to my tender care, and raced over with a powerful stroke
to the spot where he had last seen his nephew.
He failed to find him on the first dive, but the second
time was successful and he carried the lifeless body
to the Pennsylvania shore. In the meantime I had
landed Dutchy and with the rest of the boys had crossed
the lake. Uncle Ed first laid Bill on his back
and hastily wiped dry the mouth and nostrils.
Then he pried his jaws apart, holding them open with
a piece of wood wedged in between the teeth.
After which he turned him on his face over a log which
was placed under his stomach. By stomach I do
not mean the bowels, but the real stomach, which lies
just under the ribs in front. Then he pressed
with a good weight on the back directly over the log
for nearly a minute, causing the water to flow out
of the mouth. Dutchy had by this time rowed across
in the scow, in which fortunately there happened to
be some of Uncle Ed’s clothing. This he
took and rolled into a bundle, then Bill was laid
on his back over the roll of clothing, which was arranged
to raise the pit of his stomach above the rest of
his body. Uncle Ed now wrapped a handkerchief
around his forefinger, and with it wiped out Bill’s
mouth and throat. Reddy, who was the least excited
of the lot, was told to draw Bill’s tongue forward
so as to prevent it from falling back and choking
the windpipe. This he did with the dry part of
the handkerchief, drawing the end of the tongue out
at the corner of the mouth, and holding it there while
Uncle Ed and I started the pumping action, which produced
artificial respiration. I was directed to grasp
Bill’s arms just below the elbows, and swing
them vertically in an arc until the hands met the ground
again above the head. This expanded the chest.
Uncle Ed at the same time stood over the body with
his elbows on his knees and hands extended, as illustrated
in Fig. 88. Then I swung the arms up and back
to the sides of the body, but just before the hands
touched the ground Uncle Ed seized the body in both
hands just below the ribs, and as soon as I touched
the arms to the ground he swung forward with all his
weight on his hands, squeezing the waist and pushing
upward so as to force out the air in the chest.
Then he slowly counted, one, two, three, four, all
the time steadily increasing the pressure, until at
the signal four, with a final push, he shoved himself
to the first position, shown in Fig. 88. At the
same signal I drew the arms up again over the head,
and held them there while Uncle Ed again counted four;
then I returned the arms to the sides, and Uncle Ed
repeated the squeezing process. These movements
were continued for about three minutes, and then Bill
gave a short, faint gasp. We kept on with the
artificial respiration, assisting the gasps, which
gradually grew stronger, until they had deepened into
steady breathing. Then we stripped off the wet
bathing suit, and wrapping Bill in Uncle Ed’s
clothing, laid him in the bottom of the boat.