Mr. Holwell looked surprised.
“Quite an education in itself, I should say,” he remarked.
“Oh! that is only a beginning,” continued the other. “The candidate must show himself capable of rescuing a drowning person, and must actually carry him to safety. He must be able to break a ‘death-grip’ so as to be in a position to keep himself from being dragged down by a frantic victim of cramps. He must also know the best way to resuscitate a person who has apparently been drowned. When a young fellow can pass this strict examination with flying colors he receives a certificate from headquarters, and is entitled to wear the official badge.”
“And that whistle which you have just given three times, calling the boys up out of the water—does that stand for anything in particular?” asked the minister, as the entire party hurried to their tents to rub down and dress.
“Yes, indeed, sir,” he was told. “That is the emergency whistle when we are in camp. Whenever it is sounded every life-saver runs for the shore, ready for business. It is on this account that scores of big camps are held every summer without a single drowning. Parents may feel perfectly safe in allowing their boys to spend a term at such well protected camps.”
“I shall never hear three blasts from a whistle again,” said Mr. Holwell, “but that I shall think of this time up here.”
“Indeed, sir,” continued Mr. Rowland, “I understand that some of the young volunteer life-savers on returning to the city after a summer in the woods, confess to having a shock whenever they hear a whistle. When the emergency call sounds, no matter whether in the midst of the swimming hour or at dead of night, the rule is to drop everything and run.”
Dick had noticed that Asa Gardner seemed to be enjoying himself greatly when in the water. He was turning out to be a clever swimmer. Evidently, the boy had included this in his programme when he decided to take all the open air exercise he could. Dick mentioned the fact to Peg while they were dressing as fast as they could, urged on to speed by the odor of breakfast that was in the air.
“Why, yes,” the other boy remarked, immediately, “that fellow acts as if he had sprung from a fish family.”
“What makes you say that?” demanded Dick, smiling at the same time on account of the queer way Peg had of describing things.