However, as he did not wish to alarm Dick and Tom and so spoil their fun, he said nothing about his condition.
"Let us race each other," suggested Tom, and started off up the shore, with Dick close beside him. Sam brought up in the rear, but soon gave up the contest.
"Help!" The single cry reached the ears of Tom and Dick when they were fully a hundred feet from the Spray. Both turned just in time to behold Sam throw up his arms and sink from view.
"Great Cæsar!" burst out Dick. "What can that mean?"
"Maybe he is only fooling," replied Tom. "Yet I wouldn't think he would be so foolish."
"I don't think Sam is fooling," said Dick seriously, and at once struck out to where the youngest Rover had gone down. Of course Tom went with him.
To reach the spot was not an easy matter, and they were still some distance away when they saw Sam come up again. Then there was a wild circling of arms and the boy disappeared once more.
"He is drowning!" gasped Dick hoarsely.
"Come, we must save him, Tom!"
"Yes, yes," was the puffing answer, for Tom was swimming as never before, and for a brief instant he remembered that awful adventure Sam had had at Humpback Falls, the summer previous. At that time the youngest Rover had nearly lost his life in the water.
It was Dick who gained the spot first, just as Sam came up and went down again — totally unconscious. Diving, the elder Rover caught his brother around the chest, under the arms.
"Sam, Sam, what is it?" he questioned, and as no reply came back his heart almost stopped beating. What if his brother was dead? The agony of the thought was terrible beyond description.
"Can I help you?" The question came from Tom, who was now at the side of the others.
"Catch hold of one arm, if you will," answered Dick. "He's a dead weight."
"Oh!" The moan came so unexpectedly that both Tom and Dick were amazed. Then of a sudden Sam opened his eyes and clutched Dick by the throat. "Save me!"
Clearly the youngest Rover was out of his mind or he would not have taken such a hold. As it was, Dick was nearly strangled and had to unlock the fingers by sheer force. Then Sam grabbed him again, and it looked as if both would go down to a watery grave.
But now Tom came to the rescue. Swimming up from behind, he caught Sam first under one arm and then under the other, in a back-to-back fashion. Then he bent forward and began to tread water, thus holding his brother's head well out of water.
"Push us ashore, Dick!" he panted, and understanding the movement perfectly, the elder brother did as desired. Soon all three gained a point from which Tom could wade to the river bank with ease.
It was an anxious pair that bent over Sam, who rested on his back with his eyes closed. But the youngest Rover was not allowed to remain long in that position. Tom and Dick knew something of how to handle a person who is nearly drowned, and they now made use of this knowledge with all speed. Sam was rolled, and hoisted up by the ankles, and thus he got rid of a large quantity of the water he had swallowed.
Yet even when he came to his senses he was too weak to walk, and Tom had to bring the Spray close to shore, and the sufferer had to be carried on board, his brothers wading up to their waists for that purpose.
"The first cramp I got was in the stomach," said Sam, when he could talk. "Then it went all over me like an electric shock, and I felt I was going to drown. What happened after that was like some awful dream!" And he shuddered. It was a long while before any of them got over that adventure.
CHAPTER VI
AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
As just related, the boys had brought the Spray as closely inshore as possible. All were now in the cabin, Dick and Tom attending to Sam's wants; and consequently no one noticed the passage of one of the palatial steamers that make daily trips between New York and the capital of the State.
These steamers, in running so fast, cast out long rollers on both sides, that go tumbling shoreward one after another. The rollers now caught the Spray and sent her dancing up and down like a cork.
"Hullo, we're in danger!" shouted Tom, and rushed for the deck, with Dick almost at his heels. The anchor was dragging, and unless pushed off the yacht would soon be pounding on the rocks.
"I'll put up the sail!" roared Dick. "You bring up the anchor!"
"I guess you had better pole her off," replied Tom. Nevertheless, he did as Dick requested, working like a beaver.
The wind was still faint, and when the mainsail was hoisted it failed to fill. Seeing this, Dick seized a pole and Tom did the same.
They speedily found that they could not send the yacht out any distance. But, with a pole at the bow and another at the stern, they managed to keep her off the rocks until the rollers began to go down. Then they shoved off with ease and moved slowly up the river.
"I'll tell you what, in handling a boat you have got to have your weather eye open all the time," observed Tom.
"Yes, and you want to have it open on all sides of you," smiled Dick. "If you don't, you'll catch it before you are aware."
Sam lay on one of the tiny berths with which the Spray was provided. His face was deathly white, and, to use his own words, he felt "as weak as a rag."
"I'm just beginning to realize how close to death I was," he whispered to Tom. "It was awfully good of you and Dick to do what you did."
"Pooh! you would do just as much for us, Sam," answered the fun-loving brother. But, just the same, he gave Sam's hand a tight squeeze on the quiet.
"What was that thumping, Tom?" asked the younger brother a bit later.
"The rollers from a big steamer nearly put us on the rocks."
"Gracious, more perils! Don't you think we had better give up our outing on the water?"
"It will come to an end in a few days, Sam. We'll make the trip to Albany, and that will be the last of it."
It was nightfall by the time they came up to the capital city. Getting the necessary permission to tie up at one of the private wharves, they locked up the cabin of the Spray and went ashore.
"Tom Rover, as I live! And Dick and Sam, too!"
The cry came from up the street, and soon a boy of Dick's age was running to meet them. It was Frank Harrington, their old school chum and room-mate of Dormitory No. 6.
"Frank!" came from the three, and a general handshaking followed.
"What brings you here?" asked Dick.
"Why, don't you know, my folks moved up to Albany from New York — father's in the State Senate now, you know," returned Frank, with pride.
"Oh,
