difficulty in getting his arms into
his wet and shrunken jacket. Quite a crowd were gathered near the castle
as the boat rowed to shore, and a hearty cheer arose as it was run up
on the shingle and the boys were helped out. Frank and Ruthven, indeed,
required no assistance. They were in no way the worse for the adventure,
but Childers was so weak that he was unable to stand. He was carried up
and laid on a fly, the others sitting opposite, the driver having first
taken the precaution of removing the cushions.

There were among the crowd most of the boys from Dr. Parker's. Goodall
and Jackson had arrived nearly an hour and a half before, and the news
had spread like wildfire. Bats and balls had been thrown down and every
one had hurried to the beach. Goodall and his companion had already
related the circumstance of their being cut off by the water and taken
round the point by Frank; and as Ruthven on jumping out had explained
to his comrades who flocked round to shake his hand, "I owe my life to
Hargate," the enthusiasm reached boiling point, and Frank had difficulty
in taking his place in the fly, so anxious were all to shake his hand
and pat him on the shoulder. Had it not been for his anxiety to get home
as soon as possible, and his urgent entreaties, they would have carried
him on their shoulders in triumph through the town. They drove first to
the school, where Childers was at once carried up to a bed, which had
been prepared with warm blankets in readiness; Ruthven needed only to
change his clothes.

The moment they had left the fly Frank drove straight home, and was
delighted at finding, from his mother's exclamation of surprise as he
alighted from the cab, that she had not been suffering any anxiety, no
one, in the general excitement, having thought of taking the news to
her. In answer to her anxious inquiries he made light of the affair,
saying only that they had stupidly allowed themselves to be cut off
by the sea and had got a ducking. It was not, indeed, till the next
morning, when the other four boys came around to tell Mrs. Hargate that
they were indebted to Frank for their lives, that she had any notion
that he had been in danger.

Frank was quite oppressed by what he called the fuss which was made over
the affair. A thrilling description of it appeared in the local papers.
A subscription was got up in the school, and a gold watch with an
inscription was presented to him; and he received letters of hear