"What! What!" he cried suddenly. "What is it? I'm falling!"
The deck of the "Marie" all at once seemed to have dropped from
beneath him. He felt himself falling through space. What could
it mean?
With the showman's instinct the Circus Boy quickly turned his
body, spread out his hands and righted himself.
The night was black, and as yet he had not succeeded in
collecting his senses sufficiently to decide what had happened.
He knew that he was falling, but that was all.
There was a sudden splash as his body struck the water.
Phil shot right down beneath it and the waters of the
Mississippi closed over him.
He understood then what had happened, but not for an instant did
he lose his presence of mind. Phil had caught his breath as his
feet touched the water, and now that he had sunk beneath the
surface he began to kick vigorously and work his hands to check
his downward course.
A moment of this and he felt himself rising toward the surface.
Phil was as good a swimmer as he was a performer in the circus
ring, and he felt no nervousness, even though his position at
that moment was a perilous one.
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