Almost invariably persons who find themselves in deep water and cannot swim strive desperately to lift their bodies as high as possible and thus aid in their own undoing, and this was precisely what Jim Simpson did. Had he simply paddled gently with his hands and held his breath whenever his head went under, lacking in a rudimentary knowledge of swimming though he was, he might have kept afloat for some moments; by his tremendous struggles, however, he baffled himself and made it imperative that his would-be rescuers should reach him quickly. “He’s gone—he’s gone again!” screamed Sleuth, as Grant once more slightly altered the course of the canoe. “Keep down! Keep low in the canoe and sit steady!” commanded Rodney. Then, rising, he did a difficult thing to do under the most favorable circumstances; he dove headlong from the canoe without upsetting it. With three strong strokes beneath the water he reached Simpson, whose collar he grasped with one hand at the back of the neck. They rose together, the Texan holding the other off and striking out as well as he could for the capsized boat. [Illustration: HE DOVE HEADLONG FROM THE CANOE WITHOUT UPSETTING IT. —Page 230. ] The excited boys watching from the point uttered a cheer. Then the rain swept over the lake in a tremendous blinding cloud, shutting from their view the canoe, its occupants, and the two fellows in the water. CHAPTER XXI. ESTABLISHING FRIENDLY RELATIONS. Heedless of the blazing lightning, the crashing thunder and the drenching downpour, Stone and Crane remained exposed upon the shore and besieged by anxiety concerning what was taking place a short distance away upon the lake. Through the blinding rain swirl they finally perceived a dark object approaching, and, running swiftly, they reached the beach just as the wind and waves hurled upon it the canoe containing Springer and Piper. “Where’s Grant?” cried Stone, aghast. “What made you desert him?” “Yes, why didn’t yeou stick by, confaound ye?” snarled Crane, snatching the paddle as Phil staggered up beyond the reach of the water. “Yeou’ve got a lot of sand, ain’t ye?” Sleuth floundered forth, gasping, and he grabbed Sile’s arm as the latter seemed about to put off in the canoe in the face of that terrific gale. “What are you going to do?” asked Piper. “Leggo!” rasped the excited fellow. “I’m goin’ aout there after Rod.” “No need of it,” was the assurance. “He’s all right.” “Grant’s all right,” substantiated Springer. “He got Simpson to the boat, and they’re both hanging fuf-fast to it. Rod told us to get ashore as quick as we could before the canoe swamped. We cuc-couldn’t hold the old thing against the wind, and she was taking in water.” It was no easy matter, however, to satisfy Crane; but finally, by their united efforts, Phil and Sleuth succeeded in preventing him from attempting to put out in the canoe, which was now more than half full of water.