“Then lie over on your back and float,” said Tom. “Just lie still and we’ll swim you in.”
Harvey groaned at the effort it cost him, but did as he was told, and they left the canoe and struck out with him for the shore.
It was not such a long swim that they had before them, but they had exhausted their strength more than they knew in their excitement, and Harvey was well-nigh helpless.
Before they had swum a rod farther, their breath began to come hard and their shoulders ached until it seemed as though they would crack.
Still they kept on.
“We’ll make it all right, Tom?” said Bob, finally, panting the words out.
“We’ve got to,” said Tom. “We’re bound to do it. Let’s swim on our backs for a spell. Jack, we’re going to change the stroke. Don’t get scared. We’re going to stick by you.”
The words seemed to rouse Harvey, who had apparently almost lost consciousness.
“Let me go,” he gasped, faintly. “Let me go, I say. I don’t want you fellows to drown, too. Let me——”
And then he seemed suddenly to lose control of himself, and clutched frantically at them, with the frenzy of a drowning man.