Free The Adventures of Jack and Billy Joe by A. Jeff Tisdale Page A

along.
    “Here comes the bridge,” Jack observed while still paddling as hard as he could.
    They passed under the bridge in a hurry.
    “We’re going at least ninety miles an hour,” Billy Joe exaggerated.
    “Nah, but we’re moving pretty fast,” Jack corrected.
    They made the mile to the campground in short order. The boys along the bank yelled encouragement and waved until the boat was out of their sight.
    “We had better look for Mr. Jackson and the others,” Jack said.
    “Yeah, we can’t all fit in this boat but Mr. Jackson can,” Billy Joe pointed out.
    They kept looking and paddling.
    “Help,” they heard a weak voice say.
    “Where’d that come from?” Billy Joe asked.
    “I don’t know, but keep a sharp eye,” Jack said.
    “Help,” the little voice said a bit louder.
    “Where are you?” Jack yelled.
    “Over here on this tree,” the voice said, obviously very tired.
    “I see him,” Billy Joe said. “Over there.” He pointed toward a dead, leafless tree that had fallen into the water.
    Both boys paddled as fast as they could to overcome the current to get across the river to the dead tree and Tom Nelson.
    They pulled the bow of the boat past Tom and toward the bank where Billy Joe could grab the tree. The current continued to push the boat downriver and into Tom. Jack had to hold the boat away from the dead tree to keep from mashing Tom.
    Billy Joe managed to tie the boat to the tree trunk with the short piece of rope that dangled from the bow. He could then come back and help Jack get Tom into the boat.
    Jack was still holding the boat off Tom but he was assisting him by putting one hand under Tom’s armpit and pulling. When Billy Joe got there, he reached into the water, grabbed Tom by the seat of the pants and pulled. Tom rolled over the side and into the boat.
    He may have been crying before, Jack and Billy Joe didn’t know, but now he was all smiles.
    “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he kept saying over and over.
    Jack and Billy Joe didn’t have a jacket or even a shirt to give Tom to keep him warm. They were still in their bathing suits.
    “Get down low in the boat so the wind won’t hit you so much, Tom,” Jack said. “Maybe you won’t be too cold until we can get you back to the camp.”
    “We had better go back across the river to the ‘slow side,’” Jack said. “It will be easier paddling upstream.”
    They both started paddling hard and Jack guided the boat diagonally across and upstream. When they reached the other side, they paddled steadily along the shoreline where the current was slower. They made good progress, but both boys were getting very tired before they heard somebody yell, “There they are. They made it.”
    They pulled the boat onto the swimming area sandbar and helped Tom get off.
    “Has Mr. Jackson come back yet?” Billy Joe asked.
    “Not yet,” one of the boys said.
    They all walked up the clay steps and back to the shelter. Tom, Jack and Billy Joe put on pants and a shirt, which made them more comfortable.
    “What’s going on, boys?” the booming voice of Mr. Jackson asked as he came out of the woods.
    “They found Tom and brought him back,” one of the boys said.
    “Who found him and how?” Jackson asked, puzzled.
    “In the boat,” another boy said.
    “What boat?” he asked, walking up to Jack and Billy Joe.
    They explained to him that they remembered Mr. Ezell’s boat after both adults had left and decided to go get it. They told him about finding Tom hanging onto an old dead tree.
    “We couldn’t stay right next to the river all the way down,” Jackson said. “I guess one of the times we had to leave it, we missed Tom and you boys.”
    Jack and Billy Joe were still not sure how Mr. Jackson, the disciplinarian, would take their initiative.
    “Well, good job, boys, I’m proud of you. I’m gonna go see your folks when we get back and tell them what a good job you have done. And just to think,” he added, “I thought