CHAPTER XIX
IN SWIRLING WATERS
False-hearted and desperate as had been the two men who struck downand rendered Roger and Jimmy senseless, their last inhuman act--thetossing of the unconscious Khaki Boys over the cliff--defeated theirintentions. For as the Brothers fell into the deep water, the shock andcontact of it brought back their senses.
Roger and Jimmy splashed into the water at the same time, and at firstthey sank deep into the swirling depths of the river, which ran at thefoot of the cliff, dotted here and there on its surface with blackrocks.
The blows that they had received on their heads had not, fortunately,been sufficiently hard to make them unconscious for more than a fewminutes. It was as if a pugilist had received a "knockout" of a littlemore than the usual severity.
The shock and chill of the water brought back the senses of the twolads, and their first, natural instinct, in common with that of everyswimmer, was to hold their breath when they felt their heads submerged.
And then the boys came to the surface and struck out. Again this wasalmost instinct. They were both good swimmers, and among the feats theyhad practised at various times in summer pleasure camps had been toswim across a lake fully clothed. This exploit stood the lads in goodstead now, though the garments they wore and the accoutrements they hadto carry very heavily handicapped them.
But they knew how to get rid of their gas masks, and as their steelhelmets had fallen off during the attack, and as they had no weapons,they were not as heavily burdened as a soldier on the battle frontwould have been.
So they managed to get to the surface and strike out, though they didnot know in which direction to swim, save toward the nearest shore. Butto reach that was a task more easily thought of than carried out. Thecurrent was swift, and they could make little progress against it.
"Don't try to breast it!" cried Jimmy to Roger. "Let yourself floatdown, and work your way over to the nearest bank."
"All right! How are you?"
"Pretty rotten. I got a bad jolt on the head, but the water makes itfeel better," said Jimmy.
"What happened to us, anyhow?" asked Roger, as he managed to get to hiscompanion's side. "All I remember is being struck down. Did the Germansmake a counter-attack?"
"It wasn't the Germans," declared Jimmy. "It was those two Bixtonfellows from the signal corps. They attacked us!"
"What for?" cried Roger. "Are they German spies?"
"Well, they're as bad as that, if not worse," declared Jimmy. "They'retraitors, I believe. They must have attacked us, as they threatened todo, because they found out that we, in a way, were responsible for MikeBixton's being sent to jail. They threatened to do us up, and they didit."
"They surely did!" assented Roger. "Why, they might have killed us."
"They tried to, hard enough," declared Jimmy.
"Do you really think so?" cried his companion.
"I'm sure of it! Why, they struck hard enough to kill. Only that we hadon our tin hats, they'd have ended us. And then dumping us into thisriver--that was to be the end, they thought."
"And I'm not sure but what it will be yet," said Roger, as his swimmingstrokes seemed to lose power.
"What's the matter?" asked Jimmy anxiously. "Can't you keep it up?"
"Not much longer. I'm about all in. My head feels queer!"
Jimmy looked about him. They were in the midst of swirling waters thatrushed in and out among the rocks. The two lads had a hard struggle notto be dashed against these.
"Do you see that flat rock over there?" cried Jimmy to his chum,pointing to one about a hundred feet down stream and nearer to thewestern bank than the boys then were.
"Yes, I see it," was the answer.
"Do you think you can reach it?"
"Maybe. But why?"
"Because it's a flat rock, and it stands well up out of the water.If we climb out on it we can take a rest and catch our breath. Then,maybe, we can get across to the shore."
"Go ahead!" said Roger desperately. "I'll follow you."
They had momentarily caught hold of a small projecting rock in thestream, but it was not large enough to afford a foothold. Jimmy now letgo of this and struck out for the flat rock of which he had spoken.Roger followed as best he could.
It was no easy matter for the half-exhausted lads to scramble upthe sides of the slippery rock. But their desperate situation seemedto give them additional strength, and at last they were out of thewater. They sat down, little streams running from their clothes overthe slanting rock, whence they dribbled into the river that flowed oneither side of the boulder.
"Well, we're alive, anyhow," remarked Jimmy, as his breathing came backto somewhere about normal.
"That's about all we can say," rejoined his chum. "We'll never be ableto swim to shore. The current is too swift," and he pressed his handsto his aching head.
"Oh, don't give up so easily!" exclaimed Jimmy. "We'll get to shoreall right. What we are going to do when we get there is the only thingthat's worrying me."
"Get back to our company as soon as we can," advised Roger. "The otherscan't be so very far away."
"They may be ten miles, as far as I can tell," went on Sergeant Jimmy."I don't know a thing that happened after the Bixtons struck us untilI woke up in the water. They certainly are scoundrels!" he declaredbitterly.
"That's right," assented his chum. "You'd think, if they thought theyhad a real quarrel with us, that they'd have waited until the battlewas over to attack us. I can't understand it all."
"Nor I," admitted Jimmy. "Unless they are afraid of us, as well asbearing us a grudge because of what we did to Mike. And I'm inclined tothink they are afraid."
"What of?" asked Roger.
"That we'll tell on 'em. I believe the two Bixtons are the same fellowswe saw in the dugout and who were seen later by the Twinkle Twinssending up smoke signals. The fact that the Bixtons belong to thesignal corps makes it all the more suspicious."
"Yes, I guess it does," said Roger wearily. "Well, if we ever get outof this we'll have something against 'em all right. But how are wegoing to get across?"
"We'll have to swim for it," declared Jimmy. "Come on. No telling whenwe'll be under fire. I say, Roger, look at that!" he suddenly cried,pointing up stream.
Roger looked, and saw a raft made of tree trunks lashed together comingdown the swift river, and on the raft were a number of German soldiers.
"That raft is going to come right close to this rock!" cried Jimmy, andRoger also decided that this would be the case.
"Are they coming after us?" he asked.
"No, I don't believe so," was Jimmy's rejoinder. "I guess they've beenin a fight themselves. There are two or three lying down on the raftwho look as if they were wounded."
On came the raft, urged by the swift current. The Germans aboard it sawthe two lads on the rock in the middle of the river, and they seemed tobe taking counsel among themselves.
"If we could get on that log outfit we could float down stream insafety until we came to a landing place, or to a better place tocross," suggested Jimmy.
"But we can't get on!" exclaimed Roger. "Those Germans don't seem tohave any guns, but they're two to our one, not counting those lyingdown. We can't get on the raft, Jimmy."
"We've got to!" was the desperate answer. "We'll fight 'em with bareknuckles for a place there. It's our lives or theirs! Roger, we've gotto fight!" and Jimmy rolled up his sleeves while the raft with the fourlive Germans and three dead ones swept nearer and nearer to the rockthat formed a refuge for the two Khaki Boys.