IN A BAD FIX
For a moment Frank and Sammy were in a panic. Their hearts seemed to
stop beating and they looked at each other in dismay.
"What's the matter with Bob?" shouted Sammy, wildly.
"Perhaps he's only fooling us," yelled back Frank, clutching at a shred
of hope.
"No, he isn't!" cried Sammy. "Oh, Frank, let's hurry."
They turned and swam with all their might to the place where their
comrade had disappeared.
And while they are trying desperately to rescue Bob, I am going to tell
those readers who have not read the earlier books in this series just
who the boys were and what fun and adventures they had had together up
to the present time.
The boys had all been born and brought up in the town of Fairview, a
pleasant little place situated on the edge of a large body of water
called Rainbow Lake. There were a number of islands in the lake, the
largest being called Pine Island. With such a fine body of water close
at hand, the boys had great sport both in Summer and in Winter.
All three boys were between ten and eleven years of age. They were good
friends with most of the boys in town, but were especially fond of
each other. They attended the same school and were in the same class,
and whether in school or out were almost always together.
Frank was a bright boy with plenty of push and go, and was perhaps the
leader among the three, if they could be said to have a leader.
Bob Bouncer was full of fun and mischief and always playing pranks. But
with all his joking, there was nothing mean or small about him and he
was a general favorite.
Sammy Brown was the dreamer of the three. Give Sammy the least idea
of a mystery, and he was on it like a cat on a mouse. The fact that
most of his so-called mysteries did not amount to anything in the long
run did not discourage Sammy a bit. He was always sure he would hit
the mark the next time. Then, too, while Sammy did not, as a rule,
find what he set out to look for, he had once or twice made some other
interesting discovery, so that he did not feel altogether cheated.
One time the boys were sailing on Rainbow Lake in a small craft called
the _Puff_ that belonged to George Haven, Frank's brother. The boat was
wrecked and the three boys had to live for several days on Pine Island
until help came. How they made the best of it and the adventures they
had you will find set down in the first volume of the series, named:
"Fairview Boys Afloat and Ashore; Or, The Young Crusoes of Pine Island."
Sammy had his chance to show what a lucky or unlucky detective he
was in the second book of the series called: "Fairview Boys on Eagle
Mountain; Or, Sammy Brown's Treasure Hunt." Sammy found a curious
old document in a trunk in the attic that he was sure would lead him
to a treasure, and the three chums set off in a great hurry to Eagle
Mountain to try and find it.
There is plenty of excitement, though of a different kind, in the third
book of the series named: "Fairview Boys and Their Rivals; Or, Bob
Bouncer's Schooldays." The jewelry store was robbed and there was a
fire in the school. It looked for a time as if the robbery would never
be cleared up, but Bob played a clever part in getting back the stolen
things and solving the mystery.
Soon after this the boys were invited to visit a hunter who lived on
a part of Pine Island that they had never been over. While they were
there, for of course they accepted the invitation, they ran across a
crabbed old hermit who did his best to drive them from the island. Why
he did this and what part was played in the story by an unexpected
explosion is told in the fourth book of the series, which is called:
"Fairview Boys at Camp Mystery; Or, The Old Hermit and His Secret."
All this had occurred in Winter. But when the Winter had gone and
had been followed by Spring, the boys naturally began to plan for
the Summer vacation. Mr. Bouncer had taken a cottage at a seaside
resort called Lighthouse Cove, and Sammy and Frank had been cordially
invited to go with Bob. They had had a splendid time, and Sammy had
been greatly stirred up by the strange actions of a man who in Sammy's
opinion was certainly digging for pirate gold. The boys, too, had a
very dangerous adventure when a motor launch on which they were broke
from its moorings in a storm and drifted out to sea. The exciting story
of their rescue can be read in the fifth volume of the series, named:
"Fairview Boys at Lighthouse Cove; Or, Carried Out to Sea."
As Frank and Sammy reached the point where they had last seen their
chum, Bob's head appeared above the surface, his face a kind of grayish
green and his eyes filled with terror.
His arms slapped the water aimlessly and he was going down again when
Sammy grabbed him by the shoulder, while at the same time Frank got a
grip on the other arm.
[Illustration: SAMMY GRABBED HIM BY THE SHOULDER.]
"What's the matter, Bob?" panted Sammy.
"C-cramps, I guess," responded Bob, weakly.
"I'll tell you what to do," said Frank. "Turn over on your back, Bob,
and try to float. Then Sammy and I will take turns in towing you to
shallow water."
Luckily, Bob had sense and self-control enough to do this, though for
a moment he felt a wild temptation to grasp his comrades frantically.
But he knew that this might make all three of them drown, and he did
as Frank had directed. They were soon back in the shallower water, and
then the tired and frightened boys found a foothold and all dragged
themselves up on the sand where they fell in a heap.
Sammy was the first to speak.
"Lucky thing we heard you yell before you went under, Bob," he remarked.
"How did it all happen?" asked Frank. "I never knew you to have cramps
before. And the water wasn't cold this morning."
"I can't understand it myself," said Bob. "One minute I was swimming
along all right, and the next I was as weak as a rag. I couldn't
straighten out my legs to kick and the first thing I knew I went under.
I guess you boys got to me just in time."
"It must have been something you'd eaten," suggested Frank.
"You've just been cramming yourself with those everlasting suckers,"
said Sammy, severely.
"Huh," snorted Bob, "you're a pretty one to talk! I bet I didn't eat
any more candy this morning than you did."
"Never mind what the reason was," broke in Frank. "The only thing we
care for now is that Bob is safe and that we're all on solid ground."
"Are you going to tell your mother about it?" asked Sammy.
