`` By the time I got to the Cove and a boat could row back here , you 'd be drowned . Laddie and I will save you . Is there anything there you can tie a rope to ? I 've a coil of rope here that I think will be long enough to reach you . I 've been down to the Cove and Alec Martin sent it up to your uncle . '' I looked about me ; a smooth , round hole had been worn clean through a thin part of the apex of the rock . `` I could fasten the rope if I had it ! '' I called . `` But how can you get it to me ? '' For answer Ernest tied a bit of driftwood to the rope and put it into Laddie 's mouth . The next minute the dog was swimming out to me . As soon as he came close I caught the rope . It was just long enough to stretch from shore to rock , allowing for a couple of hitches which Ernest gave around a small boulder on the ledge . I tied my camera case on my head by means of some string I found in my pocket , then I slipped into the water and , holding to the rope , went hand over hand to the shore with Laddie swimming beside me . Ernest held on to the shoreward end of the rope like grim death , a task that was no light one for his small arms . When I finally scrambled up beside him , his face was dripping with perspiration and he trembled like a leaf . `` Ern , you are a brick ! '' I exclaimed . `` You 've saved my life ! '' `` No , it was Laddie , '' said Ernest , refusing to take any credit at all .
We hurried home and arrived XXXXX Uncle Richard 's about ten , just as they were going to bed .
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