Frank Merriwell's Catch — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

6 TIP TOP WELELY. end, however, lay.a pile of rushes, such as are sometimes bound on the front end of a boat when it creeps upon water-birds for the occupants of the boat to obtain a shot, Of a sudden, Frank leaned over and gave those reeds a yank, Two shotguns were exposed to view! Hodge gave a ery of triumph and anger, and Frank, with another sudden twist of his paddle, tried to back the canoe away from the boat. The man uttered a ery of anger, and Welch leaped to his feet, catching up an oar. **Oh, I'll fix you!’ he shouted, swing- ing the oar over his head and striking straight at Frank’s head. Merry saw he could not get out of reach, and so, in a moment, he swung his paddle out of water and used it to” divert the oar. Crack !—the oar struck the paddle and was turned aside. Frank had saved his skull from being cracked by his swift move. With a great splash, the oar struck in the water, and Welch was given a yank that set him toppling in a frantic effort not to plunge headlong out of the boat. He let go of the oar and flung up his hands, waving them wildly, and then, frnding he must go over, he dropped and caught at the side of the boat, overturn- ing that in a twinkling. i} ee oe CHAPTER ITT. SAVING AN ENEMY. It happened in a moment. Both Welch and his companion were precipitated into the water. The man disappeared a few seconds, and then caine up and grasped the end of the boat. Welch went.down, came to the surface, thrust his hands up into the air, cried out gurglingly, splashed a moment, and went down again. TYPEWRITERS ARE GIVEN AWAY TO HALF-HOLIDAY READERS. The commotion in the water caused the canoe to rock, but Bart Hodge laughed shortly. His faceshowed triumph | and satisfaction at the misfortune that had befallen the man and boy. With his paddle, he moved the canoe yet further away. Merriwell looked somewhat anxious and waited for Welch to come to the sur- face again. oo The man, clinging to the overturned boat, poured forth a torrent of angry abuse at the boys in the canoe, neither of whom paid any attention to him. Had they done so, they would have observed that he felt of his beard and hairina singular manner as if doubtful about something. | Welch came up again, splashed about, strangled, coughed, cried out and sunk. Immediately Frank began to take off some of his clothing. He flung his cap into the bottom of the canoe, his coat fol- lowed it, and then he pulled off his shoes, keeping low down so that he would not evetturn the birch bark craft. ‘‘What are you going to do, Frank??? asked Bart, surprised. ‘Save that fellow from drowning, if I can. He can’t swim.”’ ‘‘But what is the use to jump into the water and get wet. We can get near him as he comes up, and one of us can catch hold of him. “It won’t do.” “Why?” ‘‘Don’t you see he is drowning! He would clutch the canoe—try to drag him- self out of the water—overturn it in- stantly! We'd both get a wetting, when one can There he is!” Welch came up again. His struglges were feebler, and he gasped for breath with a painful sound. Merriwell half lifted himself. The EOMNICLOOO© G SS (SO)