At this Amy gave forth a yell that, one might have thought, could be heard from one end of the lake to the other. Jessie clutched the log tighter and gasped. Darry grabbed the boathook and caught the hook into the waistband of his chum’s trousers as he went down.
Sputtering and shouting, Burd was drawn to the surface again. The girls added their screams to the young fellow’s objections. Darry leaped to the log and managed to keep his chum above the surface. The latter, between his sputtering and objections to such rough treatment, scrambled up the rough bark and finally hung over the log, panting.
“Why—why didn’t you let me alone?” he managed finally to gasp out. “I can swim.”
“Couldn’t take chances of losing you, Burd,” giggled Amy.
“Oh!” cried Jessie. “The launch has sunk!”
She spoke truly. The battered boat had disappeared beneath the surface of the lake. The log rolled slightly. The girls both squealed again, for they were now astride the log and their feet dipped into the lake.
“Oh, dear me!” groaned Jessie Norwood. “This is an awfully wet time. How shall we ever get home, Darry?”
“Well, there is one thing sure,” declared Amy’s brother in deep disgust. “We shan’t wade ashore. For right about where we are now Lake Monenset is, they say, a quarter of a mile deep.”
CHAPTER XV
NOT SO MUCH FUN
The danger, Jessie had thought, was over. But what Darry Drew said made her feel anxious again.