olly
or partially submerged and {280} in salt water weighs less than in
fresh water, and is consequently more readily carried. Training makes
a small boy the equal or superior of an untrained boy much larger and
of greater strength, and the way to learn to carry a drowning person
is to carry a boy who is not drowning to get used to handling the
weights. A little struggle now and then lends realism to the work and
increases the skill of the scout candidate for a life saver's rating.
Speed swimming for itself alone is a very selfish sport so that the
scout should develop his ability to make it generally useful to
others.

[Illustration: Breast stroke for tired swimmer.]

[Illustration: Under-arm carry.]

Floating

After the breast stroke is learned, floating on the back for rest and
swimming on the back, using feet only for propulsion, leaving the
hands free to hold a drowning person, should be learned. This can be
readily acquired with a little practice, carrying the hands on the
surface of the water, arms half bent, with the elbows close to the
sides at the waist line. To carry a man this way the hands are placed
at either side of the {281} drowning man's head and he is towed
floating on his back, the rescuer swimming on his back, keeping the
other away. It is well to remember to go with the tide or current, and
do not wear your strength away opposing it. Other ways of carrying are
to place the hands beneath the arms of the drowning man, or to grasp
him firmly by the biceps from beneath, at the same time using the knee
in the middle of his back to get him into a floating position, the
feet acting as propellers. Methods which enable the rescuer's use of
one arm in addition to the feet are known as the "German army" and the
"cross shoulder." In the first, the swimmer approaches the drowning
person from the back, passes the left arm under the other's left arm,
across in front of the chest, and firmly grasps the right arm, either
by the biceps or below the elbow, giving him control. This leaves the
right arm to swim with. The other one-arm hold mentioned is one in
which the rescuer passes an arm over {282} the shoulder of the one to
be carried, approaching from the back as before, and getting a hold
under the other's arm, which makes the drowning man helpless. The
breast stroke carry previously mentioned is used only for helping a
tired swimmer, and one in possession of his faculties who will not try
to grasp th