Pretty soon Swatty came to the top but he didn't have Bony, but his arms were covered with seaweed. He spit out water and scraped the seaweed off his arms and then he took his nose in his hand and dived again. That time he got him. He got him by one leg and he swam for shore dragging Bony behind him and the seaweed strung out behind Bony. His head was all covered with it.
I was crying pretty hard, I guess. So Swatty told me to shut up and he turned Bony over on his back and began scraping the seaweed off his face, and Bony's face was scratched a good deal from the rough weeds and maybe from where I had dragged him up the bank on his face. I thought he was dead but Swatty didn't. He leaned down and listened to Bony's heart and said all he needed was to be pumped out. So he started to pump him out.
Swatty got down on his knees a-straddle of Bony and took Bony's hands in his and pumped him the way he had heard you ought to pump a drowned person. He pushed Bony's arms clear back until they touched the ground over his head and then he drew them forward until they touched the ground again, and he kept right at it. Every once in a while Swatty would shake his head to shake the water out of his ears but he went right on pumping. So I stood and blubbered.
Well, no water pumped out of Bony. Swatty pumped and pumped but no water came out of Bony's mouth and pretty soon Swatty stopped and took a couple of deep breaths.
“Garsh!” he said; “I thought he would pump easier than that!”
So he pumped him again a few times and then stopped again. It looked as if it wasn't any use.
“I know what's the matter,” Swatty said. “We've got to prime him. There ain't enough water in him to start unless he's primed. When our cistern is low at home we have to prime it before the water starts pumping up, and that's what we've got to do.”
Well, I guessed that was so. Our cistern pump was that way too. So I took my bait can and washed it out good and clean and got a can of water and I primed Bony. I poured a little water in Bony's mouth and Swatty pumped.
“Prime him some more,” Swatty said.
So I primed him some more. It didn't seem to do any good.