to clamber over the rail
himself.

Steve was already holding the rescued child up so that those on shore
could see that the attempt at rescue had met with a glorious success;
for he was naturally proud of his chum's work.

A deep-throated hum broke out; it was the sound of human voices
gathering force; and then a wild salvo of cheers told that the good
people of Carson could appreciate a brave deed when they saw it, no
matter if disaster did hover over the town, and kept them shivering
with a dread of what was coming next.

Some of the more impetuous would have started to rush out on the
bridge, in order to tell Max what they thought of him; only that
several cool-headed men kept these impulsive ones back.

"Keep off!" they kept shouting, waving the crowd away; "if you rushed
out there now it would be the last straw to send the bridge loose from
its moorings. Stay where