Page:The House On The Cliff.pdf/49

 clean-cut features. He wore a cheap shirt, open at the throat.

Frank pressed his ear to the fellow's chest and listened for signs of life. Finally he straightened up, with a mutter of satisfaction.

"His heart's beating all right," he told Joe. "He's alive, at any rate. Just all in. He'll come to after a while."

He returned to his oar and the little boat skimmed over the waves on toward the farmhouse in the distance.

The boys rowed until the muscles of their arms were aching, but at last they drew near the shore and finally the pebbles grated underneath the keel. Frank leaped out and dragged the boat part way up on the beach. Then, between them, they carried the unconscious man up the rocky shore toward the farmhouse.

They found a path that led through a field up to the back door of the house, and although their burden was heavy they managed to carry the still figure, limp and motionless, across the field.

A gaunt, kindly-faced woman came hurrying out of the house at their approach, and from the orchard near by came a man in overalls. The farmer and his wife had seen them.

"Laws! what's happened now?" asked the woman, wide-eyed, as they came up to her.

"This man was mighty nearly drowned out