"Now, let's sit down and cool off for five minutes," proposed Dick, as he filled the feed bag for the horse. "After that we'll be ready for a swim." "But, with regard to what you were saying about frayed American nerves, poor stomachs and all-around babyishness-----" Tom began all over again. "Stop it!" laughed Dick. "We don't need that line of talk any longer." "Then why did you start it?" asked Dave. "We've covered the two miles that you all thought such a hardship," chuckled Prescott. "Then you-----" began Reade, opening his eyes wider as a dawning light came into them. "Come on, Dave! Catch him! The water's handy!" But Dick, with a light laugh, bounded away, shinned up a tree, and, sitting in a crotch, swung his feet toward the faces of Tom, Dave and Harry as they tried to get him and drag him down. "You've got a strategic position, just now," growled Reade. "But just you wait until we catch you down on the ground again!" "You fellows must feel pretty well sold," Greg taunted them. "I kept out of the row, for I saw, at the outset, that Dick was going to start something for the sole purpose of keeping us arguing until we forgot all about our breakfasts." "That's just like Dick Prescott!" uttered Tom ruefully. "We never get to know him so well that he can't start us all on a new tack and have more fun with us." "Well, you forgot your supposed starvation, didn't you?" chuckled Dick from his tree. Two or three minutes later he swung down from the tree to the ground, rapidly removing his clothing and donning swimming trunks. He was not molested; the other five were too busy preparing for the bath. "The water's great to-day!" shouted Dick, rising and "blowing" after a shallow dive from a tree trunk at the shore. In a moment they were all in the water. "Come on! Follow your leader!" shouted Tom Reade, striking out lustily upstream. "Come back and give us a handicap!" roared Dave. "How do you expect us to catch you when you get the lead over us with your long legs and arms?" But Tom dived under water, swimming there. The others followed suit, each remaining under as long as possible, for, in this "stunt," there was no way of knowing when the leader came up. Tom remained under less than fifteen seconds. Then, showing his head, and with rapid overhand strokes he made for the nearer bank, slipping ashore and hiding behind some bushes. It was Hazy who had to come up first after Tom. "Whew! Tom must have met someone he knows on the bottom," called Harry, as Greg's head rose above the surface. Dave came up next, then Dick, and then Dan. "Tom ought to be a fish!" uttered Darrin admiringly. "I stayed under water as long as I could." Yet after going a few yards further up stream Dick Prescott turned, gazing anxiously down stream. "Fellows," he suggested, "something must have happened to old Tom." "Or else he's playing a joke on us," hinted Danny Grin, suspiciously.