uster away from the rock, and he and Dave
floated along on the bosom of the river for a distance of fifty yards.
It was impossible to do much swimming in that madly-rushing element
and Dave wisely steered for shore. He continued to support his friend,
who seemed unable to do anything for himself.

At length, when our hero was all but exhausted, his feet struck a
sandbar. At once he stood up, finding himself in water that reached to
his waist. He caught up Buster and placed the weakened lad over his
shoulder. In a dim, uncertain way he saw the shore loom up in front of
him, and struck out in that direction.

It was a short but hard struggle. Twice Dave went down, once losing
his hold on his chum. But he got up each time and went after Buster in
a hurry. Then he made a final dash, came in contact with some bushes,
and hauled himself and his burden to temporary safety.

All was dark around the two boys, and the rain came down as pitilessly
as ever. But for this they did not, just then, care. They had been
close to death, and now they were safe, and that counted for
everything.

Poor Buster had received a severe bump on the forehead and had a
swelling there of considerable size. But the stunning effect was
passing, and he was able to sit up and peer around him.

"Oh, what a crack I got, when I fell over!" he murmured, and then he
added, gratefully: "It was a fine thing for you to jump in after me,
Dave!"

"Well, I couldn't stand there and see you drown, Buster," answered our
hero. "I had to do something."

"Where are the others?"

"Up the stream--unless they went overboard, too."

"Then I suppose we ought to walk that way."

"We will--after we get our breath and you feel strong enough."

"Maybe you can call to them?"

"I'll try."

Dave yelled at the top of his voice, not once but several times.
Presently an answering hail arose from a distance, and then Ben came
running up, followed by Jerry.

"Dave! Buster! Are you safe?"

"Yes," answered both.

"Oh, I am so glad! We were afraid you were both drowned! How did it
happen?"

The two told their story, and then the others told how they had thrown
out the rope and had seen Dave disappear in the darkness after
Buster.

"I would have jumped in, too, but I didn't see how I could do any
good," went on Ben. "Jerry said we had better come ashore and look for
you down here. So we did that. My! but it's a fearful flood, isn't
it!"

"Yes. I wish we knew where