With a mighty effort he threw the Devil off, loosed his hold and sucked in a tiny breath of air, and then another and another, coughing and spluttering and wheezing foam and water from his mouth and ears and nose and eyes. At last a voice gasped: "Is--that--you--Austin?" "You bet it's me! I got ye a breathin' all right now--who'd ye think it wuz?" The Boy coughed again and squeezed his lungs clear of water. "Why--I was afraid I was dead and you was the Old Scratch and had me." "Well, I thought you was a goner shore nuff till yer hand grabbed the pole I stuck after ye. Man alive, but you did hold onto it! I lakened ter never got yer hand loose so's I could pull ye up on the bank and turn ye upside down and squeeze the water outen ye." "Did you sit on my stomach and choke me?" the Boy asked. "I set on yer and mashed the water out, but I didn't choke you." "I thought the Old Scratch had me!" For an hour they talked in awed whispers of Sin and Death and Trouble and then the blood of youth shook off the nightmare. They were alive and unhurt. They were all right and it was a good joke. They swore eternal secrecy. The day was yet young and it was a glorious one. Their clothes were wet and they had to be dried before night. That settled it. They would strip, hang their clothes in the hot sun and wallow in the sand and play in the shallow water until sundown. "And besides," Austin urged, "this here's a warnin' straight from the Lord--me and you must learn ter swim." "That's so, ain't it?" the Boy agreed. "It's what I calls a sign from on high--and it pints right into the creek!" They agreed that the thing to do was to heed at once this divine revelation and devote the whole Sabbath day to the solemn work--in the creek. They found a beautifully sunny spot with an immense sand bar and wide shallow safe waters. They carefully placed their clothes to dry and basked in the bright sun. They practiced swimming in water waist deep and Austin learned to make three strokes and reach the length of his body before sinking. They rolled in the sun again and ate their lunch. They ran naked through the woods to a branch that flowed into the creek, followed it to the source and drank at a beautiful spring. Through the long afternoon they lived in a fairy world of freedom, of dreams and make-believe. They talked of great hunters and discussed the best methods of attacking all manner of wild beasts. The sun was sinking toward the western hills when they hastily picked up their clothes and found a safe ford across which they could wade, holding their things above their heads. The Boy reached the house just as the wagon drove up to the door. He hurried to help his father with the horse. A sense of elation filled his mind that he was shrewd enough to keep his own secrets. Of course, his mother needn't know what had happened. He was none the worse for it. In answer to her question of how he had spent the day he vaguely answered: