Folding his arms, Jetson again began to swing as he hung head downward.
Among the midshipmen there were not so very many who were skillful at this form of exercise. Jetson was, and he was secretly proud of it.
"This will put the fellow Darrin to the bad if he came in with any notion of showing off," thought the sulky one exultantly.
Now the other midshipmen turned to leave the gym. In a moment more the only two left were Darrin and the man on the trapeze. In addition to the midshipmen there were two gym. attendants at some little distance.
"Who"s doing that fine work?" wondered Dave, stepping closer. "Why, it"s Jetson! Well, he has one accomplishment that I really envy him!"
Midshipman Jetson was now going through some rapid evolutions, first hanging head downward, and then, after developing speed, raising himself and turning over the crossbar. It was really work of which any athlete might have been proud.
"Say, Jim," muttered one attendant to the other, "that middie has me nervous for fair."
"Forget it," advised the other attendant, "It"s the middie"s neck, not yours."
"But we took the net down that goes with that bar. Suppose the young man should fall. He"d break his neck, and what could we say with the net gone?"
"He"s no business up there at this late hour in the afternoon," grumbled the other man.
"That talk won"t save us, either, if anything happens."
Jetson, filled with the desire to show off before the comrade he hated, had increased the speed of his brilliant flying movements.
But suddenly he slipped. There was no regaining his grip. With a howl of fright he felt himself plunging head downward more than thirty feet to the hard floor of the gym. He was in a fair way of landing on his head, cracking his skull and breaking his neck. Worse, in his sudden dread, he seemed to have lost control of his muscles.
"Turn! Land on your feet!" called Dave.
It all happened in a second. Dave, brief as the instant was, realized that the other midshipman was not going to land on his feet. In the same fleeting moment that Darrin called he hurled himself into position.
Straight down shot Jetson. Dave waited, with outstretched arms, ready to risk his own neck in the effort to save his sulky comrade.
From their end of the gym. the two startled attendants had watched the impending disaster, but there was no time for them to do anything.
From the way that Jetson fell it looked as though he had made a straight dive for Dave Darrin"s head. At all events, their heads met in sharp collision.
Down went Dave, as though shot, and Jetson went with him, but Darrin"s outstretched arms had grasped the other"s body, and Jetson was saved the worst of his fall.
Now the two midshipmen lay where they had fallen, Jetson lying somewhat across Dave"s motionless body.
"They"re killed!" yelled the attendant Jim hoa.r.s.ely.
"We"ll look "em over first, before we give up," retorted the other attendant, stooping and gently rolling Jetson over on his back.
"Sure they"re killed, Bob," protested Jim huskily. "They met head on.
You"ll find that both middies have their skulls broken."
"Bring two pails of water, you chump," ordered Bob. "I tell you, we won"t raise a row until we"ve done the best we can for "em."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Straight Down Shot Jetson.]
The water was brought. Under liberal dashes of it over his face and neck Jetson soon opened his eyes.
"I--I had a bad fall, didn"t I?" he asked of the man nearest him.
"You"d have broken your neck, sir, if Mr. Darrin hadn"t jumped forward and broken the force of your fall."
"I"d rather any other man had saved me," muttered the sullen one, slowly aiding himself to sit up. "How did Mr. Darrin do it?"
"Well, sir," responded Bob, "he stopped you partly with his head, and it would have been broken, only he had his hands out and gripped you at the shoulders or trunk. It may be that his head was split as it was, but I hardly think so."
Two more liberal douses of water, and Dave, too, opened his eyes.
"Is Jetson all right?" was Darrin"s first question.
"Yes," muttered Midshipman Jetson, "and thanks to you, as I understand it."
"Oh, if you"re all right, then I"m glad," responded Dave. "Bob, have you time to help me to stand up?"
"How do you feel, sir?" asked Bob, after he had complied and stood supporting Midshipman Darrin on his feet.
"Just a bit dizzy, Bob; but that"ll pa.s.s off in a moment. Jetson, I"m glad to see you alive. Not badly jolted, I hope?"
Jim was now aiding Jetson to his feet.
"Do you want a surgeon, either of you?" asked Bob.
Both midshipmen shook their heads.
"I think I"ll go over to one of the side seats," remarked Darrin, and Bob piloted him there, while Jim aided Jetson out to the shower room and locker.
Dave Darrin soon conquered the dizzy feeling enough to stand up and walk without a.s.sistance.
"I think I"ll go, now," he told Bob. "I don"t believe there is anything that I can do for Mr. Jetson."
"There is, sir, if you don"t mind," interposed Jim, striding up. "Mr.
Jetson has just asked if you mind waiting for him."
"My compliments to Mr. Jetson, and I shall be glad to wait for him."
The sulky midshipman soon hove in sight, having donned his uniform. He came up to Dave looking decidedly embarra.s.sed.
"Mr. Darrin, I fear I must thank you for having stopped my course to the floor," admitted Jetson, with a sheepish grin.
"I won"t make it too hard to thank me," replied Dave, with a smile.
"I"ll just say that you"re wholly welcome."
"But if you hadn"t caught me in just the way that you did, your skull would have been smashed by the impact with my head. You risked your life for me, Mr. Darrin."
"I didn"t stop to think of that, at the time. At any rate, risking one"s life goes with the Naval service, doesn"t it?"