“I don’t know nothin’ about them crawls,” answered Pete, “but he’s swimmin’ like a duck.  He’ll reach that point below us long before we get there.”

The guide’s surmise was correct for John was exerting himself strongly to gain a low point which he had seen in the distance and around which the swift waters of the current were swept forward.

Before the conversation in the boat was renewed both the guide and Fred were aware that John had succeeded in his attempt.

He had gained the low lying shore, but in his efforts to rise, although the water where he was standing did not come above his waist, he several times was thrown back into the stream and once nearly lost his foothold.

However, at last the sturdy lad succeeded in gaining the shore.  As soon as he had shaken the water from his head he turned to look in the direction from which the skiff was coming.  The boat now was not more than one hundred feet away.

“Come in here!  Stop here!” shouted John in his loudest tones.

Whether or not his words were heard he saw that his friends were doing their utmost to follow his directions.  Still borne onward by the rushing current they nevertheless succeeded in gaining the outer edge and when the sharp bend around the point was made they came sufficiently near the shore to enable Pete with the painter in his hand to leap into the shallow water.

Although the guide braced himself strongly and exerted all his strength, his attempt would have failed, if John, instantly aware of the predicament of his companion, had not leaped to his aid.  While Pete was struggling and striving to regain a firm standing John seized the painter and as he was braced for the sudden strain he succeeded in checking the speed of the boat and drawing it within the more sheltered waters of the little bay.

Meanwhile Pete had succeeded in grasping the gunwale of the skiff and promptly shouted, “Run her up on the beach, boys!  One, two, three!  Now then, all together!”

By their united efforts they succeeded in bringing the boat up on the shore to a place where it was not in danger of being swept away by the swiftly flowing river.

“That’s what I call a close call,” exclaimed Fred with a sigh of relief, when at last he was certain not only that his friend was safe but that all the cargo and the skiff itself had been landed.  “What happened to you?” he inquired of John.

“I didn’t have time to find out very much,” replied John demurely.  “I lost my balance and the first thing I knew I was making as graceful a dive as ever you saw.  I went up like a rocket.”

“You looked very much like a rocket,” sniffed Pete.  “We saw your long legs hanging down and thought that something must have pulled you out of the boat.”

“Something did,” replied John dryly.

“What was it?” demanded Pete.

“The force of gravitation.  I had all I could do to make this shore, let me tell you.  I had on sneakers and I put in my best work, for I wanted to get on this side of the channel.  At first I thought I was not going to make it but I did at last and here I am.”