mounted the seat again, and drew in his breath.

"Hold on, young fellar," cried Mose Hocker in a loud voice, "Don't risk
your life a second time. I kin stand the loss of that terbacker."

Randy laughed, waved his hand, and went under head foremost.

The suspense was now greater than on the previous occasion. Ned began to
count, and when the half minute expired his face grew pale.

Thirty-five--forty--three-quarters of a minute! No sign of the reckless
diver. Had some undercurrent dragged him far down in those blue depths?

When the forty-ninth second had expired a loud murmur rose from the
people on shore, and just a second later it changed to a deafening burst
of applause as Randy shot above the surface holding in his right
hand--_Mose Hacker's gun_.

His face was fairly purple for want of breath, and he had scarcely
enough strength to gain the side of the boat. He threw the gun over
first and then, with Ned's aid, rolled into the bottom, where he lay for
a moment, panting for breath.

Cheer after cheer came from shore, and the boys joined in heartily.
Randy was all right in a moment, and as Ned paddled across the creek, he
hurriedly pulled on his clothes.

When the boat landed by the rocks such a scene ensued as no pen can
describe. The men crowded about Randy with eager congratulations, and
fairly pumped his arms off.

Mose Hocker snatched the gun and waved it triumphantly before Daddy
Perkiss.

"What do you think of that?" he cried. "The lad brought it clean up from
the bottom of Rudy's hole. I'll take that ten pounds of terbacker,
Daddy, as soon as you please."

"Shoo, now! thar's some trick about the thing," mumbled the old man
petulantly. "You can't make me believe that Rudy's Hole ain't two or
three hundred feet deep."

"But here's the gun to prove it," said Mose, "an' we all saw the lad
bring it up. Let him speak for himself, and say whether he touched
bottom or not."

"Of course I touched bottom," returned Randy with a slight shiver at the
recollection. "It was the biggest dive I ever made. The water must be
fifteen or twenty feet deep. It's not any more than that, though. I
thought I'd never come to the top the second time. I was just ready to
burst when I found the gun, and the weight of it kept me from coming up
rapidly."

Daddy heard the lad through, and then, with a contemptuous sniff, he
rose and hobbled up the path.

"Don't forgit the terbacker," Mose Hocker shouted after him.

The