"What's the use?" answered Bob. "It would only scare her half to death
and perhaps she wouldn't let me go in swimming again."
"Still I think you ought to tell her," advised Frank.
But, as it turned out, it did not make the least difference whether he
had decided to tell or not, for as soon as Mrs. Bouncer's eye rested
upon him and his colorless face, she gave a little shriek and pounced
upon him, gathering him up in her arms and making him tell the whole
story. Then Bob, much to his disgust, was packed off between blankets
and dosed with hot lemonade, although he protested that it was all
nonsense and he did not need a thing.
"There's one good thing about it all, anyway," said Sammy later on,
as he and Frank sprawled out on the hot sand. "Mr. Bouncer will be so
scared over Bob's accident that he'll be only too glad to get him away
from the water by letting him go to the ranch."
"That's so," agreed Frank. "I wish this had happened before you sent
your letter, Sammy. You could have told your folks about it and that
would have been a clincher."
"It sure would," admitted Sammy. "But I guess maybe they'll let me go
without that. I'll be mighty glad when I get that telegram. It doesn't
seem as if I could wait till to-morrow."
"Well, half of this day is nearly gone anyway," observed Frank.
"There's that much to the good. I think--ouch! What was that?"
He had suddenly felt a sharp, stinging pain in the back of his neck.
He put his hand to the spot and rubbed it vigorously.
"It must have been a sand fly," said Sammy. "Those little green ones
bite like the mischief sometimes. Just rub the spot a minute and the
smart will go away."
The next minute, he, too, sat up with a convulsive jerk.
"Jiminy!" he cried. "I got it myself that time. But it felt more like a
bee than a sand fly."
"I don't believe it was a bee," said Frank, "or we'd have heard the
buzzing. Ouch----"
This time he sprang to his feet and fairly danced about as the same
sharp, stinging sensation caught him in the forehead.
Sammy laughed at the figure Frank was cutting.
"I never knew you were such a good dancer, Frank," he mocked. "Give us
a Highland----"
But at this instant something struck him on the tip of the nose and he,
too, jumped up and down while he grasped his nose with his hand.
"Who's dancing now?" asked Frank gleefully.
But Sammy's eyes were fixed on a little pellet that lay on the sand at
his feet. Stooping down, he picked it up and looked at it solemnly. He
pinched it and handed it over to Frank who regarded it curiously.
"There's the sand fly that stung us," said Sammy.
"A putty ball," declared Frank. "Somebody's been shooting at us with a
putty blower."
They looked at each other for an instant and then by common consent
they looked toward the window of the room where Bob had been put to bed.
"Don't you think you saw that curtain move?" asked Sammy.
"It looked like that," agreed Frank. "But, of course, it might have
been the wind."
"Wind nothing!" retorted Sammy, scornfully. "The wind that moved that
curtain is named Bob Bouncer."
"Let's go in and rough house him," suggested Frank.
"We surely will," replied Sammy. "A fellow that isn't too sick to shoot
a putty blower isn't too sick to have a pillow bounced on his head.
Come along."
The two boys marched up to the cottage where Mrs. Bouncer was sitting
on the porch shelling peas for dinner.
She smiled at them.
"Where are you going, boys?" she asked.
"Just going in for a minute to see how Bob is getting along," replied
Sammy.
"Perhaps he's a little lonesome in there all by himself," added Frank.
"It's very nice of you boys to want to cheer him up," said Mrs.
Bouncer. "But if he's asleep, I think perhaps that will do the poor boy
more good than company. Wait a minute and I'll see if he's awake."
She went in and Sammy nudged Frank.
"The poor boy!" said Frank, gritting his teeth.
"He needs his sleep!" remarked Sammy. "He'll be tired enough to need it
when we get through with him."
They heard Mrs. Bouncer knock on Bob's door.
There was a moment's silence and then a voice piped up:
"Is that you, Ma?"
"Yes, Bobby, dear," was the response. "Frank and Sammy want to come in
to cheer you up."
The boys listened breathlessly for the answer. When it came, the voice
was very weak and tired.
"I think I'd better try to get to sleep, Ma," Bob said. "But thank
Frank and Sammy just the same."
Mrs. Bouncer came back with a genial smile.
"The dear boy isn't feeling quite himself yet," she remarked. "I think
perhaps we had better leave him to himself for a time. You can see him
later."
"Yes ma'am," replied Sammy. "We'll see him later."
"We'll see him later," repeated Frank, mechanically.
They forced their faces into a smile and went out. And it was not till
they were well out of range of Mrs. Bouncer's sight that the frozen
smile thawed out.
"Stung!" exclaimed Sammy, dropping heavily on the sand.
"Good and plenty," agreed Frank.
"Bob put one over on us that time all right," continued Sammy.
"He surely did," rejoined Frank. "But our time will come. We'll get him
yet."
"You bet we will!" declared Sammy with emphasis. "But there he is now,"
he went on, looking up at Bob's window.
Frank followed the direction of Sammy's finger and saw the invalid with
a broad grin on his face standing at the open window.
Both boys shook their fists at him, at which Bob's smile broadened.
Then he yawned, closed his eyes and with long breaths made his chest
rise and fall as though in peaceful slumber.
"Oh, if I only had that putty blower with me now," muttered Sammy, "I'd
take that peaceful look off his face in a hurry."
"Wouldn't we just!" snapped Frank.
They started to find something to throw at the tantalizing figure at
the window. But Bob, though shamming sleep, was keeping a sharp lookout
beneath his lowered lids, and before the boys could find anything
to throw the window came down, and with a last grin and a mocking
flourish, Bob disappeared.