"Come on!" shouted Simmons from a box. "Don"t waste time!"
Preparation for a bath is not a long process with a boy. Garments were dragged off and tossed about, and in a minute they were ready, and dancing round the edge of the clear green water.
Avoiding the steps as a matter of course, Toppin was swinging his arms preparatory to jumping into the shallow end, when, seeing Simmons skipping along the plank that led to the diving-board, in the part where the water was marked "5 ft.", he paused to watch. Simmons raised his hands above his head, curved his body, and dived.
"Oo!" cried Toppin admiringly.
Presently a head appeared, rolling round and blowing. Simmons was swimming towards Toppin. Bacon was now preparing to take a header.
"I say, Lucy, you"re not a tall chap. No more aren"t I. Why can"t I swim and dive?"
"It isn"t size that"s needed, it"s talent," observed Simmons, treading water, as he winked at the little fellow.
"Rot!" said Toppin decidedly. There was a loud splash. Bacon had vanished.
"Up he comes again!" cried Toppin, clapping his hands in an ecstasy.
"Oh, I"m going to dive to-day. You can see how easy it is. Let me have a shot before the others come, case I fail."
"Better wait a year or two, Top," said Simmons, deliberately turning a somersault.
"I"m bovvered if I do!" cried Toppin, scampering round to the diving-board. He was in a state of great excitement. "I"m going to dive, and turn head over heels, and stamp in the water, just like you."
"Oh, let the nipper see what he can do!" said Armitage, laughing. He was standing on the diving-board. "There"s nothing like beginning early. Can you swim, kiddie?"
"Not--not far," said Toppin cautiously. "I can swim with my arms all right, only I sometimes put one foot on the ground."
"If you don"t swim, you"ll sink, you know," explained Armitage. "This is deep water."
"Not so very; only five feet," rejoined Toppin. "I"m not funky. Of course I know _how_ to swim. I"ve watched frogs awfully closely."
"Well, then, up with your hands--same as you saw the other two."
Toppin lifted them high, the tips of his fingers met in the approved style, and he took a long breath. Then, gradually, his hands fell back to his sides, and the breath ended in a sigh. Armitage pushed the child impatiently aside.
"Get away, you silly little coward! I"m not going to waste my time standing over you. Go back to the shallow end, and dance at the ropes.
We"ll come over and duck you."
Toppin was quivering, but his face flushed crimson, and, thrusting himself forward once more, he laid a hand pleadingly on Armitage"s wrist. At the same moment a clatter on the stone stairs told of the approach of section number two.
"Give us one more chance, Armie, please! I promise not to funk it again.
Listen, they"re just coming!"
"You"ll not do it," said Armitage.
"Won"t I, though! Look here! count three, and then give me a tiny push."
As Jack and the March Hare entered the saloon they heard Armitage say, "Very well. One, two, three; now go!"
There was a faint, quickly-checked cry, and then a little splash. Toppin was under the water.
The same instant the March Hare--hat, boots, and all--had leapt in, and was fighting his way towards the deep end.
Jack"s first impulse was to tear off his coat and follow the Hare"s example; but when he saw a little red head appear and immediately be captured, and when he realized that Bacon, Simmons, and Armitage were all swimming to the rescue, he refrained.
Although the March Hare was the first to lay hold of Toppin"s crest, the next minute he was himself in need of rescue. The Hare had only advanced to the swimming stage when both hands and feet are absolutely necessary, and the pause to seize his friend had sufficed, when combined with the weight of his garments, to sink him; so Toppin dived for the second time, in company with the March Hare.
"Quick!" yelled Jack, "or there"ll be two drowned! Shall I come?"
[Ill.u.s.tration]
But the pair had risen again, and were clutched and violently wrenched apart by Armitage and Bacon. For the March Hare"s grip of the red locks was very tight.
Bacon found Toppin fairly easy to land, but the Hare, in full walking costume, was quite another matter, and Simmons"s help was required.
Besides, Toppin kept quiet when commanded to, while the March Hare fought and struggled, and had to have his head thumped severely.
Fortunately the steps were not far off, and Jack awaited them there.
He was frightened when he saw that Toppin"s familiar little pink face had changed to an ivory-white, and that his eyes were shut. Was he senseless, or worse? Jack grasped the small, dripping body in his arms, and staggered to where the bell hung that summoned the attendant. He pealed it loudly, and sank down beneath it to wait. Other boys had arrived during the incident, and were now pressing round, questioning and jabbering. Jack had nothing to say to them. He was hard at work chafing the motionless form, and his brain was in a whirl. What if Toppin never moved or spoke again!
Suddenly the eyelids lifted: Toppin looked straight into Jack"s face.
"May I move now?" he asked innocently. Oh, what a relief it was to hear his voice!
"You young fraud!" exclaimed Jack; but his own voice shook, and he was glad to surrender his charge into the hands of the attendant, a man trained for his position. The March Hare, who was shivering beside him, sobbed with joy when he saw one small leg draw itself up, and an arm move a few inches, at their owner"s will.
"Top-peen! Top-peen!" he cried. "You are not died!"
Toppin stared at his friend over a tea-spoon. He was sipping hot spirits-and-water, and wondering what it was. But Jack turned upon the March Hare.
"We shall be standing you head downwards in a minute, Hare. You"re next door to drowning yourself. Get up, and come with me!"
The Hare protested feebly, with chattering teeth. But the attendant thrust a spoonful of Toppin"s drink between them, and counselled Jack to take him to his wife. That good woman stripped the Hare in a twinkling, wrapped him in a blanket, and set him before her kitchen fire to watch his garments dry. Jack meanwhile returned to the saloon, to find Toppin clothed once more, and curled up on the matting, near the heating apparatus, munching a biscuit.
"How do you feel now, Top?" he asked, stooping to see his face.
"Pretty bobbish, thanks, Brady," was the answer, and it told that Toppin was himself again.
"You"ll have to look sharp if you want a dip, Brady," called Green.
"Andy"ll be round in a minute, I expect."
"Thanks! I"m not bathing to-day," was the response.
Just then Es...o...b.. Trevelyan, who was swimming lazily about, landed at the steps close by, and beckoned Jack to come nearer.
"I want to hear the truth of this affair, Brady," he began in a confidential undertone. "Did you see it happen?"
"Which part? I saw the March Hare leap in with his hat on his head and his towel on his arm. He did look properly mad, I can tell you!"
"I mean before that, when Toppin went under."