Tom was going closer, intending to take hold of Rick's outstretched hands, but Chot called sharply:
"Don't do that! If you do you'll be stuck, too!"
"But we got to do something!" insisted Tom. "We can't leave him stuck here!"
"Of course not!" assented Chot. "We'll get you out all right, Rick, and we'll help you find your dog, too. Come on over here, Tom, and help me get a fence rail. We can hold that out to Rick and pull him loose that way!"
Tom and Chot were about a year older than Rick, and knew a little better what to do in a case of this kind than did Ruddy's master.
"Don't be scared," Chot called to his chum, as the two boys walked off up a little hill toward a fence. "We'll get you out all right. I've been stuck in the mud here myself. You can wash your shoes off down in the brook. It isn't very cold to-day."
"My shoes'll be terrible muddy," declared Rick, trying to get a look at them, but he could not—they were too deep down in the muck.
It did not take Tom and Chot long to find a long fence rail that was not too heavy for them to lift. They carried it back to Rick and held out one end to him, retaining hold of the other end themselves.
"Now keep a tight grip, and when we pull, you pull and lift your feet and then you'll be loose," advised Chot.
Rick did his share, the other boys pulled and pretty soon, with another queer, sucking, sighing sound Rick felt his feet coming free from the mud and he could lift them out one after the other. He was glad to see his feet again, muddy as they were, for he was beginning to fear they might sink so far down in the swamp of the field that he would never get them back.