THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, AND THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE STORY
It was the last day of the spring term of school. With Jack this meant
the end of his opportunity for going to school. What he should learn
hereafter he must learn by himself. The money was nearly out, and he
must go to work.
The last day of school meant also the expiration of the master's
authority. Whatever evil was done after school-hours on the last day was
none of his business. All who had grudges carried them forward to that
day, for thus they could revenge themselves without being called to
account by the master the next day. The last day of school had no
to-morrow to be afraid of. Hence, Pewee and his friends proposed to
square accounts on the last day of school with Jack Dudley, whom they
hated for being the best scholar, and for having outwitted them more
than once.
It was on the first day of June that the school ended, and Mr. Williams
bade his pupils good-bye. The warm sun had by this time brought the
waters of the Ohio to a temperature that made bathing pleasant, and when
the school closed, all the boys, delighted with liberty, rushed to the
river for a good swim together. In that genial climate one can remain in
the water for hours at a time, and boys become swimmers at an early age.
Just below the village a raft was moored, and from this the youthful
swimmers were soon diving into the deep water like frogs. Every boy who
could perform any feat of agility displayed it. One would turn a
somersault in the water, and then dive from one side of the raft to
another, one could float, and another swim on his back, while a third
was learning to tread water. Some were fond of diving toes downward,
others took headers. "The little fellows" who could not swim kept on the
inside of the great raft and paddled about with the aid of slabs used
for floats. Jack, who had lived for years on the banks of the Wildcat,
could swim and dive like a musquash.
Mr. Williams, the teacher, felt lonesome at saying good-bye to his
school; and to keep the boys company as long as possible, he strolled
down to the bank and sat on the grass watching the bathers below him,
plunging and paddling in all the spontaneous happiness of young life.
Riley and Pewee--conspirators to the last--had their plans arranged.
When Jack should get his clothes on, they intended to pitch him off the
raft for a good wetting, and thus gratify their long-hoarded jealousy,
and get an offset to the standing joke about dough-faces and ghosts which
the town had at their expense. Ben Berry, who was their confidant,
thought this a capital plan.
When at length Jack had enjoyed the water enough, he came out and was
about to begin dressing. Pewee and Riley were close at hand, already
dressed, and prepared to give Jack a farewell ducking.
But just at that moment there came from the other end of the raft, and
from the spectators on the bank, a wild, confused cry, and all turned to
hearken. Harry Weathervane's younger brother, whose name was Andrew
Jackson, and who could not swim, in dressing, had stepped too far
backward and gone off the raft. He uttered a despairing and terrified
scream, struck out wildly and blindly, and went down.
All up and down the raft and up and down the bank there went up a cry:
"Andy is drowning!" while everybody looked for somebody else to save
him.
The school-master was sitting on the bank, and saw the accident. He
quickly slipped off his boots, but then he stopped, for Jack had already
started on a splendid run down that long raft. The confused and
terrified boys made a path for him quickly, as he came on at more than
the tremendous speed he had always shown in games. He did not stop to
leap, but ran full tilt off the raft, falling upon the drowning boy and
carrying him completely under water with him. Nobody breathed during the
two seconds that Jack, under water, struggled to get a good hold on Andy
and to keep Andy from disabling him by his blind grappling of Jack's
limbs.
When at length Jack's head came above water, there was an audible sigh
of relief from all the on-lookers. But the danger was not over.
"Let go of my arms, Andy!" cried Jack. "You'll drown us both if you hold
on that way. If you don't let go I'll strike you."
Jack knew that it was sometimes necessary to stun a drowning person
before you could save him, where he persisted in clutching his
deliverer. But poor frightened Andy let go of Jack's arms at last. Jack
was already exhausted with swimming, and he had great difficulty in
dragging the little fellow to the raft, where Will Riley and Pewee Rose
pulled him out of the water.
But now, while all were giving attention to the rescued Andy, there
occurred with Jack one of those events which people call a cramp. I do
not know what to call it, but it is not a cramp. It is a kind of
collapse--a sudden exhaustion that may come to the best of swimmers. The
heart insists on resting, the consciousness grows dim, the will-power
flags, and the strong swimmer sinks.
Nobody was regarding Jack, who first found himself unable to make even
an effort to climb on the raft; then his hold on its edge relaxed, and
he slowly sank out of sight. Pewee saw his sinking condition first, and
cried out, as did Riley and all the rest, doing nothing to save Jack,
but running up and down the raft in a vain search for a rope or a pole.
The school-master, having seen that Andy was brought out little worse
for his fright and the water he had swallowed, was about to put on his
boots when this new alarm attracted his attention to Jack Dudley.
Instantly he threw off his coat and was bounding down the steep bank,
along the plank to the raft, and then along the raft to where Jack had
sunk entirely out of sight. Mr. Williams leaped head first into the
water and made what the boys afterward called a splendid dive. Once
under water he opened his eyes and looked about for Jack.
At last he came up, drawing after him the unconscious and apparently
lifeless form of Jack, who was taken from the water by the boys. The
teacher despatched two boys to bring Dr. Lanham, while he set himself to
restore consciousness by producing artificial breathing. It was some
time after Dr. Lanham's arrival that Jack fully regained his
consciousness, when he was carried home by the strong arms of Bob
Holliday, Will Riley, and Pewee, in turn.
[Illustration: BOB HOLLIDAY CARRIES HOME HIS FRIEND.]
And here I must do the last two boys the justice to say that they
called to inquire after Jack every day during the illness that followed,
and the old animosity to Jack was never afterward revived by Pewee and
his friends.
On the evening after this accident and these rescues, Dr. Lanham said to
Mrs. Lanham and Susan and Mr. Williams, who happened to be there again,
that a boy was wanted in the new drug-store in the village, to learn the
business, and to sleep in the back room, so as to attend night-calls.
Dr. Lanham did not know why this Jack Dudley wouldn't be just the boy.
Susan, for her part, was very sure he would be; and Mr. Williams agreed
with Susan, as, indeed, he generally did.
Dr. Lanham thought that Jack might be allowed to attend school in the
daytime in the winter season, and if the boy had as good stuff in him as
he seemed to have, there was no reason why he shouldn't come to
something some day.
"Come to something!" said Susan. "Come to something! Why, he'll make one
of the best doctors in the country yet."
And again Mr. Williams entirely agreed with Susan, Jack Dudley was sure
to go up to the head of the class.
Jack got the place, and I doubt not fulfilled the hope of his friends. I
know this, at least, that when a year or so later his good friend and
teacher, Mr. Williams, was married to his good and stanch friend, Susan
Lanham, Jack's was one of the happiest faces at the wedding.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Hoosier School-boy, by Edward Eggleston