e hoped to get the other out of the river alive. But
Brad and several more of the strong swimmers had by now reached a point
close enough for them to ask what he wanted them to do. Even in that
moment they recognized the fact that Fred was the one to whom they
should look for orders, because he always knew just what to do in an
emergency.

"Each one of you get a grip on an arm; and be sure you don't let him
grab you," was what Fred said.

Brad readily carried out the instructions, and helped buoy up the
helpless boy; while Sid Wells took the other arm.

"He's dead!" cried the latter, seeing that Colon no longer struggled,
but lay like a log in the water.

"Don't you believe it," answered Fred, instantly. "He's swallowed a
whole lot of water, and is pretty far gone; but let's get him ashore,
and revive him!"

Others had by now come up, and between the lot poor Colon was hurried
to the bank, up which he was carried.

"Lay him here, face down, so I can straddle him with my knees!" Fred
called out. "Now, some of you begin, and work his arms back and forth
regularly, while I press down on his lungs so as to induce artificial
breathing. That's the only way to get things started, you see. A little
harder, Brad, please. And don't the rest of you look so scared. He's
going to come out of this. He wasn't under the water any time at all,
but just gave way because of the cramp and the scare."

So Fred talked as he worked, and all the while he was building up the
hopes of the fellows, who looked peaked and white, under the belief
that they had seen the last of their chum, the good-natured Colon.

And Fred was right.

In a very short time one of the boys who were working Colon's arms like
the piston rods of a locomotive cried out:

"He moved a little then, fellows!"

"And listen to that, would you?" exclaimed another delighted chum, as
Colon plainly sighed.

In five minutes Colon recovered enough to be helped back to camp, where
he was rubbed down until his skin fairly glowed, and then hustled
between a pair of blankets, to rest, while the others dressed, and got
breakfast ready.

Colon had learned his lesson. He would never again persist in remaining
in ice-cold water when he was shivering, and his lips turning blue.
Nature has a way of sending up a warning sign, that every intelligent
fellow ought to heed.

That day passed all too soon, and another night arrived, the last they
expected to spend in camp up on the