The idea of getting into the lake after the long and somewhat warm ride appealed to all the lads, and in less than quarter of an hour they had their horses unloaded and properly tethered and then hurried down to a point along the lake shore where the water looked particularly inviting.
“I don’t suppose there can be anything dangerous in this lake,” said Jack.
“Nothing more dangerous than a few sharks and whales,” answered Andy, with a grin. “What did you expect to find here—leviathans?”
“There might be some water snakes,” put in Fred. “However, I’m not going to worry about that. I’m going to have a swim,” and without further words he proceeded to disrobe and the others did likewise.
At first the mountain water seemed exceedingly cold. But soon the boys got used to it, and then they proceeded to have as much fun as possible. They dived and raced, and Andy and his brother indulged in all manner of horseplay. Near the shore they found the lake quite shallow, but farther out they were unable to touch bottom.
“These lakes are very deceiving,” said Jack. “Sometimes they lie right in between steep mountains and the bottom is hundreds of feet down.”
“We ought to be careful about diving too deep,” cautioned Randy. “There might be some outlet to this lake at the bottom. And if so, a fellow might be sucked down and be unable to come up again.”
“Let’s get up another race,” suggested Andy, after they had gotten through splashing water in each other’s faces.
“See that rock over yonder?” returned Fred. “Let’s race to that and back. Come on! Everybody ready?”