"It is!" agreed Frank; "and I supposed that thing must be hundreds of miles from here."
"Going East."
"Of course."
"Belmont didn"t let any gra.s.s grow under his feet before he got out."
"Not much."
The creature on the bluff danced and screamed and waved its long arms, while its hideous face was convulsed with expressions of rage.
"Oh, I"d like to get at him!" grated Frank.
"Thank you, I"d much rather keep away!" exclaimed Harry.
Then the boys started to swim ash.o.r.e.
Suddenly the dwarf began throwing stones at them. He picked up huge stones from the ground and sent them whizzing through the air with great force and something like accuracy.
"Well, this is getting rather hot!" exclaimed Frank, as a huge jagged stone shot down past his head and sank in the water.
"Hot!" gurgled Rattleton. "I should say so--some!"
"Look out!"
Another huge stone struck between them.
"If that had hit either of us, it would have fixed us!" came from Frank.
"You bet!"
"Swim, old fellow! We must get away."
But as they swam, looking for a place to go ash.o.r.e, the dwarf followed along the top of the bluff, still pelting them with stones, while he uttered those savage cries.
One of the smaller stones struck Merry and hurt him not a little.
"Wait!" he muttered. "I"ll get a chance at you yet!"
Then, regardless of the shower of stones, he started to swim in toward the sh.o.r.e where he saw a place that they could get out of the water.
But another stone whizzed down, and there came a broken, strangling cry from Harry.
"What happened, old fellow?" asked Frank, who was now a bit in advance. "Did the cur hit you?"
No answer.
Frank looked around, and found Harry had disappeared from view.
The dwarf on the bluff danced and howled with fierce delight.
As quickly as he could, Frank turned about, swam back a little and dived. It did not require a great effort to go down, for now his clothes were thoroughly wet, and he sank easily.
As soon as he was below the surface, keeping his eyes open, he saw his friend lying on the bottom. The water was so clear that there was not the least difficulty in this.
Down Frank went till he reached Harry, whom he grasped. Planting his feet on the bottom, he gave a great leap and shot upward.
The water was not more than eight feet deep, and he quickly reached the surface, immediately striking for the sh.o.r.e.
But his watersoaked garments and Harry"s weight dragged on him, and it was a desperate battle to keep from going down again.
"You must do it, Merriwell!" he told himself. "It"s your only show!
Pull him out somehow!"
Several times his head was forced below the surface and it seemed that the struggle was over; but he would not give up, and he would not let go his hold on Harry.
"Both or none!" he thought. "If I can"t get out with him, I"ll not get out without him!"
The dwarf had disappeared from the bluff, which was a fortunate thing, as he would have been given a fine opportunity to pelt them with rocks as Frank slowly and laboriously swam ash.o.r.e. Just then, if Merriwell had been struck on the head by a stone, it must have ended the whole affair.
"Oh, if my clothes were off!" panted Frank. "Then I could do it. I must do it anyway."
He wondered how badly Harry was hurt, but it was impossible to tell till the sh.o.r.e was reached.
The water did not seem so buoyant as it should, and he almost felt that there was a force dragging him down.
Purely by his power of determination he succeeded in reaching the rocks and dragging himself out with his burden, when he sank down utterly exhausted.
"Thank goodness!" he gasped. "I did it!"
He had not been there many moments when he heard a cry above, and, looking upward, saw the dwarf had returned to the edge of the bluff.
The dwarf seemed astonished when he saw the boys had reached sh.o.r.e, and he sent a stone whistling down at them.
Frank dodged the missile, and then, with a fresh feeling of strength, hastened up the rocks toward the top of the bluff.
Apollo saw the boy coming and immediately took to his heels, quickly disappearing from view.
Finding the dwarf had escaped, Frank turned back, lifted Harry in his arms, and again mounted the rocks.
He reached the top and bore his friend to a place where he could rest on some short gra.s.s where he was sheltered from the sunlight.
Then Frank looked for Harry"s injury.
Rattleton had been struck on the head by a stone, which had cut a short gash in the scalp, and from this blood was flowing.
"It doesn"t seem very bad," said Frank, as he examined the wound. "I rather think it stunned him, and that is all. He was not under water long enough to drown."
Frank took a handkerchief from his pocket and wrung it out, intending to bind up Harry"s head with it.