There was a willow growing back some few feet from the edge of the bank.

Cautiously he pulled it down, bent it over the water so that when he released it there would be no springing back.
Then he trusted his weight to it, with his feet sliding carefully down the bank.

He went into the water almost up to his knees, felt the quicksand grip his feet; then, leaning forward till he reached the plank, he pulled it toward him and lay upon it.
Without a sound one end went slowly under water and the farther end appeared lightly braced against the overhanging willows.

Very carefully then Duane began to extricate his right foot from the sucking sand.
It seemed as if his foot was incased in solid rock.

But there was a movement upward, and he pulled with all the power he dared use.