CHAPTER FOUR.
DICK TO THE RESCUE.
"Gracious heavens! The boy will be drowned!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, wringing her hands frantically and rushing forward at once; while Nellie, equally excited, burst into tears, clinging to her aunt's side.
"Oh, what shall I say to his mother?
He's lost; he's lost!" "No, he isn't--not a bit of it; no more drowned than I am," cried the Captain, laying his hand on Mrs Gilmour's arm, and putting both her and Nellie back, to prevent any rash impulse on their part.

"You just keep as cool as the young rascal must be now! I'll fish him out in another minute, if you'll leave me alone; and, he'll be none the worse, barring a wetting." With these words, the spry old gentleman, who was more active than many a younger man, began making his way cautiously down the treacherous slope of the rampart, aided by his trusty malacca cane, poking his stick between the niches of the stonework to act as a stay, and so prevent his slipping on too fast.
But, quick as he was in his movements, hardly had he made a dozen sliding steps down the decline, the action of the whole scene being almost instantaneous, when he felt, rather than saw, some one else glide swiftly past him still more expeditiously; and then, there was another heavy plunge in the water below, where Bob and Rover were struggling for dear life.
"Bless my soul!" ejaculated the Captain, halting abruptly with the assistance of his sheet anchor, the malacca cane, as he half turned round.

"The woman's never such a fool!" He thought it was Mrs Gilmour.
But, he was mistaken.
Dick had anticipated them both.
Bob's unlucky slip and cry of alarm as he fell into the sea, his aunt's exclamation of terror, the Captain's movement to the rescue, and the grateful Dick's perilous jump, for it was almost a leap from the top of the castle wall, were all, as has been already pointed out, the work of a moment; the chain of incidents taking much longer to describe than to happen.
So, there, before you could cry `Jack Robinson,' as the Captain afterwards said, two boys, instead of one, were struggling with the dog in the water; and of all these three, to heighten the excitement of the scene, Rover alone was able to swim! Bob, of course, had plunged in unwittingly, while Dick's only thought was to help one from whom he had received such unexpected kindness; the lad not having reflected for an instant on the danger of the task he was undertaking.
Now, therefore, although on reaching the water the grateful boy succeeded in carrying out his object of catching hold of Bob, both immediately sank under the surface.
They came up the next moment locked together, spluttering and splattering for breath and holding up their hands for aid, an action which naturally sent them down again; the tide meanwhile sweeping them away from the shore.
Rover was master of the situation--that is, he and the Captain, who by this time had scrambled down to the last ledge of the rampart, and took in the position of affairs at a glance.
"Hi, Rover, good dog, fetch them out!" cried the old sailor, at the same moment throwing off his coat and preparing to go into the sea, too, if need be.

"Fetch 'em out!" But, there was no necessity for this appeal to Rover, who did not require any orders or directions as to his duty.
The dog, like the Captain, was quite aware of the perilous position of his young master, and had already determined in his own mind what was best to be done under such circumstances.
Master Bob having come down flop on top of him as he was trying to clamber out, had in the first instance somewhat obscured his faculties; and the subsequent appearance of Dick on the scene, as he was just recovering from this douche, did not tend to make matters clearer to the retriever, whose eyes and ears were full of water, besides being moreover tired out by his previous exertions.
Any hesitation poor Rover might have felt, though, barely lasted an instant; for, the sight of two figures battling for life in the sea there under his very nose, and the knowledge that one of these was his young master, brought in an instant all his sagacious instincts into play.
He did not need the Captain or anybody else to tell him what to do.

Not he! Giving his head a quick shake to clear his eyes and uttering a short, sharp bark, as if to say, `Hold on, my boys, I'm coming to help you!' the dog appeared to scramble through the water by a series of leaps, rather than to swim, towards the spot where the two unfortunates were struggling.
Reaching the pair, he at once gripped Bob's collar in his powerful teeth and proceeded to tow him to land, Dick hanging on behind; and Rover's muzzle was already turned shorewards, dragging his double burthen astern ere the Captain's cry of encouragement came to his ears, although on hearing it the noble animal redoubled his efforts.
It was, however, a terrible ordeal; nay, almost a hopeless one! Had the boys been conscious, Rover would have had comparatively easy work of it, as then one of them might have held on to his collar and the other to his tail, and he could have pulled them both out without much trouble; as it was, now, they clung so frantically to each other and to him that they retarded in lieu of assisting his gallant attempt to save them.
But, help was at hand.
Just as the Captain called out, a couple of coastguardsmen were coming round the corner of the castle on their beat towards the east pier; and, hearing his shout to Rover, they stopped.
"Hullo!" cried one of the men, observing that Mrs Gilmour was in a state of great agitation, with Nellie sobbing beside her and the Captain at the bottom of the sloping rampart in the act of taking off his coat--"Anything wrong, mum ?" Mrs Gilmour's heart was so full that she could not speak at once, and the man who addressed her jumped to a wrong conclusion from the absence of any explanation at the moment.
"Oh, I see, mum, he's a-going to commit sooacide?
We'll soon spoil his little game, mum.