"I will," said his brother, and he was just about to raise his voice in a shout when he cried:
"Why, it's Billy Chase!"
"So it is," came from Frank. "He's got an old suit on, and I didn't recognize him. Hi, Billy!" he yelled. "You'd better get off that——"
But that was as far as Frank got. For Billy, looking up, had recognized his friends in the boat. He waved a welcome to them, and the next instant the rotten limb, astride of which he sat over the deep eddy, gave way with a crack, letting him fall into the river with a mighty splash.
"There he goes!" cried Frank.
"Pull! Pull!" yelled Andy. "Maybe he can't swim, and if he gets tangled in the branches he'll drown!"
"Oh, sure he can swim," declared Frank; "but we'll pull up to him, just the same."
"We're coming!" shouted Andy, and he looked over his shoulder, but he could not see his friend. "He's gone under!" yelled the younger Racer lad.
"By Jove! So he has!" gasped Frank. "But he'll come up again! Pull for all you're worth, Andy!"
The brothers bent to the oars and soon they had swept from the current of the river into the quieter waters of the eddy. But even there, because of the swollen stream, it was no easy pulling.