“He can’t do it! He’ll never make it!” cried some of the spectators.
Bunk did not hear them, and it would have made no difference if he had. He realized that a single moment of hesitation or one false stroke might defeat him, and onward he swam, still heading across the current. Nearer and nearer he was carried to the ledges, and as he tipped his head sidewise to forge still farther toward midstream a sort of mad desperation filled his heart.
“I’ve got to do it!” his soul seemed to cry. “I must, and I will!”
An eddy caught him. Fortunately, it helped to bear him in the right direction. A few more strong strokes, and, in spite of his position, he almost laughed aloud with triumph. Now the spectators were yelling:
“He’ll do it! He’ll make it!”
Onto the ledges Lander was borne, and he also succeeded in getting a hold which he could maintain. Carefully he dragged himself out upon his hands and knees until he knelt on the very apex of the rock. Then with one hand he gripped Grant’s collar and assisted Rod in obtaining a more secure position. Lelia seemed unconscious. The two boys looked into each other’s eyes, and what they saw there sealed a compact of friendship as lasting as life itself.
“Good old Bunk!” chattered Rod.
“Boo!” said Lander. “This water’s awful cold. Say,” he added, pulling in the slack of the rope, “we’ll take a turn round under her arms first, then under yours next, and I guess I can hang on all right if them fellers on shore have got gumption enough to pull us out.”
They made the rope secure beneath Lelia’s arms, leaving enough of the free end to take a turn round Rod and Lander also. Then, signaling to the twenty men and boys on the shore who were ready to pull, they slid from the ledge.
By this time Main Street bridge just above the pond was lined with people who had been brought out by the shouts of alarm. Gaping, they watched the rope drawn in until Grant and Lander, lifting Lelia Barker between them, rose to their feet and waded to the bank. Then the spectators cheered and shouted and screamed like mad, for they had witnessed a double act of heroism that would long be remembered in Oakdale.