It looked like a race from the way in which both boys were keeping under and "Brownie" found it more exciting than the other contest.

And then, while he watched, something happened, and he sprang to his feet and gazed seaward with wildly beating heart.
Joe had stopped swimming and was on his back with one brown arm held aloft.

If he made any outcry "Brownie" failed to hear it, but apparently he had, for Phil was turning now and hurrying back with short, quick strokes.

But before he had covered half the distance separating him from the other, the watcher on shore uttered an involuntary cry of alarm.

Joe was no longer in sight! "Brownie" looked despairingly toward the boys in the pool, but the nearest was still a long way from the channel.