ack quickly.

"We'll be as safe as you'll be," returned Fred.

All went up the river a short distance so that they might not be carried
past the spot where the man and the boy were located. Then they struck
out bravely for the place where the logs were jammed in a heap. Some of
the sticks seemed to have been cut for railroad ties, while others
looked like fence rails, and there were not less than two dozen of them
in a jumble among the jagged rocks.

In a few seconds the cadets found themselves in this jam with the
furious current of the river trying to sweep them to one side or the
other. But they held fast, and as rapidly as possible loosened one log
or rail after another.

"Look out there!" yelled Andy presently, and all heeded his warning.
Then several of the logs bobbed up and went flying down the river.

This released the log holding the man and the boy, and the pair came up
spluttering.

"Do you think you can swim ashore?" questioned Jack.

"I guess I can make it," answered the man somewhat weakly. "Look after
my kid, will you?"

"We sure will!" answered Jack.

With Fred and Andy beside him, the man struck out for the shore, and all
were soon carried down the stream and under the rocky bluff. In the
meanwhile, Jack and Randy did what they could to aid the boy, and then
followed the others.

The swiftly flowing current of the Rick Rack carried the entire party
well past the overhanging rocks and then onward to a point where the
river widened considerably. Here they managed to get a footing.

"Thank fortune we are out of that!" exclaimed Fred, as he and the others
made their way over the sand and rocks and through the bushes to where
there was a grassy slope backed up by a number of trees.

"It was a mighty close shave for me and my kid," returned the man. "I
thought sure at one time we would be drowned."

"And we would have been if it hadn't been for these fellows coming to
save us," added the boy gratefully, and he shot an admiring glance at
the four dripping cadets.

"Are you soldier boys?" questioned the man, as the whole party gathered
under the shelter of a tree. By this time the rain was nothing more than
a fine drizzle.

"Not exactly," answered Jack. "We are cadets attending Colby Hall
Military Academy."

"Oh, yes, I've heard about that school," said the man. "They tell me
it's a very fine place. Well, all I've got to say is, if all the boys
there are as brave as you lads you certainly