“There’ll be a Gold Cross though,” he said. And then he shut his eyes.
But I stayed right there—just because—oh, I don’t know, just because I wanted to stay right there. You can’t always tell why you want to do a thing.
Now when Wig said that about the Gold Cross I thought it was just because he was weak and didn’t know what he was saying. Because, maybe you know as well as I do, that the Gold Cross isn’t so easy to get. Only one fellow in our troop ever got it, and that was Tom Slade. Maybe I took a chance when I went into all that smoke, I’m not saying I didn’t, but if I got anything at all, it would be the Bronze Medal, I guess, but nix on the Gold Cross. You don’t find gold crosses growing around on every bush, you can bet. Anyway, I didn’t want any honor medal because I knew Wig wouldn’t get one (because they’re only for lifesaving) and, gee, if he didn’t deserve one, I’m sure I didn’t.
Anyway this wasn’t any time to be thinking about medals, because Artie Van Arlen was missing and that was the principal thing we had to think about. He wasn’t on the house-boat, that was one sure thing, because we looked everywhere and couldn’t find him. Wig said he remembered somebody speaking to him when he was lying there, and he guessed it must have been Artie. He didn’t know what he said though.
The fellows were all excited about it, especially because the boat was just beginning to float, and we didn’t know whether we’d better anchor there and wait to see if he turned up. Two of the fellows climbed down and swam around and the rest kept calling. It wasn’t very deep yet and they could even feel around the flats, but they couldn’t find him anywhere.
I went around and looked at the window and even then the cabin was filled with smoke, but not so thick. Believe me, I wished that Tom Slade was there then, because he’s great on deducing and finding clues and all like that. That’s why we always called him Sherlock Nobody Holmes. Anyway, I couldn’t make out what happened. Artie might have staggered up against the window to get air, but I didn’t see how he could fall out, and if he was able to climb out then why didn’t he come up where the rest of us were?
I couldn’t make anything out of it; all I knew was he was gone. I knew he must have been drowned and his body been carried up by the tide, which was running up strong now.