ation papers.

When vacation time arrived, they arranged to go out to the Snake River
Ranch in the West, to visit Bill Garwood, one of their chums at Rally
Hall. They expected to have a glorious time and were not disappointed.
For the first time, they saw rattlesnakes and bears that were not behind
bars in a Zoological Garden. A tangled web of events was being wound
around Mr. Garwood, Bill's father, in the effort of plotters to get
possession of his ranch where, unknown to him, a silver mine had been
discovered. Teddy, by means of a moving-picture film taken by a company
at the ranch, was enabled to run down a plot to steal Mr. Garwood's
cattle, and Fred had a chance to unmask a pretended ghost by which it
was sought to frighten people away from the location of the mine.

Their grateful hosts wanted the boys to stay all summer, but they had to
cut their visit short, as they had promised to spend a few weeks with
Lester Lee at Bartanet Shoals on the coast of Maine. The lads had now
been with Lester for about two weeks, and Bill, who had joined them on
Lester's earnest invitation, had come a few days later. They had had, so
far, what Teddy called a "bang-up time" and the only thing that marred
their pleasure was the fact that vacation was so nearly over. Hence
their delight at the news in Melvin's letter that, owing to an injury to
one of the buildings, the fall term at Rally Hall would open about a
month later than usual.

Lester had lived on the coast all his life and there was nothing about
handling a sailboat that he did not know, but it taxed all his skill to
rescue the man who had been thrown into the water. Had the sea been
smooth, it would have been an easy matter to wear about and pull him on
board. But in this welter of wind and waves, it was all he could do to
get the _Ariel_ to obey her helm. Twice he swooped down near the
struggling swimmer, but each time the waves beat the man back just far
enough to be out of reach of the boathooks. Lester was coming round for
another attempt when he was startled by a cry from Teddy:

"There he goes! He's given up!"

The strength of the swimmer had failed. For another moment his arms
moved aimlessly. Then he slowly sank from sight.

The boys looked at one another in horror.

Fred was the first to recover from his paralysis. He kicked off his
shoes and thrust the rope of the sheet into Teddy's hand.

"Hold this, Ted," he commanded, "and do just what Lester tells you