y out toward the log.
Wading in was altogether different from having to tumble in, anyway.
The turtles saw them coming, and just as the Twins reached the log, they
slid off into the water. One of them found one of Firetop's big toes in
the mud, and bit it.

Firetop screamed and tried to get away. Firefly didn't know what was
the matter, but she screamed too on general principles, and they both
grabbed at the log and tried to climb on to it. The log rolled over and
got loose from the branch that held it and started down-stream, with
both children clinging to it and yelling. They couldn't get up on it
because it kept turning over, but they held on because it was the only
thing there was to hold on to, and Firetop kept kicking with all his
might to get away from the turtle. Firefly did some kicking, too,
because she was trying to find the bottom with her feet and there wasn't
any bottom there. The current was not very swift at this point, and
though they didn't know it, the children were really swimming with their
legs, and they made the log go toward the other shore.

While all of this was happening, where do you suppose Hawk-Eye and
Limberleg were? They were chasing after them as fast as they could go,
but the children had quite a start and got farther away every minute.
The water was almost over Limberleg's head, and you know how hard it is
to walk in deep water. Besides, they had the meat. The meat that the
Twins were carrying got loose in their struggles and fell off in the
water. Perhaps the turtle saw it and decided that it was better eating
than Firetop's toe, or maybe he got homesick. I can't tell about that,
but anyway he let go. The Twins kept on reaching for the bottom and
kicking with all their might and screaming, too, and before long the log
ran its nose into the farther bank and they seized the branches of a
willow tree that hung over the water and pulled themselves up on the
shore.

In a moment Hawk-Eye and Limberleg came tearing up the river-bank to
them. They had come straight across the river, while the children had
been carried some distance by the current. You can just think how glad
they all were when they found that they were across and not a single one
of them had been drowned.

When Firetop told about the turtle, Hawk-Eye laughed and laughed.
Limberleg laughed a little, too. Firetop felt pretty sorry for himself,
but he wasn't really hurt, and in half an hour he had forgotten