We worked a few minutes, throwing rocks and dirt against the dam. I had just stood off to say that I thought it would hold now, when Skinny gave an awful yell and slipped off from a rock, on which he had been standing, into the flood. I made a grab for him and missed, and in a second he was whirled down the stream. It is queer how much thinking one can do in a second. I thought of the rocks and of the falls below and of how nobody could go through without being pounded against the stones. I was afraid to look, until I heard another yell. Then we yelled, too, for there was Skinny clinging to the tree which stretched across the stream, just above the lower falls, and yelling to beat the band. The water pulled and tore at his legs, dragging them under the tree and to the very edge of the rock which formed the falls. On his face was such a look, when we came near, that I knew he could not hang on much longer. "Hold on tight, Skinny," I called. "We are coming." It did not take us long to get there, but when we came opposite to where he was hanging we could not reach him, and the log was too slippery to walk on. "Can't you work yourself along the tree?" I asked. "We can't reach, and even if we could walk out I don't see how we'd ever get back." He shook his head in despair. "I can hardly hold on at all," he told us. "I'll have to let go in a minute, if you don't do something. Get the rope. You always want a rope." I hadn't thought of the rope which we have kept in the cave since the time I told about, when the flood came near drowning us. Then Bill, being corporal, pulled himself together. "Run to the cave for the rope," said he, "while I hold him." Before we could say a word or stop him, he straddled the tree and began to work his way out, hitching himself along with his hands. "Run," he yelled again, when he saw us looking with pale faces. "Skinny saved me and I'll save him, if it takes a leg." We were halfway to the cave before he had finished speaking. I helped Benny in through the water, holding him to make sure that he wouldn't slip, and in two or three seconds he was out again with the rope. We found Bill clinging to the slippery tree with both legs and holding Skinny by the collar with both hands. Skinny had a fresh grip and was hanging on for all he was worth. We tied a slip noose in one end of the rope and threw it to Bill. "You'll have to let go with one hand at a time, Skinny," I heard him say. "Wait until I get a better grip. Now!" I saw Skinny let go for a second with his left hand. Bill hung to his collar with one hand and with the other put the loop over his head and under his arm. Then Skinny grabbed hold again and did the same with the other hand. "Pull her tight, boys. Easy now."