I was about
forty feet away, I suppose, when I heard him yell, and before I could
get back he'd gone down. I was afraid he meant to keep on going, but he
thrashed his way up again and I managed to grab him. The trouble was
then that he wanted to drown both of us and I had a hard time making him
see reason."
"Someone ought to recommend you for the Carnegie Medal, Phil," said Han,
with a laugh that didn't disguise his earnestness.
Phil shook his head. "I wasn't the hero of the adventure," he replied
quietly. "I'm fairly at home in the water and I've done four miles
without tiring much. It's 'Brownie' who deserves the medal, fellows. He
saw Joe go down and jumped right in and beat it out there; and you all
know that 'Brownie' isn't any swimmer. I think he was just about scared
to death!"
"I'll bet he was," agreed Steve. "He's never been known to go ten yards
from shore or boat. Yes, I guess 'Brownie' is the real hero, as you say,
Phil."
"He certainly is, because I'll tell you frankly that I never could have
got Joe in alone. I was just about used up by the time we'd tried to
drown each other out there."
"We didn't know anything about it," explained Ossie, filling Phil's cup
again unasked, "until someone happened to look from the _Follow Me_ and
saw you three out there.
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