"There is Nat now!"

"Whatever is he doing?" queried Ben.

"Swimming ashore, or trying to wade," answered Sam.

The boys on the shore came down to the water's edge and watched Nat
Poole with interest. He was floundering around in water up to his waist.
Sometimes he would come up on a rock, and then slip and pitch headlong.
But he kept on, until he was but a few yards away.

"Hi, Nat! what's the matter?" called out Phil. "Did you fall overboard?"

"Hel--help me!" chattered the unfortunate one, and now the others
realized that he was suffering greatly from the cold. "Don--don't let
m--me--g-g-g--go down!"

"We'll help you!" answered Phil, promptly, and ran out on some dry rocks
to a point close to poor Nat. "Come, give me your hand and I'll pull you
up."

"So will I," added Ben, who had come behind the shipowner's son.

The suffering youth was only too glad to have somebody come to his aid,
and he put up both hands, and those on the rocks hauled him up and then
aided him to get to a safe spot on shore. He was shivering from head to
feet, and his teeth chattered so that he could hardly speak.

"I wa--want t-t-to get where it is wa-wa-warm!" chattered Nat. "That
wa--water is li--like i-i-i-ice!"

"Take off your wet coat," said Phil, kindly. "Here, you can have mine.
I've got a sweater on." And he passed over the garment.

Nat was glad enough to don something dry, and the exchange was quickly
made.

"If you'll take my advice, you'll make a run of it to the nearest
farmhouse and warm up," said Ben. "If you don't you may take your death
of cold."

"I--I wi--will," answered Nat.

"I'll go with you. There is a farmhouse just down the road a bit."

"We'll go back to where we left Dave and the others," said Phil. "They
were after your boat," he explained.

"Did th--they st--stop h-h-her?"

"I don't know. We saw her, in the river, running wild. How did it
happen?"

"I was fi--fixing the rudder li--line at the st--st--stern when all of a
su--sudden we hit a r--r--rock or something and I we--went overboard,"
answered Nat. "Before I co-could g-g-get back the b-b-boat got away
from m-m-me."

"Dave and some others went after the boat. We saw it running by itself,
among the rocks."

Nat was too cold to pay attention just then to what had become of his
property. He ran as fast as he could to the farmhouse, and there was
taken in and allowed to dry himself in front of the fire, and was given
a cup of hot tea.