"I can back you out."

"How? Doin' what?" they asked.

"Crossing the canal on the pole."

"Shucks, you can't back me out," declared one of the boys, at which he darted across the swaying pole, and with a jump, landed safely across. Another boy went at it gingerly, and with the antics of a tight-rope walker, he managed to get to the other side. […]

"All right, Carlia," shouted the boys on the other bank. […]

Carlia placed her foot on the pole as if testing it. The other girls protested. She would fall in and drown.

"You dared us; now who's the coward," cried the boys.