“Oh, no! No! Please don’t! Anything but that!” begged Will. “I—I can’t swim.”
“Then it’s time you learned,” said Snaith with a brutal laugh. “Catch hold of his other leg, Pud.”
They quickly made a grab for the unfortunate lad, and, despite his struggles, carried him toward the lake. It was not an uncommon form of hazing, but it was usually done when a crowd was present, and the hazing committee always took care to find out that the candidates could swim. In addition, there were always lads ready to go to the rescue in case of accident. But this was entirely different.
“Oh, don’t! Please don’t!” begged Will. “I—I don’t want to go in the water. Do anything but that.”
“Listen to him cry!” mocked Glen. “Hasn’t he got a sweet voice?”
Nearer to the lake approached the three bullies and their victim, who was struggling to escape. He was pleading piteously.
“I can’t stand this,” murmured Jack. “Williams is afraid of water. He told me so. It’s probably a nervous dread, and if they throw him in he may go into a spasm and drown. They should do something else if they want to haze him.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Nat. He and his chum were hidden from the others by a clump of trees.
“I’m going to make Snaith stop!” said Jack determinedly as he strode forward with flashing eyes. “You wait here, Nat.”