Book 1-Alex Bishop and the North Side Detectives

Continue Alex Bishop and the North Side Detectives

     Lee ripped off his jacket and flung it on the sidewalk, then searched for Alex in the water.  He saw him sputtering,  and yelling for help, while clinging to a slender limb that stretched across the surging water at the top of the falls.  Because of Alex's weight, and the pull of the water, the limb looked in danger of snapping at any moment.

     Lee suddenly gave out a tremendous shout! and dived headlong into the swiftly moving deep water.  Upon seeing Lee, Alex screamed louder for help.  Fletch was dancing in place at the railing, panic stricken, watching Alex floundering in the cold water, not sure what to do.  In a few moments, Fletch gave out a yell and dived in too.

     Lee surfaced at the bottom of the falls where the rush of the water was most ferocious; coughing and spitting.  Fletch, came up out of the water right beside Alex, his eyes full of terror.  He grabbed onto Alex's waist and hung on for dear life.  Alex was so startled when Fletch grabbed him, he almost lost his grip on the limb he was desperately clinging to.

     Lee was struggling madly to get to the shore line, propelling himself a foot at a time; only to be pulled back again by the undertow.  His legs felt like jelly.  "Lee!  Do Something! "  Alex hollered! as he and Fletch were tossed wildly about in the swirling tide.  There was a large branch jutting out from the wooded edge of the river bank.  Lee thought if he could just reach it, he could pull himself  to shore.

     Lee was exhausted, his muscles knotted, but he had to try.  He took a deep breath and then lunged for the branch....and missed, and was jerked back five feet by the pull of the current.  Completely frustrated, he swayed in the water for a few moments and tried to calm himself, so readying himself to make another attempt at the branch.

     He glanced at the top of the falls, and shouted as loud as he could to his friends, "Hold on!  I'm coming!"  He didn't know if they heard him due to the roar of the falls.  But seeing his friends being tossed about in the water, hanging on to that weakening limb, gave him the determination he needed.  With a tremendous yell, he leaped in the water and lunged forward again at the branch.

     He made it!  Finally, he had hold of the large limb.  But in the process, his right wrist was wedged into a fork at the end of it, and immediately pain shot up his arm as it began to bleed profusely.  Lee ignored the pain, and grabbed the branch with his other hand, his injured hand fell free, and he quickly grabbed onto the branch.  And with both hands he climbed onto the sturdy limb.

     The bubbling water was pushing Alex and Fletch ever closer to the top of the falls, as their combined weights bent the weakening limb forward.  The two boys voices grew louder and more terrified  as they inched closer to the rushing waterfall.  Alex was exhausted from being buffeted around in the swirling tide, and the constant bombarding of Fletch's body against his own.  Fletch was almost horizontal at times as the current tried to sweep him away. 

     Some pedestrians had begun to gather on the bridge, and were gasping in fear at the scene below.  One or two were on their cells, no doubt calling 911,  Some were shouting encouragement to Lee, and some were calling that "Help" was on the way.  Lee's wrist hurt a lot, but he continued to ignore the pain and forced his left leg over the branch, then the other.

     Now he was hanging upside down over the swiftly moving water.  He took another determined breath, and clinging to the limb, began to inch his way to the bank.  When he finally saw the ground beneath him, he let go and fell on soft earth.  He would like to have rested for a moment, but there was no time.

     He looked over at Fletch and Alex, who were now at the very precipice of the falls.