The Rover Boys at School | Page 7

Dick caught hold of the fingers around
his throat and forced them loose by main force. Then he swung himself
behind Tom and caught him under the arms, in the meantime treading
water to keep both of them afloat.
"Sam, can't you bring that tree closer?" he called out.
There was no reply, and, looking around, he saw that the tree and his
younger brother were a hundred yards away, and sailing down the river
as rapidly as the increasing current could, carry them for quarter of a
mile below were what were known as the Humpback Falls -- a series of
dangerous rapids through which but few boats had ever passed without
serious mishap.
"I reckon Sam is having his hands full," he thought. "I must get Tom to
the shore alone. But it is going to be a tough job, I can see that."
"Oh, Dick!" came from Tom. "My head is spinning like a top!"
"The tree hit you, Tom. But do keep quiet, and I'll take care of you,"
"I can't swim -- I feel like a wet rag through and through."
"Never mind about swimming. Only don't catch me by the throat again,
and we'll be all right," was Dick's reassuring reply, and as his brother
became more passive he struck out for the bank upon which the thief
had landed.
The current carried them on and on, but not so swiftly as it was
carrying the tree. Soon they were approaching the bend. Dick was
swimming manfully, but was now all but exhausted.
"You can't make it, Dick," groaned Tom. "Better save yourself."
"And let you go? No indeed, Tom. I have a little strength left and --
Hurrah, I've struck bottom!"

Dick was right: his feet had landed on a sandbar; and, standing up, both
boys found the water only to their armpits. Under such circumstances
they waded ashore with case, and here threw themselves down to rest.
"That thief is gone," said Dick dismally.
"And my watch too!"
"But where is Sam?" questioned Tom, then looked at his brother
meaningfully.
"The Humpback Fall!" came from Dick. "Sam! Sam!" he yelled; "look
out I where you are going!"
But no answer came back to his cry, for Sam had long since floated out
of hearing.
CHAPTER III
SAMS ADVENTURE AT HUMPBACK FALLS
For several minutes after Dick leaped overboard to Tom's assistance,
Sam's one thought was of his two brothers. Would they reach the tree
or the shore in safety? Fervently he prayed they would.
The tree went around and around, as a side current caught it, and
presently the whirlings became so rapid that Sam grew dizzy, and had
to hold tight to keep from falling off.
He saw Dick catch Tom from the back and start for shore, and then like
a flash the realization of his own situation dawned upon him. He was
on the tree with no means of guiding his improvised craft, and
sweeping nearer and nearer to the rapids of which he had heard so
much but really knew so little.
"I must get this tree to the river bank," he, said to himself, and looked
around for some limb which might be cut off and used for a pole.

But no such limb was handy, and even had there been there would have
been no time in which to prepare it for use, for the rapids were now in
plain sight, the water boiling and foaming as it darted over one rock
and another, in a descent of thirty feet in forty yards.
"This won't do!" muttered the boy, and wondered if it would not be best
to leap overboard and try to swim to safety. But one look at that
swirling current made him draw back.
"I reckon I had best stick to the tree and trust to luck to pass the rocks
in safety," he muttered, and clutched the tree with a firmer hold than
ever.
The strange craft had now stopped circling, and was shooting straight
ahead for a rock that stood several feet above water. On it went, and
Sam closed his eyes in expectancy of an awful shock which would
pitch him headlong, he knew not to where.
But then came a swerve to the left, and the tree grated along the edge of
the rock. Before Sam could recover his breath, down it went over the
first line of rapids. Here it stuck fast for a moment, then turned over
and went on, throwing Sam on the under side.
The boy's feet struck bottom, and he bobbed up like a cork. Again he
clutched the tree, and on the two went a distance of ten feet further. But
now the tree became jammed between two other rocks, and there it
stuck, with