“Jest you open yer mouth ag’in, an’ I’ll give ye a smash right squar’ in the meat-trap. Now mind what I tell ye: I ain’t goin’ to hev two head bosses in this yer business—you bet I ain’t. Now listen to me, an’ hold yer row. Kin ye swim?”
“Like a hoondred pounts off iron,” said Jan. “Gootness cracious!”
“Thet’s bad. I never did see a Dutchman thet knowed any thing. Ye durned anatomy! Well, ef I let ye git on my shoulders, will ye promise not to ketch me round the neck?”
“Yaw; I bromise anyt’ings, so ash I does not pe drownded mit vasser.”
“Very good. Then when I give ye the word, lay yer hands on my shoulders an’ kick out with both feet. Kin ye do it?”
“I kicks like ter duyvel.”
Ben loosened his hold on the rock, and let himself float down to the speaker. When all was ready, Jan laid his brawny hands upon the shoulders of the trapper, and he pushed out from the shelving bank. Jan immediately began to flourish his heels like the paddles of an ocean steamer, leaving a broad trail of foam behind him. Indeed, so vehement were his efforts, that he buried the head of the swimmer under the water, and Ben was compelled to call on him to desist. But when he fell a dead weight upon the shoulders of the trapper, the drag became fearful even for his iron strength to sustain.
They were by this time in the midst of the powerful current, where the “suck” formed a vortex so strong that when within twenty feet of the shore it seized them and hurried them away from the safety so nearly gained. In vain the trapper struggled against it and called to Jules for help. But the Frenchman seemed to have lost all control of himself. Instead of following the trapper he remained on the bank, running wildly up and down, making no effort to assist either of them. But Bentley was coming down from the hut at full speed. “Help! help!” cried Ben, in a sinking voice. He had got out of the suck by this time, but faced it again bravely. The current had been gradually sweeping them downward. They reached a place where a pine had fallen to the ground and was lying in the water. Ben, striking out desperately, felt the sunken branches strike his leg.
“Kick, Jan, kick!” he shouted, with all the power of his lungs. “Kick fer yer life.”
Jan lashed out desperately, and though the head and shoulders of the trapper were buried by the effort, he managed to grasp the limb of the fallen tree.