CHAPTER XXIII

THE OTHER FELLOW

The next thing I knew Dub threw off his coat and just ripped his shoe-laces open and tore his shoes off. He didn’t wear sneaks like all the Scouts at camp, but regular shoes. It always made him look kind of funny. I didn’t have a chance to do anything--before I knew it he was in the water, swimming. He never went in much at camp, he just liked to hike around with us, so I never thought about how he could swim. But, oh boy, did he get through the water! I knew maybe it was his chance for the Gold Medal and I was glad. All I can say is, if that’s how a fellow swims that lives over a bakery store, I wouldn’t want to go into a race with one that lives over a delicatessen store--he might be even better. I guess Dub was born in a fish market.

He could tell where the trouble was because by that time the splashing was good and loud and the voice kept calling help. I thought it was funny because all the Scouts know how to swim. Maybe it was some crazy tenderfoot, that’s what I thought. I said to myself, “I hope he knows how to grab him.” Pretty soon I heard him speak--I mean Dub--and I heard the other voice, too. Dub called out, “All right.”

Then next I heard sounds of the boat and I called out and asked if everything was all right, but nobody answered. I guess they were too busy or excited or something. In about a minute I could see the boat coming toward me. It looked black and spooky. I called out, “Who is it? Is everything all right?”

“Sure,” Dub called out. “You don’t think they heard us over at camp, do you?”

“Sure not,” I said. Gee, I thought that was a funny thing to ask. He must have thought we had a broadcasting station.

Dub was sitting in the stern of the boat sculling it. The other fellow was sitting on the middle seat. When the boat came close Dub said kind of careless like, “Well, I went and did it, didn’t I?”

“Who is it?” I asked. All the while I was pulling up the boat.

Dub said, “Pull her up easy, look out you don’t tip her. How do I know who it is? Do you think I can see under water? He’s all in, I know that. The anchor rope was all tangled up with his leg. I ought to get the prize for untying knots under water.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it,” I said.

As soon as I had hauled the boat up far enough I got into it. The fellow on the middle seat was sitting all hunched over. I grabbed hold of him and said, “Are you all right?”

“Sure, he’s all right,” Dub said, “except he’s wet.”

I took hold of the fellow to help him up and then he looked at me and I just stood there gaping at him. It was Will Dawson.

“What--the--” I just started blurting out. “I thought you were at camp-fire. What are you doing here--for--the--love--of--_Go-o-d night_! And you’re one of the best swimmers in the troop!”

He said, “A lot of good that does you when you’re all tangled up in a rope. If you want to know what I was doing, I was bobbing for eels. I stood up to throw the anchor out in another spot and my foot got caught in the rope and in I went.”

“You’re in all right,” I said. “You’re in bad. Do you know who you saved, Dub? It’s Will Dawson--that’s the one I was telling you about.”

“How’s he in bad?” Dub asked.

“Oh no! He’s not in bad,” I said. “He’ll go home to Bridgeboro to-morrow morning, that’s how bad he’s in. He’ll get his all right--and you’ll get yours.”

“He’ll get the Gold Medal I suppose,” Will said.

“You _suppose_!” I shot back at him. “You know blamed well he will--he won it with bells on. Didn’t he go down under the water after you and untangle a lot of rope? The Gold Medal? It’s lucky for you he was here. He’s got twenty merits besides and I bet you they’ll give him his Eagle badge too without going through the test. Jiminy crinkums, wasn’t this test enough? So now you know who you were saved by while you were breaking the rules and getting the whole patrol in Dutch after we made a lot of plans for the end of the season. You were saved by an _Eagle Scout_ that gets the _Gold Medal_ for risking his life on account of _you_. _You suppose!_ Go-o-d _night_! You ought to be proud to be saved by a Scout like that!”

“Here you go, Dub,” I said, “here’s one of your shoes. I’ll look for the other. Come ahead into the woods and we’ll start a fire and get dry.” Even while I was holding his shoe I could feel how it was all kind of worn through on the sole. My finger went all the way through it.