"Aw! let up on that squawk, Clem Shooks; can't you?" shouted Buck angrily, as he swam toward the fellow who declared that he was exhausted, and sinking. "Want any of that bunch to give you a hand? I'd see myself asking favors of Brad Morton or his crowd. We'll get you ashore, all right, never fear. Hi! there, Whitey, this way, and you too, Oscar. Give this ninny a helpin' hand and tow him to dry land."
Apparently Buck was in a towering rage. He had been steering the boat when it struck the snag, and hence must be held responsible for the accident that would deprive the outlaw crew of a racing craft for the remainder of the season.
There was not one of Brad's chums, however, but who felt sure that sooner or later the bully would try to put the blame on one of his companions. That seemed to be the natural way with him; a scapegoat was as necessary to Buck's manner of doing things as it was for him to take all the credit when success came along.
Some of those who clung to the wreck were, however, not averse to accepting assistance from the regulars of the Boat Club. Brad directed them how to hang on, and in this way towed them close to the shore.
When the water shoaled enough to admit of their standing up, with it only waist high he stopped the boat.
"That'll do for you, fellows," Brad said, pleasantly; "and we'll go back now for the other pair."
"Aw! you needn't bother yourselves about them," broke out Buck, who had managed, with the assistance of Whitey and Oscar, to get the weak-kneed Clem Shooks in the shallow water; "they're on the way right now."
It turned out to be as Buck said. The last pair, realizing that they would be apt to incur the anger of their leader if they waited to accept favors from those Buck hated so bitterly, had indeed abandoned the wreck, and were even then swimming toward the shore.
None of Brad's crew laughed, though the aspect of the wrecked ones was most forlorn, and doubtless they wanted to make merry.
"We're sorry for your accident, Buck," Brad ventured to say, in as pleasant a tone as he could ever use when addressing the boy he detested so much deep down in his heart.