The three men were moving down a fast and rocky river. Thornton was in the boat, while Hans and Pete had to move along the river bank, holding the boat with a rope. Buck, the dog, followed them, keeping a(n) 1 eye on Thornton.
They came to a more 2 part of the river, and the boat started to go too quickly. Hans pulled on the rope to stop it, but pulled it too hard. The boat 3, and Thornton was thrown into the water.
Buck jumped in at once and swam three hundred meters until he 4 Thornton. Then Buck returned, with Thornton holding his tail. Buck swam towards the river bank. But they moved 5. Thornton knew they would not get to the bank quickly enough, so he let go of Buck, held on to a rock in the middle of the water, and 6, "Go, Buck, go!"
Buck swam as hard as he could to the bank, and Pete and Hans pulled him out.
It was hard for Thornton to hold on to his rock in that 7 water, and his friends knew they had only a few minutes to save him. They 8 their rope round Buck, who at once jumped into the river and tried to swim to Thornton. The first time, the water took him 9 the rock, and Pete and Hans had to pull him back. The second time, he swam higher up the river. 10, the water brought him down to Thornton. Thornton held on to Buck, and Hans and Pete pulled the rope as hard as they could. Man and dog disappeared under the water, 11 rocks, turning over and over, sometimes with Buck on top, sometimes Thornton. When Hans and Pete finally pulled them out, both seemed more dead than alive. But after a while their eyes opened and 12 returned. They all smiled.
