Frank and Andy Afloat | Page 8

had thrown the boat up in the wind, had lowered the sail so that
she was now riding the waves comparatively motionless, for there came
a lull in the gale.

Then, even as Frank spoke, the unfortunate lad again disappeared from
sight.
"He's gone--for good this time I guess," spoke Andy, and there was a
solemn note in his faltering voice.
"No! There he is again!" fairly yelled Frank. "I'm going overboard for
him."
"You can't swim in this sea!" objected his brother. "There'll be two
drowned instead of one."
"I can do it!" firmly declared the older lad. He began to take off his
shoes, and divest himself of his heavier garments.
"You're crazy!" cried Andy. "You can't do it!"
"Just you watch," spoke Frank calmly. "I can't stand by and see a lad
drown like that. Have we a spare line aboard?"
"Yes, plenty. It's up forward in the port locker under the deck."
"Good. Now I'm going to tie a line around my waist, and go overboard.
I'll swim to that chap and get a good hold on him. Then it will be up to
you to pull us both in, if I can't swim with him, and I'm afraid I can't do
much in this sea. Can you haul us in, and manage the boat?"
"I've just got to!" cried Andy, shutting his teeth in grim determination.
"The boat will ride all right out here. The wind isn't quite so bad now.
Take care of yourself."
"I will. Shake!"
The brothers clasped hands. Frank well knew the peril of his
undertaking, no less than did Andy. They stood on the heaving, sloping
deck of the Gull, and looked into each other's eyes. They understood.
"Watch close, and pull when you see me wave to you," ordered the
older lad, as he fastened the rope about his waist.

"All right," answered Andy, in a low voice.
With a quick glance about him, noting that the wounded lad was still
struggling feebly in the water, Frank dived overboard. He disappeared
beneath the green waves with their crests of foam, and for a moment
Andy anxiously watched for his brother. Then he saw him reappear,
and strike out strongly toward the other youth. Frank was an excellent
swimmer.
"That's the way to do it!" murmured Andy, admiringly. "If anybody can
save him, Frank can."
The younger lad was braced against the tiller, standing in a slanting
position, his feet planted firmly in the cockpit, while he payed out the
rope, one end of which was about Frank's waist, and the other made
fast to a deck cleat.
"To the left. To the left!" yelled Andy suddenly, as he saw his brother
taking a slightly wrong course. The spume in his eyes, and the bobbing
waves which now and then hid the wounded lad from sight, had
confused Frank. The latter made no reply, but his hand, raised above
the water, and waved to Andy, told that he understood the hail.
Frank changed his course, still swimming strongly. The wind had again
begun to blow hard, and the Gull was drifting nearer the rocks, yet
Andy dared not send her out for fear of pulling Frank with him. He
must stand by until--
Carefully he payed out the line. He could see it slipping through the
green water. Then he caught a glimpse of his brother on the crest of a
wave. The next moment he saw how close he was to the lad he had so
bravely set out to save.
"Tread water! Don't swim! Tread water and save your strength!" cried
Andy to the injured one. The boy heard and obeyed.
In another moment Frank was near enough to clasp the almost
exhausted lad in his strong right arm. Andy saw this and there was no

need for the signal which his brother gave an instant later. Frank was
on his guard lest the youth he was rescuing might clasp him in a death
grip. But the latter evidently knew something about life saving, for he
placed his uninjured hand on his rescuer's shoulder and let Frank do as
he would.
Andy began to haul in on the rope. It was hard work to do this, and
manage the boat at the same time, but he did it somehow--how he never
could really tell afterward. But he had something of his brother's grim
determination and that was just what was needed in this emergency.
Slowly the rope came in, pulling the rescuer and the rescued one.
Without it that life could never have been saved, for the waves were
running high, and there was a current setting in toward the sharp, black
rocks.
Foot by foot Frank and his almost unconscious burden were pulled
toward the Gull.
"Can you keep up?"