“When I put out my right leg do you put out your left,” Billy cautioned his partner, “and put out the tied legs together.  Keep out of step, in fact, and don’t try to go too fast.  This is the sort of race where you cannot be too quick if you want to win.”

The efforts of the two teams, the funny mistakes they made, the many narrow escapes from tumbling, and the serious manner in which they took things, made a lot of laughter, and when finally Billy and his partner came in first there was a loud applause from every one.

“That makes a lot of fun for the rest of you,” said Billy, in a lugubrious tone, as he rubbed the leg that had been bound to that of his partner, “but it is not so funny for the legs.”

This remark made more laughter and then there was a flat race between teams from both camps, at least a dozen boys competing, which caused a good deal of excitement.

The race was won by Herring, Merritt, and two of the boys from the other camp, these four coming out in the lead and later the final was to be run, Herring expecting to win it.

In the meantime, he gave an exhibition of swimming, and a little later swam against two of the Rocky Hill boys.

As they were nearing the end of the course, Herring forging ahead and rapidly gaining on his opponents, intending to beat at the finish, one of the other boys was seen to throw up his hands and sink.

Herring would have kept on, claiming that this was only a trick of the boy to give his mate a chance to win the match, but a loud shout from the boys on the bank compelled him to stop.

Jack Sheldon happened to be at the shore in his boat, ready to start in the next event, when the shout arose.

In a moment he started his engine to going, and glided rapidly out upon the river toward where the boy had gone down.

He was confident that the boy would speedily rise, although not just where he went down, and he kept his eyes on the water so as to determine the spot at which he would come up.

He presently detected a certain motion of the water at a point a little to one side of his course, and in a moment steered his boat for that place, but not at too great speed.

He had calculated right, for when the boy came up Jack was within two feet of him and quickly made up the distance, reached out, caught him under the arms, and, by a dexterous move, lifted him into the boat.

The boy was nearly exhausted, but upon Jack’s speaking cheerily to him, he revived sufficiently to assist his rescuer, and his getting into the boat was attended with no accident.

He collapsed when he was in, however, and Jack put for the shore at a rapid pace, a number of the boys being ready to take the fainting boy out as they came up the shelving beach.

“Why didn’t you go to the boy’s aid, Herring?” asked Percival, as the bully came in.  “Couldn’t you see that he had a cramp?”