Hugh sat up and looked a trifle anxious.
“I’m sorry they were in such a rushing hurry,” he remarked. “I meant to give them one more caution about risking that fierce current out there. The river is unusually high for early summer, on account of recent rains, and I would hate to get caught in that swirl myself, stout swimmer that I am.”
“Same here, Hugh!” declared Billy Worth, as he started to get on his feet. “Let’s walk over there, and you can tell the fellows what you think about it. I’m more concerned about that new tenderfoot, Tremaine, than any of the old members. He seems to be a bundle of nerves, and inclined to be rash. That’s just the kind of chap to take chances, so as to make the rest think him some punkins.”
“All right! Come on, Billy. I’ll feel easier in my mind——”
Hugh stopped short in what he was saying. A sudden chorus of excited cries rang out, coming from the river where the scouts were bathing.
“Scoot for it, Hugh!” barked Billy, often called “Billy the Wolf” by his chums. “I reckon what we were just talking about has happened. I heard someone shriek that Tremaine was drowning! I’m at your heels, Hugh, all right!”
CHAPTER II.
A CLOSE CALL IN THE RAPIDS.
It took Hugh and Billy only a dozen seconds to clear the intervening ground to reach the scene, such was the speed with which they ran.
On reaching the bank of the river, Hugh saw that it was just as he had feared. Out in the midst of the boiling current, where the foam leaped and there were evidently dangerous rapids of some sort, a boy was struggling madly. He had evidently been attempting to swim across that dangerous place when attacked by cramps; either that or else he had been thrown against a concealed rock and struck his head so as to become staggered and frightened.
Billy Worth may have wondered why Hugh led him to the river below where the outcries arose, instead of heading directly toward them; but he now realized the wisdom of the move.