"Unless you want to stay here until the insects eat you up, you've got to. Just take it easy, let them tow you, and try to keep your lungs full. When they dive you may have to stay under several minutes."
"I don't like it either," said Matt.
"Shucks, I visited my first Venerian home when I was nine. They know you can't swim the way they do. At least the ones around the colonies know it," he admitted doubtfully.
"Maybe you had better impress them with it."
"I'll try."
The leader cut him short with assurances. She gave a sharp command and six of her party placed themselves by the cadets, two to each man. Three others took over Thurlow, lifting him and sliding him into the water. One of them was the one who had been instructed.
Oscar called out, "Take it easy, fellows!" Matt felt little hands urging him into the lake. He took a deep breath and stepped off into the water.
The water closed over his head. It was blood warm and fresh. He opened his eyes, saw the surface, then his head broke water again. The little hands grasped his sides and propelled him along, swimming strongly. He told himself j to relax and stop fighting it. I
After a while it even began to seem pleasant, once he 1 was sure that the little creatures did not intend to pull | him under. But he remembered Oscar's advice and tried :| to watch out for a dive. Luckily, he saw the trio of which ' Tex was the middle go under; he gulped air just in time.
They went down and down, until his eardrums hurt, then forward. By the time they started up the pains in his chest were almost unbearable. He was fighting a reflex to open his mouth and breathe anything, even water, when they broke surface again.