"Suits me down to the ground," said Jack.
"Suits me down to the water," grinned Noddy.
They had bathing trunks on their boat, and, having found what looked like a good spot, a little cove with a sandy beach, they disrobed and were soon sporting in the water.
"Ouch! It"s colder than I thought it was," cried Noddy.
"You"ll soon warm up," encouraged Jack. "I"ll race you out to that anch.o.r.ed boat."
"Bully for you," cried Billy.
"You"re on," echoed Noddy, not to be outdone. But, as a matter of fact, the red-headed lad, who had eaten far more than the others, wasn"t feeling very well. However, he did not wish to spoil the fun, so he didn"t say anything.
Jack and Billy struck out with long, strong strokes.
"Come on," cried Jack, looking back at Noddy, who was left behind, and who began to feel worse and worse. "What"s the trouble--want a tow-rope?"
"I"ll beat you yet, Jack Ready," cried Noddy, fighting off a feeling of nausea.
"I guess I went in the water too soon after eating," he thought. "It will wear off."
"Help!"
The single, half-choked cry for aid reached the ears of Jack and Billy when they were almost at the anch.o.r.ed boat, which was the objective point of the race.
"Great Caesar!" burst from Jack. "What"s up now?"
He turned round just in time to see Noddy"s arms go up in the air. Then the red-headed lad sank out of sight like a stone.
"He can"t be fooling, can he?" exclaimed Billy nervously.
"He wouldn"t be so silly as to do that," rejoined Jack, who was already striking out for the spot where Noddy had vanished. Billy followed him closely.
They were still some yards off when Noddy suddenly reappeared. He was struggling desperately, and his eyes seemed to be popping out of his head. His arms circled wildly, splashing the water helplessly. Then he disappeared once more.
"Heavens, he is drowning," choked out Jack. "We must save him, Billy."
"Of course we will, old boy," panted Billy, upon whom the pace was beginning to tell.
Jack reached the spot where the disturbed water showed that Noddy had gone down for the second time. Just as he gained the place Noddy shot up again. He was totally unconscious and sank again almost instantly.
Like a flash Jack was after him, diving down powerfully. He grasped Noddy round the chest under the arms.
"Noddy! Noddy!" he exclaimed, as they shot to the surface. But the lad"s eyes were closed, his face was deadly white, and his matted hair lay over his eyes. A terrible thought invaded Jack"s mind. What if Noddy were dead and had been rescued too late?
"Here, give me one of his arms. We must get him ash.o.r.e as quickly as we can," cried Billy.
"That"s right; he"s a dead weight. Oh, Billy, I hope that he isn"t----"
A moan came from Noddy. Suddenly he opened his eyes and grasped at Jack wildly, with five times his normal strength. The movement was so unexpected that Jack was dragged under water. But the next moment Noddy"s drowning grip relaxed and they rose to the surface.
"He"s unconscious again," panted Jack. "He"ll be all right, now. Take hold, Billy, and we"ll make for the sh.o.r.e."
It was an exhausting swim, but at last they reached shallow water, and, ceasing swimming, carried Noddy to the beach. They anxiously bent over him.
"We must get that water out of his lungs," declared Jack, who knew something of how to treat the half-drowned.
Luckily, an old barrel had drifted ash.o.r.e not far off, and over this poor Noddy was rolled and pounded and then hoisted up by the ankles till most of the water was out of his lungs and he began to take deep, gasping breaths.
But it was a long time before he was strong enough to get on his feet, and even then his two chums had to support him back to Captain Simms"
house, where they received a severe lecture for going in the water so soon after eating.
"It was an awful sensation," declared Noddy. "It just hit me like an electric shock. I couldn"t move a limb. Then I don"t remember much of anything more till I found myself on the beach."
Noddy"s deep grat.i.tude to his friends may be imagined, but it was too painful a subject to be talked about. It was a long while, however, before any of them got over the recollection of Noddy"s peril.
CHAPTER XII.
A TALE FROM THE FROZEN LANDS.
Although Noddy had recovered remarkably quick, thanks to his rugged const.i.tution, from the effects of his immersion, Captain Simms ordered him on the sick-list and he was, much against his will, sent to bed.
"He"d better stay there all night," said the captain. "We don"t want to run any risks of pneumonia. I don"t suppose your uncle will worry about you?"
"He"s got over that long ago," laughed Jack; "besides, there"s a professor stopping at the hotel who is on the lookout for funny plants and herbs. That"s Uncle Toby"s long suit, you know."
"So I have heard," smiled the captain. "Well, you boys may as well make yourselves at home."
"Thank you, we will," said Billy. Whereat there was a general laugh.
There was a phonograph and a good selection of records in the cottage, so they managed to while away a pleasant afternoon. Jack cooked supper, "just by way of paying for our board," he said. After the meal they sat up for a time listening to Captain Simms" tales of seal poachers in the Arctic and the trouble they give the patrol a.s.signed to see that they do not violate the international boundary, and other laws. Before he had taken command of the _Thespis_, of the Ice-berg Patrol, Captain Simms had been detailed to command of the _Bear_ revenue cutter, and had chased and captured many a sealer who was plying his trade illicitly.
The boys listened attentively as he told them of the rough hardships of such a life, and how, sometimes, a whole fleet of sealers, if frozen in by an early formation of ice, must face hunger and sometimes death till the spring came to release them from their imprisonment.
"It must take a lot of nerve and courage to be a sealer," said Jack.
"It certainly does," agreed the captain. "Yet I heard from one sealing captain the story of a young fellow whom it turned from a weak coward into a brave man. This lad, who was regarded as a weakling, saved himself and two companions from a terrible death simply by an act of almost sublime courage. Would you like to hear the story?"
"If you don"t mind spinning the yarn," said Jack.
"Well, then," began the captain, "to start with, the name of my hero is Shavings. Of course he had another name, but that"s the one he was always known by, and I"ve forgotten the right one. He was a long-legged, lanky Vermont farmer, with dank strings of yellow hair hanging about his mild face. This hair gave him his nickname aboard the sealing schooner, _Janet Barry_, on which he signed as a boat man. How Shavings came to St. Johns, from which port the _Janet Barry_ sailed, or why he picked out such a job, n.o.body ever knew. He had, as sailors say, "hayseed in his hair" and knew nothing about a ship.
"But what he didn"t know he soon learned under the rough method of tuition they employed on the _Barry_. A mate with a rope"s end sent him aloft for the first time and kept sending him there till Shavings learned how to clamber up the ratlines with the best of them. He learned boat-work in much the same way, although he pa.s.sed through a lot of experiences while chasing seals, that scared him badly. He told the captain long afterward that, although he was afraid of storms and gales, still he sometimes welcomed them, because he knew the boats would not have to go out.
"One day, far to the north, they ran into an exceptionally fine school of seals. All the boats were sent away, and among them the one to which Shavings belonged. In command of this boat was Olaf Olsen, the mate who had taught Shavings the rudiments of his profession by means of hard knocks. Dark clouds were scurrying across the sky, and the sea looked angry, but that made no difference to the sealers. Lives or no lives, women in the States had to have their sealskin coats.