The Rover Boys at School | Page 8

Sam clutching one end and the water rushing in, a torrent
over the other.
For the moment the boy could do little but hold fast, but as his breath
came back to him he climbed on top of the tree and took a look at the
situation.
It was truly a dismaying one. He was in the very center of the rapids,
and the shore on either side of him was fifty to sixty feet away.
"How am I ever to get to the bank?" he asked himself. "I can't wade or
swim, for the current is far too strong. I'm in a pickle, and no mistake. I

wonder if Dick and Tom are on solid earth yet?"
He raised his voice into a shout, not once, but several times. At first
only the echoes answered him, but presently came a reply from a
distance.
"Sam! Sam! Where are your?" It was Dick calling, and he was running
along the bank alone, Tom being too exhausted to accompany him.
"Here I am -- in the middle of the falls!"
"Where?"
"Out here -- in the middle of the falls!"
"Great Caesar, Sam! Can't you wade ashore?"
"No; the current is so strong I am afraid to."
In a minute more Dick reached a spot opposite to where the tree rested.
As he took in the situation his face clouded in perplexity.
"You are right -- don't try wading," he, said. "If you do, you'll have
your skull cracked open on the rocks. I'll have to get a rope and haul
you off."
"All right; but do hurry, for this tree may start on again at any instant!"
To procure a rope was no easy matter, for nothing of that sort was at
hand, and the nearest farmhouse was some distance away. Yet, without
thinking twice, Dick set off for the farmhouse, arriving there inside of
five minutes.
"I need a rope, quick, Mr. Darrel," he said. "My brother is in the middle
of the Humpback Falls on a tree, and I want to save him."
"Why, Dick Rover, you don't tell me!" cried Joel Darrel, a farmer who
had often worked for Randolph Rover. "Sure I'll get a wash line this
minute!" and he ran for the kitchen shed.

Luckily the line was just where the farmer supposed it would be, and
away went man and boy, Dick leading, until the river bank was again
reached.
"There he is, Mr. Darrel. How can we best help him, do you think?"
The farmer scratched his head in perplexity.
"Hang me if I jess know, Dick," he said slowly.
"If we try to pull him straight to shore the current will carry him over
the rocks in spite of the line."
"How long do you suppose the line is?"
"It is fifty yards, and all good and strong, for I bought it of Woddie
only last week."
"Fifty yards -- that is a hundred and fifty feet. Do you see that spur of
rock just above there?"
"I do."
"Is it more than a hundred and fifty feet from that rock to the tree?"
"Hardly; but it's close figuring."
"Let us try the line and see."
Both walked up to the spur of rock they had in view. It jutted out into
the river for several yards, and was rather wet and slippery.
"Take care, or you'll go in too," cautioned Joel Darrel. "Shall I throw
the rope out?"
"You might try it," answered Dick. "I'll hold fast to your leg," and he
squatted down for that purpose.
The line was uncoiled and thrown three times, but each time it fell short

and drifted inshore again.
"Hurry up!" suddenly yelled Sam. "The tree is beginning to turn, and it
will break loose before long."
"Let me try a throw," said Dick, and took the wash line. As he made the
cast, Tom came up on a walk, his head tied up in a handkerchief.
"Where is Sam?"
"Out there," said Joel Darrel, and watched the casting of the line with
interest. Again it fell short, but Dick's second throw was a complete
success, and soon Sam held the outer end of the line fast.
"It reaches, and we have about fifteen feet to spare," said Dick joyfully.
"Sam, tie it around you." Scarcely had the word left the younger
brother's lips than the tree upon which he rested wobbled and went over,
and he found himself thrown into the foaming water.
"Pull away, all hands!" cried Dick, and hauled in desperately, while
Joel Darrel did the same. Tom was not equal to the task, but contented
himself with holding fast to Dick's coat, that his elder brother might not
slip from the rock.
It was no light work to get Sam up the first rise