Twice Chalmers had saved others from drowning. Three times he himself,
as the result of his daring adventures in the sea, was carried home,
supposed to be dead by drowning.
At another time he, with two other boys, thrust a tarred herring-box
into the sea from the sandy shore between the two rocky points where
the western sea came up the narrow Loch Fyne.
"Look at James!" shouted one of the boys to his companions as Chalmers
leapt into the box.
It almost turned over, and he swayed and rolled and then steadied as
the box swung out from the shore.
The other boys, laughing and shouting, towed him and his boat through
the sea as they walked along the shore. Suddenly, as they talked, they
staggered forward. The cord had snapped and they fell on the sand,
still laughing, but when they stood up again the laughter died on
their lips. James was being swiftly carried out by the current to
sea--and in a tarred herring-box! He had no paddle, and his hands were
of no effect in trying to move the boat toward the shore.
The boys shouted. There came an answering cry from the door of a
cottage in the village. A fisherman came swinging down the beach,
strode to his boat, took the two boys into it, and taking an oar
himself and giving the other to the two boys, they pulled out with the
tide.
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