Ethel Morton at Chautauqua Part 10

"If you wag them it gives you an extra push forward you know."

"I know; it really does; I did it accidentally yesterday and I popped right ahead some distance. Now let me try," and she took her turn on the bench while Ethel Blue counted and pulled laboriously, "Number One, Number Two, Make Ready."

"I floated for two minutes to-day."

"You did!" There was envy in Ethel Brown's voice as she resumed her upright position and helped her cousin move the bench back against the wall.

"I thought I'd try, so I turned over on my back and put my nose and mouth as high out of water as I could and tried to forget that my forehead was being swashed. Then I filled my lungs up full and there I was, just like a cork."

"Or a barrel," subst.i.tuted Roger, poking his head in again. "Grandfather sends you his compliments--or he would if he happened to think of it--and says that when he was a boy they used to ask him 'What does a duck go down for?' Do you know the answer?"

"Grandfather told me that when I was d.i.c.ky's age--'for divers' reasons'; and he comes up again 'for sun--dry reasons.'"

"You're altogether too knowing, you kids. Where's Helen?"

"Gone on a tramp with the Vacation Club. Mother and Grandfather have gone to the five o'clock reading hour, Grandmother is taking her embroidery lesson at the Arcade, and Mary is down on the lake front.

There isn't a soul in the house except d.i.c.ky and he's taking a nap."

"Then here's the best time I know to teach you young ladies how to resuscitate a drowned person. If one of you will oblige me by playing drowned--thank you, ma'am."

With solemnity Roger removed his coat and proceeded to his self-imposed task as Ethel Blue dropped limply on the floor.

"If you happen to have your wits about you still in about the usual amount, all I have to do is to start up your circulation by rubbing you like the mischief and then rolling you up in hot blankets to stave off a chill. But if the few senses that you possess--"

"Thank you!"

"--have left you then I have two things to do instead of one; first, I must start up your breathing once more, and second I must stir up your circulation."

"Yes, sir," agreed both girls meekly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "You keep his nose out of the sand by putting his arm under his own forehead."]

"When a person is unconscious his tongue is apt to fall back and stop up his throat. To prevent that you turn your victim over on his face."

"Ow! My nose!" cried Ethel Blue as Roger suited the action to the word.

"You keep his nose out of the sand by putting his own arm under his own forehead, thus making him useful. Fixed this way his tongue slips forward and the water in his mouth will run out. Sometimes this is enough. If it isn't, then turn the patient on his side--" he rolled Ethel Blue on edge--"and try to arouse breathing by putting ammonia under his nose or tickling his nose and throat with a feather. Somebody ought to be rubbing his face and chest all the time and throwing dashes of cold water on them."

"Poor lamb!"

"If he doesn't begin to breathe promptly under these kind attentions then you must try artificial breathing."

"Artificial breathing--make-believe breathing! How do you do that?"

"Don't let people crowd around and cut off the air. Turn him on his face again,"--and over went Ethel Blue--"putting something thick like this rolled up coat under his chest to keep it off the ground."

"Umph--that's a relief!" grunted Ethel Blue.

"Then roll him gently on to his side and then forward on to his face once more. Move him once in every four slow counts. Every time he goes on to his face give him a vigorous rub between the shoulder blades."

"Ow, ow," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Ethel Blue ungratefully.

"It must take a lot of people to do all these things," commented Ethel Brown.

"Three if you can get them; one to turn him and rub his back, one to keep his head off the ground as he is rolled over, and the third to dry his feet and try to warm them."

"The one who does the rolling is the most important if there don't happen to be many around."

"Put your strongest in that position. If you don't bring your patient to in five minutes of this, try putting him on his back with a coat or something under his shoulder-blades, and keeping his tongue out of his throat by tying it with a tape or rubber band."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "One person kneels back of the patient's head and takes hold of his arms between the elbow and the wrist and pulls them back along the ground until the hands touch above his head. This draws the air out of the lungs."]

"It's Ethel Brown's turn now," remonstrated Ethel Blue, but she was silenced by a rubber band from Roger's pocket.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "When you move them to the side of the body again the air is pressed out of the lungs."]

"Then one person kneels back of his head and takes hold of his arms between the elbow and the wrist and pulls them back along the ground until the hands touch above his head. This draws the air into the lungs, and when you move them to the sides of the body again the air is pressed out of the lungs just as in natural breathing."

"How long do you keep it up?" asked Ethel Brown interestedly while Ethel Blue made silent demonstrations of disapproval.

"For hours--two at least. Many a man has been resuscitated after a longer time. Make the movements about fifteen times a minute--that's pretty nearly what Nature does--and have relays of helpers. There you have the idea," and Roger slipped off Ethel Blue's gag, and helped her up.

"When he really does breathe--my, he must be glad when you do get through with him!"--she panted; "then you begin to work on his circulation, I suppose."

"Correct, ma'am. Rub him from his feet upward so as to drive the blood toward the heart and pack him around with hot water bottles and hot cloths. Give him some coffee to drink and put him to bed in a room with plenty of fresh air."

"He would be tired out, I should think, after having his arms waved around for hours."

"He is," agreed Ethel Blue.

"They generally go right to sleep from exhaustion."

"I'm not surprised. Personally I think I'd rather be rescued before these vigorous measures had to be applied to me."

"The best way to rescue a person who gets over his depth is to grab him from behind."

"So he won't grab you."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Throw yourself on your back. Put your arms above your head with the backs of the hands together."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Push your legs down and as far apart as they will go.

Bring the arms in a steady sweep down to the sides."]

"Exactly. A person who thinks he's drowning loses his head and struggles with his rescuer and perhaps they both drown. The best way is to grasp his arms from behind above the elbows and put your knees in the small of his back. That will throw him into a position where he will float. Then hold his arm with your left hand and swim on your back using your right arm and your legs."

"But I haven't learned to swim on my back."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Bring the legs together and forward you'll shoot." End of arm stroke.]