To my great joy I saw that he grasped it in his right hand, and exerted all his strength to extricate himself from his perilous condition. Had I not have been prepared for his struggles, and braced my feet firmly, I should have been dragged into the bog.
"Gently!" I cried, fearful that my friend, in his exertions, would rend the cloth.
My words were thrown away, however, for when did a man, struggling for life, ever listen to reason? For a few seconds the suction was so great that I could only prevent him from sinking lower, and keep his head above the mud, until at length I recommended him to endeavor to work his legs loose, so that he could rest upon his stomach, as though he was attempting to swim.
Brown followed my advice, and when he saw that there was a certain prospect of being saved he grew quite calm, and soon I had the satisfaction of reaching out my hand, grasping one of his own, and dragging him upon the peninsula, a little the worse for his contact with the bog, but cheerful, and disposed to regard his adventure in the light of a joke.
"My dear friend," he exclaimed, clasping my hand, and I thought he was about to pour forth a profusion of thanks for my services, "let me advise you to put your trousers on as soon as possible, for these blasted mosquitoes will devour you alive."
I think that his recommendation was the best evidence of his attachment that I could possibly have desired, for I had been so inwrapt with the business before me that I had not heeded the cloud of ferocious insects hovering around my naked extremities, filling their bodies with my life blood, and causing me to almost desire a bath in the bog, for the purpose of getting rid of my tormentors.
I hurried on my clothes without loss of time, and then desired to know in what manner I could help him.
"Let me get away from this place first, and then secure a wash, and a change of clothing, for I feel as though I had been fished out of a molasses hogshead," Mr. Brown said, scraping the mud from his shirt and pants, and even taking it from his pockets by handfuls.
"What made you run in the manner that you did?" he asked, as I assisted him to rise.