Smith had been careful to keep his mouth closed while his head was under water, and took in a deep breath whenever he could manage to wriggle to the surface. Now Dick’s voice gave him just the support he needed, and he quietly bumped against Billy’s face with the back of his head. He purposely did not do it hard the first time; but the second time he knocked just hard enough, and Bill relaxed his grasp. Dick then turned over on his back; and, catching Billy under the arms, quietly swam back to the side of the ship.
It did not take long to lift Billy to the deck, and it was found that he was really more frightened than anything else. The Chairman, the Captain, and almost the whole ship’s company had formed a ring around him as he lay there on his back. Mr. Miller knelt beside him for a few minutes; and, when he had reported his pulse fairly good and their anxiety had been allayed, one of the boys cried out: “Look at Dick Gray!” and burst out laughing.
All eyes followed those of the laughing boy, and the merriment became general and hearty as Dick—dripping from head to foot—gazed with an earnest look upon the little figure lying on the deck, his fountain pen sticking up at a sharp angle from his mouth, in the same position it had occupied when he first started from his writing on the day bunk and jumped off the rail into the water!
“What’s the matter with me?” he blurted out.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” shouted Chippie, and only then did Dick become conscious of his pen.
“How about your letter, Gray?” asked the Chairman, with a twinkle in his eye.
“I guess I’d better change my clothes before I finish it, sir,” said Dick, with a grin.
Meantime Billy Brown had got up on to his feet, and was ordered to report to the Chairman as soon as he had changed his clothes.
CHAPTER XVIII
A Clearing Sky and a Fresh Start
At prayers that night, the talk turned naturally enough on Law Number 10,—“A Scout is Brave.”