THE INVITATION
"Is he dead, Frank? Is he breathing? Did we get him out in time?" cried
Andy, highly excited, as he dropped the oars and began to make his way
forward to where his brother was holding Billy. "Do you think we can
bring him around?"
"Say, don't ask so many questions," snapped Frank, not because he was
cross, but because he realized that seconds counted and he wanted to
do all he could for the half-drowned lad. "Get back to your oars," he
added. "First thing you know we'll be stuck in the mud bank, or upset
in the current. Hold the boat steady, and get over there where it's
quieter. Then we'll see what we can do."
Andy obeyed, and while Frank made the now unconscious lad more
comfortable, the young Racer boy pulled with all his strength toward a
quieter place in the eddy. Soon the boat was floating easily.
"Lively now!" commanded Frank. "Help me turn him over to drain some
of the water out of his lungs. Then we'll make a sort of pillow of our
coats and rest him, face down, on that."
Frank talked while he worked, and soon Billy's lungs were drained of
the water that kept the air from entering them. Next he was placed with
his stomach on an upraised roll of coats, across one of the seats, and
a little later Frank began using artificial respiration, by working
Billy's arms up and down over his head, while Andy pressed on the lower
portion of his chest to compress it. The boys had studied first-aid
work, and knew the method to be used in restoring half-drowned persons.
Their success was soon apparent, for, after a few seconds, Billy opened
his eyes, and looked up at his rescuers.
"Wha--what happened?" he asked feebly.
"You fell in," replied Frank. "But don't talk now. You must be too
weak."
"Oh, I'm all right," said Billy, in a stronger voice. "I remember it
all now. The limb broke with me, just as I was waving to you fellows. I
held my breath, as soon as I struck the water, but I couldn't seem to
get to the top."
"No wonder," put in Andy. "Your trousers were caught on a tree branch."
"Oh, that's what it was," went on Billy. "Well, when I couldn't hold
my breath any longer, and found that I couldn't get right side up, I
thought I was a goner. How did you manage to get me loose?"
Frank told how he had cut the trousers from the entangling limb, and
how he had dragged Billy into the boat just in time. The Western boy
was gaining strength every moment, and in a short while he had fully
recovered from his impromptu bath, save that he was still wet.
"Let's row ashore," proposed Andy, "and get some of the water out of
your clothes. Then you won't be so likely to catch cold. What possessed
you to go out on that limb?"
"I thought it was a good place to fish," replied Billy. "I could easily
throw my line in from the limb, and I never noticed that it was cracked
half way through."
"And it was rotten in the bargain," added Frank. "It ought to have been
chopped off long ago, or a warning sign put up. Most of our fellows
knew about it, though."
"I wish I had," said Billy ruefully. "But I do now. I'm glad I had on
an old suit."
By this time Andy had the boat near shore, and a little later the two
brothers were helping Billy wring the water from his heaviest garments.
It was no easy task to get them on again, and Frank insisted that his
own coat be used in place of the wet one of his chum.
"You'll need it yourself," insisted Billy. "It's quite cool to-day."
"No, I can keep warm rowing," declared Frank, passing over his garment.
"Then if that's warming work, me for an oar!" exclaimed Billy, who was
shivering in spite of the fact that it was late Spring.
With Billy and Frank pulling at the oars, the craft shot down the river
toward the boarding school, aided by the swift current. In a short time
Riverview Hall loomed in sight and a crowd of students could be seen
gathered on the dock near the boathouse.
"Huh! Great rowers you fellows are!" cried Jack Sanderson, when he saw
the water in the bottom of the craft, where it had dripped from Billy,
and noticed the damp figure of the Freshman.
"What did you do--upset?" asked Ward Platt.
"No, they've been inventing a new kind of submarine," chimed in John
North.
But when the students learned what had happened they offered their
congratulations to the rescued lad, and to the Racer boys who had so
pluckily pulled him out in the nick of time.
