[Child of the 7th Age]

For the moment, Bingo could do little but concentrate on the immediate problem at hand. He'd had no intention of getting in a fight with Samuel. His natural inclination was to avoid a fistfight at all costs. Usually, that meant slinking off with his brother to some secluded niche where they could commiserate. But there were no secluded spots on a raft, and Bingo felt he couldn't just sit still, waiting to be bashed over the head.

The water at this point in the river was definitely over their heads. Some of the lads looked to be in trouble. While frantically treading water and trying to decide what to do, Bingo spied an old tree stump that had a few live branches protruding out of it, growing in the middle of the river. It was a good thing he had spent so much time playing near and in the water. Collaring the nearest floundering hobbit, he scooped him up by the collar and swam over to the stump, dragging the lad behind him and shoving his body up onto a low-hanging tree branch. "Wait here!" he bellowed, as he swam off to retrieve one more hobbit who appeared to be having serious troubles.

The current was swift and even Bingo could not fight against it forever. If he had been on his own, he could have made it down to the raft or swum over to the side and scrambled out on the bank. But, relectant to leave the other lads alone, Bingo swam back to the sheltered stump and clung, panting, to its lower branches as he pondered what to do. All the while, their raft was floating further down the river. A few of the other lads had taken off to try and retrieve it. How they were going to get it back against the current, Bingo had no idea. Or maybe they could steer it over to the bank, while he and the other two hobbits in the tree carefully made their way downstream by wading through the muddy waters and reeds that ran near the shore. He looked downstream to see what was happening.