There the plank lodged fast. They were able to secure fairly firm holds on the projecting arms of the tree, but the current whipped their legs beneath them and threatened to sweep them on.
Grimly they clung to their precarious refuge. The man Flash had aided aroused himself after a dazed moment, and looked about in panic.
“Easy now,” warned Flash.
Instead of thanking the cameraman for saving his life, he began to revile him.
“If you had kept out of this I would have made a clean get-away! Now the dicks probably are on my tail!”
The man’s words proved prophetic for the state police had followed down river and were at a point opposite where the pair clung.
A rope sailed accurately through the air, settling across the tree. Reaching to his full length, Flash was able to grasp it. As he started to knot it about his companion’s body, the man struck wildly at him.
“They won’t get me!” he shouted hoarsely. “I’ll drown first!”
His hold loosened, but Flash acted quickly. He seized the man’s coat collar with his left hand, maintaining his own grasp on the tree limb. The swift current whipped his legs from beneath him.
But help was at hand. A state patrolman who was a strong swimmer, reached the sunken tree. He tied the rope about the struggling man and signaled for a fast haul-in to shore. Flash followed with the officer.