"Run up and get some dry duds on," suggested Frank. "Are you sure
you're all right, and don't need a doctor to look you over?"
"Oh, sure I'm all right," insisted Billy. "What do you think I am--a
chronic doctor's patient? First I get a whack over the head that lays
me out, and then I'm nearly drowned. I wonder when this 'hoodoo' is
going to let up?"
"That's right, you have had more than your share," admitted Andy, with
a grin.
Billy ran on toward his dormitory, while Andy and Frank remained behind
to tell further details of the rescue. Later they joined their new
chum in his room, where they found him drinking hot lemonade which the
motherly matron, Mrs. Stone, had sent up to him when she heard about
the accident.
"Oh, say, that smells good!" exclaimed Frank, sniffing the air.
"Have some," invited Billy, but when Andy tasted it he made a wry face,
for the matron had not made it any too sweet, and she had put some
ginger in it to further aid in warding off a possible cold.
"Talk about your ice cream sodas!" exclaimed Andy. "Got anything to
take the taste of that out of my mouth, Billy?"
"There's a box of crackers on that shelf," replied the host. "They
belong to Ray Bentley, my roommate, but go ahead and help yourself. He
won't mind. We use each other's things anyhow. I've got some of his
clothes on now. He took my best suit--gone to see some girl, I guess."
"Very likely--at the golf match," remarked Frank, while Andy helped
himself to the crackers. "But most of the fellows are back from there."
"Oh, Ray'll stay until the last cow comes home when there's a girl in
the offing," said Billy, as he took another glass of the hot lemonade.
"There, I feel better," he said. "I'm warmed through. Say, I can't
thank you fellows enough for pulling me out of the wetness, but----"
"Oh, forget it!" exclaimed Frank. "It was just by luck that we happened
to be there."
"By the way, did you get any fish?" asked Andy.
"Not a one," replied Billy. "I had had a few nibbles when you came
along, and I was just thinking I was going to have great luck, when----"
"When you had some _bad_ luck," interrupted Frank. "Well, never mind.
We'll all go fishing some day, and----"
There came a knock on the door, and the two visitors looked
questioningly at Billy.
"I guess it's all right," he said, in a whisper. "It isn't past
visiting time, and we haven't broken any rules. Come in!" he called.
The portal opened, disclosing one of the school messengers with a
letter in his hand.
"Special delivery for you," he announced to Billy, and the host, with
a murmured apology for reading the missive, tore open the envelope.
Rapidly he scanned the few lines. Then he uttered an exclamation of
surprise and delight.
"Say, fellows" he cried. "This is great! Listen to it. My uncle says
his affairs are getting all tangled up, and he wants me to come back
West at once and help him. He says to let things here slide for the
present, and hustle right out to the ranch. It seems that his rivals
are making all sorts of trouble for him."
"And can you help him?" asked Frank.
"Well, I'm going to try. You see I've done quite a lot of business for
him, and I know something of the ins and outs of his affairs. I guess
I'll have to go."
"And leave school?" asked Andy, dubiously.
"With the term only half over," added Frank, "and the best of the
baseball games to come. Oh, that's too bad!"
"Can't help it," replied Billy, still looking over the letter. "I won't
have to go for a few weeks, though, as I'll have to close matters up
here as best I can. But I've got to go, and--Oh say! here's something
else. I didn't read down that far before. Say, this is the best ever!"
"What?" asked Frank and Andy in a chorus.
"My uncle says he wants you two fellows to come out West with me. Out
on the ranch."
"Wants _us_?" came in another chorus.
"Yes, I wrote and told him how you helped me, and how you've been a
sort of bodyguard since that attack, and he thinks that's great. You've
got to come; will you? Come out on the prairies and I'll show you a
life worth living. Can't you come?"
He looked appealingly at Andy and Frank. They said nothing for a few
seconds. Then Billy added:
"You can help me, fellows. I'd rather have you with me than anyone I
know of. Besides, maybe we three can find the treasure of Golden Peak!"