Page:The Secret of the Old Mill.pdf/63



accident had happened so quickly that it was not for a few moments that the Hardy boys and their chums realized the lad's danger.

Then, as they saw him struggling in the torrent, they began to run toward the spot to which the lad was being rapidly carried.

Joe was in the lead, and as he ran he was taking off his coat. Just below the mill race the river was full of rocks, and the rapids dashed over them in a boiling fury of spray and foam. If the youth were ever swept into the rapids he would be doomed.

The other lads were not far behind Joe. The accident had not been seen from the mill, for no one appeared in the doorway, and the cries of the boy in the river evidently had not been heard by the men in the building.

"Help!" he was shouting. "Help!"

He was struggling in the water, being swept irresistibly on toward the deadly rapids.

"I can't swim!"