"No."
"Why, Billy," Archie protested, "you're just plain foolish to ask me not to——"
"No," said Billy, again; "it isn't foolish. I won't have it."
Archie said nothing.
"Now," said Billy, "I'll try my hand at it."
The gravity and untoward chances of the attempt were not ignored. Both boys were aware of them. A simple thing to splash into the first shallow inches of Rattle Water and there deliberate an advance—true enough; but Billy Topsail was in earnest about crossing. He would venture far and perilously before he turned back—venture to the brink of safety, and tentatively, definitely into the dragging grip of the deeper current beyond. A boy who proposes to go as far as he can is in the way of overreaching himself. Beyond his utmost, whatever his undertaking, lies a mocking, entreating temptation to his courage—an inch or two more.
"Billy!" said Archie.
"Ay?"
"Do you think that if you fall in the current I'll stand by and——"