"You might untie my legs,..." he said again, quietly. "I never tried to swim that way." Splash! It was done! Judd had dropped, how, no one knew, ... except Benz. There were wild cries and shouts; fellows crossed on both sides of the river to try and get trace of him. It was so dark no one saw him reappear, if he did reappear; after he struck the water. Benz, his teeth chattering with fright, ran back and forth upon the bridge not knowing what to do. "He's drowned!" shouted McCabe, "No man can swim with his feet tied in that river! Benz, your practical joke worked this time!" "The falls!" somebody shrieked. "They're just a little below that bend. He'll go over them and into the mill pond sure!" Fellows began running along the river bank below the bend. "If we only had a lantern!" another cried, frantically. Several commenced calling Judd's name in the hope that he might hear and answer them. "I can never go back to college after this!" Benz breathed, hysterically. "He's drowned and of course, I'll be blamed, ... but no! No one can prove that I let him drop! We'll all be held to account; ... Oh why, _why_ did I do it?" * * * * * It was one o'clock and still no signs of Judd. Cateye was growing anxious. He got up, slipped on a bathrobe, and hobbling over to a chair, sat by the window looking out upon the campus. "Judd said that he and Benz had almost clashed. I wonder if something has happened to one or both?" Cateye shuddered nervously at the thought. Suddenly he glimpsed a lone figure running swiftly across the campus, rapidly nearing the dormitory. It was so dark that Cateye could not make out who it was but the very fact that the person was running coupled with the time of night, signified that something unusual had happened. Whoever it was, was climbing the stairs at a terrific rate. Cateye grasped his crutch and hobbled toward the door. As he did so the door flung open with a bang. "Cateye!" "Judd! ... Why! You're soaked to the skin and blue with cold! What on earth has happened?" "I reckon they tried to drown me," replied Judd, stepping in and closing the door. "But I fooled 'em! It was a narrow squeak though. If I hadn't struck a big rock I'd have gone over the falls!" "But I thought you could swim, Judd?" "Hump! Me swim? With my feet tied? Say, it was enough to keep my head above water in that current!" "Your feet tied!" exclaimed Cateye, "You don't mean to tell me the fellows ...!" "Yep, ... nope,... It was Benz! ... Benz, that's who 'twas!" Judd was quite excited now and shivering with cold. He tried to remove his dripping shirt. "Let me help you!" Cateye ripped the shirt off. "But surely Benz wouldn't do that! He wouldn't dare for one thing, ... and he isn't quite a fool!"