to
do. You, Bill, hold on tight to this end of the line," he added, picking
up a coil at his feet, "and I'll take the other. Leave plenty of slack
till you see me come up."

Almost before they knew what he intended to do, Fred dived overboard.

The sides of the _Ariel_ were high and his dive carried the boy far
down. Down, down he went, looking through the dim green waters for a
white face and limp form. But his efforts were useless and he came up
for air.

"There he is!" were the first words he heard, as he shook his head and
looked around. "Over there to the right. Grab him, Fred, before he goes
down again."

Fred made a wild clutch at an object just beside him, and his fingers
clutched an arm. He held on desperately, despite the waves that sought
to tear him away.

"You've got him!" yelled Bill. "Hold tight now and I'll pull you in."

There was no movement in the limp form, which made it easier for his
preserver. Holding tightly with one hand to the rope which had never
left his grip, and grasping his unconscious burden with the other, Fred
was drawn to the side of the _Ariel_ by Bill's muscular arms. But
the strength of all three was necessary to lift the two of them on
board, so Lester had to abandon the rudder, while Teddy left the sheet
to help. They succeeded at last, after a vast amount of tugging and
straining, and laid the stranger's body on the deck, while Fred slumped
down beside him trying to get back his breath.

"Why, it isn't a man at all!" exclaimed Bill. "It's a boy and I don't
believe he's any older than we are."

"Sure enough," said Teddy. "I wonder who he is."

"I've seen that fellow somewhere," affirmed Lester, "but for the life of
me I can't tell where. But that can wait till another time. What we want
to do now is to get to work. He can't have swallowed much water in the
little time he was under. Get him down on his back with his head low.
Tear his shirt open at the throat. Work his arms slowly up and down.
Here, Bill, you take one arm and Teddy the other. You'll have to do it
without much help from Fred and me, for we'll have all we can do to get
this boat to shore. The wind's getting stronger every minute and we
simply must reach land before dark."

He resumed the tiller, while Fred again took the sheet, and they swung
the boat around to its original course.

"I'd like to save the motor boat if we could," remarked Lester, as they
swung around. "It looks as though it had cost a h