inches. It was a bully hunch, that coat racket of
yours. Keep her going, Rob, and I'll get there yet. Never give
up--that's my motto, you know. I may get in lots of scrapes, but somehow
I always do manage to crawl out, don't I?"

"Save your breath, Tubby, for your work; don't chatter so much," Rob
told him.

Merritt was ready to do his part. He had clasped a leg about the girder
to help hold him, and was leaning as far down as possible. Presently the
grunting fat chum reached a place where he could be taken hold of, and
so Merritt fastened a hand in his coat back of his neck.

"Here you come, Tubby," he said encouragingly.

"Don't let go with your hands or knees yet!" warned Rob; for, should
Tubby be so foolish as to do this, the chances were that such a sudden
weight might drag Merritt down, and both would take the plunge.

It required considerable effort to finally land Tubby on the horizontal
girder, but in the end this was accomplished. Then all of them sat there
to rest after their recent violent exertions.

"I don't see how I came to do it," Tubby finally remarked, as though he
deemed it necessary that some sort of explanation were forthcoming. "I
was moving along as nice as you please, when all of a sudden I felt
myself going. I must have grabbed at the air, and happened to get a grip
on that hanging steel rope. Well, it might have been a whole lot worse
for me! I'm glad I didn't get soused in the river. And I'll never forget
how nobly my chums came to the rescue."

"Oh! stow that sort of talk, Tubby," Merritt told him. "That's what
we're here for. What's a scout wearing his khaki uniform for if it isn't
to remind him what he owes to his chums? You'd do the same for us any
old time."

"Just try me, that's all," declared the grateful Tubby; and then,
changing his tune, he went on to say: "Here we are, out in the middle
of the span, and it's just as hard to go back as it is to move forward.
So when you're ready, Rob, start off again. I'll try not to slip any
more. The next time you might see my finish."

"I'm sure it would see mine," remarked Merritt, rubbing the arm he had
used in order to tug at Tubby's great weight.

Luckily nothing more happened, and they were able to reach the opposite
shore in safety. Tubby sank down and panted, as soon as he crawled off
the end of that fragment of the steel bridge.

"Thank goodness that job is over with!" he exclaimed fervently, "and all
I hope is that we don't