“Aw, prime him a lot!” Swatty said, so I poured all the water I had in the can into Bony's mouth and went and got some more.
“Keep on!” Swatty said. “He'll start pretty soon. We've got to get the water pumped out of him.”
So I was priming Bony again when somebody behind us said:
“What are you trying to do to that boy?”
I looked around, and Swatty looked around. It was the man with the ring on his thumb.
“He's drowned,” Swatty said, “and we're trying to pump him out.”
The man took ahold of Swatty's shoulder and threw him almost into the fence. He stooped down and grabbed Bony and threw him across a big maple root, face down, and began to pump and pretty soon Bony began to pump out. The man pumped him pretty dry and then he put him in the sun and began to rub him good and after a while Bony opened his eyes. To see him open his eyes was one of the best things I ever saw. I was mighty glad I had helped to undrown him.
Bony was pretty much wilted. Me and Swatty didn't know how we would ever get him home but we didn't have to.
“About one more can of water in this kid and he would have been gone for good,” the man said. “Now, you help him onto my back and I'll get him home for you.”
We got Bony onto his back and Bony hung around his neck and the man held Bony's legs under his arms. He climbed the fence with him that way and started off across the ploughed field and me and Swatty went after him. We didn't even think about taking our fishpoles along. We went across the field and the man stopped at his house and called his mother and she gave Bony some whiskey in hot water while the man went over to a farmer's house and got a team and a wagon. So, while he was gone Swatty said to Bony: