Therefore Miki had the floating capacity of a small anchor, while Neewa was a first-class life-preserver, and almost unsinkable.
In neither of the youngsters was there a yellow streak.

Both were of fighting stock, and, though Miki was under water most of the time during their first hundred-yard dash through the rapids, never for an instant did he give up the struggle to keep his nose in the air.
Sometimes he was on his back and sometimes on his belly; but no matter what his position, he kept his four overgrown paws going like paddles.
To an extent this helped Neewa in the heroic fight he was making to keep from shipping too much water himself.

Had he been alone his ten or eleven pounds of fat would have carried him down-stream like a toy balloon covered with fur, but, with the fourteen-pound drag around his neck, the problem of not going under completely was a serious one.

Half a dozen times he did disappear for an instant when some undertow caught Miki and dragged him down--head, tail, legs, and all.

But Neewa always rose again, his four fat legs working for dear life.
Then came the waterfall.