he ordered. "Make a loop as I have, and don't let it
slip through your hands."

"Oh, Tom! you're never going into that cold water?" Ruth gasped, suddenly
stricken with fear for her friend's safety.

But that was exactly what Tom intended to do. There was no other way. He
had seen, too, the exhaustion of the girl in the water and knew that if
her hands slipped from the tree branch, she could never get a grip on the
wire.

Without removing an article of clothing the boy leaped into the stream.
It was over his head right here below the bank, and the chill of the water
was tremendous. As Tom said afterward, he felt it "clear to the marrow of
his bones!"

But he came up and struck out strongly for the face of the girl, which was
all that could be seen above the surface.

Hazel Gray's hold was slipping from the branch. She was blue about the
lips and her eyes were almost closed. The current was tugging at her
strongly; she was losing consciousness. If she was carried away by the
suction of the stream, now dragging so strongly at her limbs, Tom Cameron
would be obliged to loose his own hold upon the wire and swim after her.
And the young fellow was not at all sure that he could save either her or
himself if this occurred.

Yet, perilous as his own situation was, Tom thought only of that of the
actress.

CHAPTER III

AT THE RED MILL

Helen, greatly excited, stood on the seat of the tonneau and cheered her
brother on at the top of her voice. That, in her excitement, she thought
she was "rooting" at a basket-ball game at Briarwood, was not to be
wondered at. Ruth heard her chum screaming:

"S.B.--Ah-h-h!
S.B.--Ah-h-h
Sound our battle-cry
Near and far!
S.B.--All!
Briarwood Hall!
Sweetbriars, do or die----
This be our battle-cry----
Briarwood Hall!
_That's All!_"

At the very moment the excited Helen brought out the "snapper" of the
rallying cry of their own particular Briarwood sorority, Ruth let the limb
go, for Tom had seized the sinking actress by the shoulder.

"He's got her!" the men shouted in chorus.

"And that's all those fellows were," Ruth said afterwards, in some
contempt. "Just a _chorus_! They were a lot of tabby-cats--afraid to wet
their precious feet. If it hadn't been for Tom, Miss Gray would have been
drowned before the eyes of that mean director and those other imitation
men. Ugh! I de-_test_ a coward!"

This was said later, however