space.
Like a flash of light it shot downward, straight and rigid, with feet
held tightly together, and hands pressed close against the thighs. A
myriad of crystal-drops were flung high in the air and glittered in the
bright sunlight as Glen, striking the water with the impetus of a
twenty-five-foot fall, sank deep beneath its surface.

Chapter V.

SWIMMING INTO A FRIENDSHIP.

Although Glen found no difficulty in coming to the surface, almost at
the spot where the roll of plans floated, and grasping it, he did not
find it so easy to bring it safely to shore. To begin with, the roll
occupied one hand, so that he had but one for swimming. Then the current
was strong, and the banks steep. He was very near the middle of the
river. Any other Brimfield boy would have been in despair at finding
himself in such a situation. But, then, no other boy in Brimfield would
have taken that leap.

For a moment Glen wondered what he should do. Then he remembered the
"back-set" at the Bend, a quarter of a mile below the bridge. It would
put him right in to the bank, at a place where it was low, too. The
anxious watchers on the bridge wondered to see the boy turn on his back
and quietly drift away with the current, at the same time holding the
roll of plans, for which he had dared so much, clear of the water.

They shouted to him to swim towards one or the other bank and they would
fling him a rope; but Glen only smiled without wasting any breath in
answering. Most of the men ran to one end of the bridge, because it
looked to them as though the boy were nearer that bank than the other;
but Mr. Hobart, who had studied the river, remembered the Bend, and
hurried to the other end. When he reached it he ran down along the bank,
towards the place where he felt certain the boy would attempt to land.
He got there in time to see Glen swimming with all his might to get out
of the main current and into the "back-set." With two hands he would
have done it easily; but with only one it was hard work. Then, too, his
clothing dragged heavily.

Mr. Hobart shouted to him to let go the roll. "Drop it and make sure of
your own safety," he cried. "They are not worth taking any risks for."
But Glen was not the kind of a boy to let go of a thing that he had once
made up his mind to hold on to, so long as he had an ounce of strength
left.

So he struggled on, and at last had the satisfaction of feeling that
something stronger than his own effor