u meant. As it is---"
And then he stopped and ducked, to escape the piece of dried mud
Whopper playfully shied at him.

The cove reached, the boys speedily found a spot that suited them.
It was at a point where some overhanging bushes and trees sheltered
a strip of sandy shore. At one point a rock ran out into the river,
making an excellent place from which to dive.

The lads hustled into the bushes and in a very few minutes Snap
appeared in his bathing outfit and was followed by Shep.

"Beat you in!" cried the doctor's son, but hardly had he spoken
when Snap made a leap and landed into the river with a loud splash.
Shep came after him, and both disappeared under the surface, to come
up a second later, thrashing around wildly.

"Whew! it isn't so warm as I thought!" ejaculated Shep. "No Turkish
bath about this!" And he gave a slight shiver.

"You'll soon get used to it," replied Snap. "It's always the first
plunge that takes the breath out of a fellow."

Giant came in next, diving from the rock. Whopper followed more
slowly, putting in first one foot and then the other.

"Moses in the bulrushes!" he gasped. "Say, this water is about
half ice, isn't it?" And he drew back again.

"Whopper, you know better than to go in that way," remonstrated Snap.
"Wet your face and then go in head first---it's the only right way.
If you go in by inches you'll gasp fit to turn your liver over."

Very gingerly Whopper wet his face. As the water ran down his
backbone he let out another yell.

"Don't know as I'll go in," he observed. "I thought it would be
much warmer."

"Oh, yes, come in," urged Snap.

In the meantime Shep had come to shore and crawled out, behind
some bushes. Softly he crept up behind Whopper. Then came a
sudden shove, and over went Frank with a loud yell and a splash
that sent the spray in all directions. Before he came up Shep was
out of sight behind a tree.

"Say, wh---who---" spluttered Whopper, as he came up and gazed
around half angrily. Then he caught sight of a shoulder back of
the tree. "Come out of that, and let me give you something to
remember me by!" And he struck out for shore.

But Shep had no intention of being caught, and as Whopper came out
he sprang in. Then Frank came after him, and a race ensued, in
which Snap and Giant joined. The rapid swimming warmed all the
boys, and then they declared the water "just O.K.," as Snap expressed
it. Whopper watched his chance to g