Glancing back, as he spoke, he saw that the foremost of the Frenchmen was about twenty yards above them and was making the water fly as he swam with powerful strokes toward the shore only a short distance away. The others were not far behind.
“We’ve got to make it snappy, now,” he cried as he led the way.
They were by no means in good shape to start on a run through the snow after their strenuous work of poling the heavy scow, but he consoled himself with the thought that their pursuers would be even more winded after their swim. He sat a pace as rapid as he dare. He knew that Rex would soon give out, should he go as fast as he and Jack were able.
It was now nearly daylight. The snow was soft and mushy as the night had been too warm to harden it. It was hard footing as in many places they sank nearly to their knees. As he pushed on he could hear Rex puffing a few feet behind him and his heart sank as he noticed that his friend’s breath was already coming in gasps.
“He’ll stick to it till he drops,” he thought, as he came to a stop after they had covered about a hundred yards.
“S-second the motion,” Rex panted as he leaned against a tree.
“Not a sound,” Jack replied straining his ears.
“Mebby they won’t follow us,” Rex suggested.
“Mebby not,” Bob replied, but he knew that the hope was without much foundation.
“You’ll get your second wind in a minute or two,” Bob encouraged Rex as he started again.
But they had made scarcely another hundred yards when, from the sound close behind him, Bob realized that Rex was near the end of his endurance.
“If it only wasn’t for that pain in my side,” he panted as Bob stopped.
“No wonder you have a pain in this going,” Jack declared.
“Now, I’ll tell you what,” Rex began as he got his breath. “You two go on and I’ll stay here. You see,” he explained as Bob was about to interrupt, “they don’t know me and I doubt if they’d harm me.”
“Say, Rex, if I didn’t know that you were innocent of any bad intention I’d sure give you a punch for that,” Jack declared. “To think that we’d leave you. No sir ree! We stick together, sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish.”
“I think I can hear them coming this way,” Bob replied. “How about it Rex, old man? Think you can make another stab at it or shall we meet them here? They’ll probably catch us anyhow and perhaps it will be as well to save our strength.”