ted victims.

"Can't swim to the shore, that's sure. I suppose we'll just have to slip
in again and make another turn of it. Thank goodness! the bottom of the
old rapids is in sight, and as Bluff and Reddy have picked up our boat
and the paddle, they could turn their hands at life saving when we came
bobbing along."

"Hold on! Don't be rash, Jerry!" called Frank.

"Well, have you got anything better to say about it--any bright scheme
to propose that offers to soften the blow?" demanded the other, pausing
in his movement toward slipping off his unstable seat.

"I've just thought of something," answered Frank.

"Good for you, then. I guess I'm too badly rattled just now, for once,
to do much thinking. What's the game, Frank?"

"Why not let Reddy and his reliable old rope come into play again?"

"Say! we'll have to beg or buy that clothesline from Reddy when we go
away from here, and hang it up in our clubroom, as the most valuable
asset we have. Without it what would become of us, eh? Talk about your
trained nurses! That fellow is a whole hospital to the tenderfoot crowd.
Call to him, please, and enlist his sympathy in the noble cause of
yanking us in out of the wet."

So Frank did shout to the cowboy, who, having beached the two boats
below the rapids, was hurrying up the shore. Mr. Mabie, too, had joined
Will, so that presently the entire balance of the little party had
gathered opposite.

Reddy entered into the game with spirit. He seemed to believe that these
tragic occurrences must have just happened to give him a chance to show
his skill in launching his rope.

"Jerry first, please!" called Frank.

"And why? Is it because I'm more valuable, or better-looking?" demanded
Jerry.

"Oh, perhaps I want the pleasure of seeing how you look as you flounder
through the rapids; and then, again, I may pick up a few points as to
how _not_ to do it."

"Tell me about that, will you! Some people have all the nerve!" shouted
Jerry, for the rushing water made so much noise that an ordinary call
could not have been heard.

Nevertheless, he accepted the flying noose that came shooting straight
toward him, placed it under his arms, made sure that his gun was still
fast to his back, and then fearlessly dropped off his perch.

There was considerable floundering on the part of the swimmer, much
straining among the others who manipulated the rope, after which Jerry
was assisted up the bank. His first act, after coughing u