"Oh, you'll soon think it glorious," he replied. "You'll love it as
soon as you can swim."
The other two had waded on for some distance against the current, taking
no further interest in me now I had made my plunge.
"I should like to swim," I said.
"Oh it's easy enough once you get used to it. That chap down below
there swims twice as well as I can, but I don't know who he is."
"What shall I do first?" I asked.
"Oh, throw yourself flat on the water, and kick out your arms and legs
like I do--like a frog. You'll soon learn. Now I'm going to swim up as
far as they are, and then let myself float back. You'll see me come
down. It's so easy. You watch."
"All right!" I said.
"You keep close in to the bank," he shouted; "the tide don't run there.
Keep on trying to throw yourself down and kick out like a frog. You'll
soon swim."
I nodded, and stood holding on by a tuft of coarse sedge, watching him
as he threw himself on his side, and went off pretty close to the bank,
where the water was eddying; and the next minute he was beyond a clump
of sedge that projected into the river, and I was alone.
I felt no dread now, for the water seemed pleasantly cool, and I began
to grow more confident. The buoyancy was delicious, and I found that by
holding on with both hands to the long rushes I could float on the
water, throwing myself down and keeping close to the surface, but with
my legs gradually sinking, till I gave them a kick and rose again.
I amused myself this way for a minute or two, and then, leaving the tuft
of rushes, I began to wade slowly along with the water up to my chest,
and every now and then I stooped down, so that it came above my
shoulders, and struck out with my hands; but I dare not throw myself
flat with my legs off the bottom. That was too much to expect, and I
had not recovered yet from the desperate plunge in, the recollection of
which made me wonder at my temerity.
It was very nice, that first lesson in the water's buoyancy, and as I
jumped up, or lowered myself down, or held on by the tufts by the brink,
and let myself float, I could not help comparing myself to the soap in
the bathtub at home, for that almost floated, but gradually settled down
to the bottom, just as my body seemed to do.
"I shall soon swim," I thought to myself; but I felt no inclination to
risk the first plunge and begin the struggle. It was far more pleasant
to keep on wading there with the water up to my chest, and the delicious
sensation of novelty, half fear, half pleasure, making me now venture
out a few inches into deeper water, now shrink back towards the bank.