For the third time the professor's head appeared above the surface, and the professor's voice weakly called:
"Will no one save me? This is a plot to get me out of the way! Oh, Frank, Frank! I never thought this of you! Farewell! May you be happy when I am gone!"
"Stand up!" shouted Frank, seeing that the little man had actually resigned himself to drown. "Get your feet under you. The water is shallow there."
The professor stood up, and an expression of pain, surprise, and disgust settled on his face, as he thickly muttered:
"May I be kicked! And I've been under the water two-thirds of the time for the last hour! I've swallowed more than two barrels of this swamp-water, including, in all probability, a few dozen pollywogs, lizards, young alligators, and other delightful things! If the water wasn't so blamed dirty here, and I wasn't afraid of swallowing enough creatures to start an aquarium, I'd just lie down and refuse to make another effort to get up."
Then he waded out, the look on his face causing Frank to double up with merriment, while even the wretched Barney smiled.
Barney would have waded out, but Frank said:
"Don't attempt to land without those guns, old man. They're somewhere on the bottom, and we want them."
So Barney was forced to plunge under the surface and feel around till he had fished up the rifles and the shotgun.
Frank had taken care of his bow and arrows, the latter being in a quiver at his back, and the paddles had not floated away.