Several days passed, and by that time the boys felt once more quite at
home. Once they went out in the touring car, taking their aunt and
uncle along.

"It's too bad we can't take dad," was Sam's comment, "but the doctor
says it won't do. We'll have to leave him in charge of Aleck." The
ride proved a most enjoyable one, and the older folks were much
pleased by it.

"What do you say, Tom, if we go down to the river and have a swim?"
proposed Sam, the next morning. It was an unusually hot day, and the
thought of getting into the cool water of the old swimming hole
appealed strongly to the youth.

"Suits me," returned his brother. "We haven't had a swim down there
since last year."

"You young gents want to be careful about that there swimmin' hole,"
put in Jack Ness, who had heard the talk.

"Why, what's the matter now, Jack?"

"I dunno, exactly, but I hear some of the fellers sayin' as how that
swimmin' hole wasn't safe no more. I think it's on account of the tree
roots a growin' there."

"We'll be on our guard," answered Sam, and a little later the two lads
set off. It was a long walk over the fields and through the patch of
woods skirting the stream, and on arriving at the old swimming hole,