“You two fellows get down on the firm bank and be ready to heave when I give you the word,” Hugh told Ralph and Bud; and after they had done this he continued: “Pull steadily now, and not with a jerk. That’s the way to do it. Work your legs as much as you can, Billy. Are you moving any?”
“Yep, and I’m being sawed in half, too, I reckon!” gasped the other; “but mebbe I c’n stand that better than being smothered, so keep it goin’, boys. ‘One good turn deserves another.’ Yo-heave-o! away she goes! That time I lifted three inches, and it ought to be easier now. Whee! good-by, old quicksand! Sorry to leave you, but ‘the best of friends must part!’”
By the time Billy’s feet had come in sight above the scanty water, his hands were able to fasten on the limb. With the waiting Hugh ready to assist him, it was not so very difficult for the boy to scramble up until he found himself astraddle there.
“Lemme breathe a little here first, fellows!” wheezed Billy, as red in the face as a turkey. “You joshed me when I was startin’ out, Ralph, and said mebbe the old bullfrogs might turn on me. Well, they didn’t, but their best friend, the creek, did everything it knew how to take revenge.”
“But didn’t you get any frogs; we heard you shoot lots of times?” Bud asked.
“Sure I did, one with every shot, and there’s a round dozen lying up on the bank, where I tossed ’em after I found I was stuck in this sand. I’m rested some now, boys, and I think I’ll get ashore.”
When he had successfully negotiated the limb and descended the trunk, Billy was seen to affectionately pat the bark as though he should always cherish fond memories of that friendly tree.
“I’m going to coax one of the fellows to take a picture of it for me,” he declared, “and every time I look at it, I’ll think what a nice thing it is to have a friend in time of need.”
They soon found the big frogs where the hunter had tossed them. Billy admitted that he fancied he had had enough of the sport for one day. As there were a baker’s dozen in all, and it was not certain that every fellow would care to taste such an odd dish, his decision was perhaps wise.
So he washed his soiled legs, and put on his shoes and socks, which he had been carrying suspended from his belt up to the time he thought it best to hurl them ashore after his game.