be to haul me back. Isn't that a simple proposition?"

"It's a crazy one," nodded the Professor.

"Come to think it over, I believe it could be done," reflected Nance.
"If I could swim at all I'd do it myself, but I'd drown inside of
thirty seconds after I stepped a foot in the water. Why, I nearly
drown every time I wash for breakfast."

Stacy was about to make a remark, but checked himself. It was evidently
not a seemly remark. It must have been more than ordinarily flippant
to have caused Chunky to restrain himself.

"I move we let Tad try it, Professor," proposed Ned.

"I don't approve of it at all. No, sir, I most emphatically do not."

"But surely, Professor, there can be no danger in it at all. It is
very simple," urged young Butler.

Tad knew better. It was not a simple thing to do. It was distinctly a
perilous, if not a foolhardy feat. Nance knew this, too, but he had
grown to feel a great confidence in Tad Butler. He believed that if
anyone could brave those swirling waters and come out alive, that one
was Tad Butler. But it was a desperate chance. Still, with the rope
tied around the lad's waist, it was as the boy had said, they could
haul him back quickly.

"Professor, I am in favor of letting him try it if he is a good
swimmer," announced the guide.