"Anything, I told you, only don't let me drown!" cried the frightened
William Philander.
"And will you promise to keep mum about what has happened here to-night?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Very well, you shall not be allowed to drown. But you must take the plunge."
"Oh, dear me! I can't—"
"Forward, and be lively about it. We will fish you out with a crab net."
"But I—I can't swim with my hands tied behind me!" chattered poor
Tubbs.
"Yes, you can. Forward now! Ha, fellows, he will not go. Jab him with the pitchfork!"
At this a student stepped behind Tubbs and pricked his back with a pin.
The fashionable youth let out a yell of terror, and then, certain that he was about to take an awful plunge into some deep part of the lake, made a desperate leap forward.