“Who was with you?” asked Alf.
“Thompson. That was funny, wasn’t it? I guess if he hadn’t come just when he did Harry would have drowned.” He stopped and shivered.
“Here, you lie down there and pull the covers over you,” said Dan. “You’d better go to sleep, too.”
“No, I couldn’t go to sleep, really!” cried Gerald. “I’d rather talk.” But he followed Dan’s advice and snuggled down under a blanket.
“How did it happen?” asked Alf. “I can’t make heads nor tails of it.”
So Gerald told his story. Part of it we already know. The rest Gerald told as follows:
“When I went down I kept my eyes open and saw him almost at once. I thought he was drowned already, for he didn’t seem to be struggling at all, just lying down there in the mud on top of a lot of sunken branches and rubbish. He was only three or four yards from the bank, but the pond is real deep there. There’s a sort of channel where the water has cut along the side. Well, I grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to bring him up. He came about a foot and then held. I pulled and tugged, but couldn’t raise him. I stayed down until I thought my head was going to burst open, and then I came up. And as I got my head out of water and took a breath I heard a splash and saw some one dive by me. It was all terribly confused. I didn’t even wonder who the other fellow was. I just filled up with air and went down again. It was hard to see now, for the water was all roiled up with mud and sediment from the bottom, but I could make out that the other fellow had his arms around Harry and was pulling. So I got hold, too, and pulled, and all of a sudden he came away in our arms, and we came up with him and managed to get him up on the bank. Then I saw that the other fellow was Thompson.”
“How did he happen to be there?” asked Dan.
“Just by accident. He was in his canoe by himself, coming down the river, when he heard our voices across on the lake, and thought he’d paddle in and see who we were. Just before he got through the channel he heard the splash when our canoe dumped us out, and then he heard me yell. He got there just as I dived, and he went over as soon as he could.”