A NARROW ESCAPE
The next day dawned gloriously bright, and the girls chose to take it as
a good omen. Following Betty's example, they stopped moping about and
imagining the worst, and, although there was not a minute of the day
when their hearts were not aching, they managed to smile when the others
were looking and to speak hopefully of the future. Under Betty's gallant
leadership, they had set up hope in their hearts and refused to give
despair a foothold.
"What do you say to a swim?" Mollie suggested, looking out over the
sparkling white sand to the inviting water beyond. "We've only been in
swimming twice since we've been here."
"That is a terrible record for Outdoor Girls," Betty agreed. She was
bustling busily about the cheerful kitchen making a tempting blueberry
pie. There were circles under her eyes and she looked very pale for
Betty, but her voice was bright and cheery.
"Can't you stop making pies for a few minutes?" asked Mollie, turning
to look at her. "It's too nice outdoors to waste time in cooking."
"I imagine you wouldn't say that to-night," retorted Betty, fluting the
edges of her pie crust. "I notice you generally like the results of my
labor."
"Who wouldn't?" returned Mollie. "I only know of one person who can make
better pies."
"And that's yourself, of course." Betty made a little face at her and
slipped the pie into the oven. "Just for that you can have only one
piece to-night!"
"I don't care, if you'll only stop working and come along," insisted
Mollie. "If I stay in the house much longer I'll start thinking
again--and you know what that means."
Betty gave her a quick side-glance, hastily dusted the flour from her
hands and took off her apron.
"I'm all ready," she announced. "Where are the other girls?"
"In the living room, reading and eating candy--or at least Grace is
doing the candy part. Amy has sworn off, you know."
The girls agreed eagerly to the proposed swim, and in a few minutes had
donned their suits and caps and pronounced themselves ready.
"I ought to get a letter from mother to-day," said Mollie, as her feet
sank in the soft sand. "She said yesterday that the detectives had
picked up a clue and thought they were on the right trail at last."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Betty demanded.
"Oh, I don't know," Mollie replied wearily. "I didn't think there was
any use telling you until I had something really definite. You know the
chief business of a detective is nosing out false clues," she finished
scornfully.
"Well, I know once we met a perfectly capable detective," remarked
Betty. By this time they had reached the water and she put one toe into
it experimentally.
"Ouch--it's cold," she said.
"When did we meet a capable detective?" queried Mollie, looking
interested.
"Just after we went to Camp Liberty when Will traced the German spy,"
Betty reminded her. "Did you ever see prettier detective work in your
life?"
"Yes, it was splendid," Mollie admitted, but the reference proved to be
an unfortunate one. It brought back vividly the picture of Will as he
had been then, at the height of his triumph over the apprehension of the
spy--in which the Outdoor Girls had also played an important part--and
jubilant at the prospect of being able to join the colors at last and
fight in the army of democracy.
Try as they would, they could not enter into the fun as they would have
done a few weeks before. They swam about languidly and found to their
surprise that they became quickly and easily tired.
"I never knew before how much influence mind has over matter," said
Mollie, after they had come out on the beach again. "I declare, even my
muscles feel depressed!"
"As Outdoor Girls we're getting to be marvelous failures," remarked
Grace, as she wrung the water from her skirt and plumped down in the
sand. "I feel as weak as a rag."
"I guess it isn't much use trying to enjoy ourselves," sighed Betty
plaintively. "I've done my best, but all the time I feel as if I were
just trying to kid myself, in the vulgar vernacular."
"For goodness sake, don't you give up, Betty!" cried Grace, in alarm.
"If you get discouraged, then I don't know what we shall do."
"I'm not really discouraged--" Betty began, when a terrified cry cut her
short and the girls sprang to their feet bewildered.
"Where is it?" cried Mollie, but Betty caught her arm and pointed with
shaking fingers to an orange-colored cap bobbing on the water several
hundred feet from shore.
"It's Amy!" she gasped. "Something must have happened. Come on, girls!
Who's going with me?"
Without waiting for an answer, she was off like a shot with Mollie and
Grace close behind.
They had not missed quiet little Amy, and if they had, would probably
have thought she had gone for an unusually long swim. And now had come
her frantic cry for help.
"What is the matter?" Betty cried over and over to herself, as she put
all her strength into the long, powerful strokes. Amy was a splendid
swimmer, almost as good as Betty herself.
For one terrible moment the thought of sharks dashed into Betty's mind
and she shuddered. But the next minute reason reasserted itself and she
realized that sharks had never been seen on this coast. Baby ones,
perhaps, but not the man-eating variety.
She raised her head from the water and gazed in the direction of the
vivid cap. Yes, there it was! Thank heaven there was still time.
"Amy! Amy!" she called, "I'm coming. Just hold on for a minute, Honey.
I'm almost to you."
No answer came back to her, and when she looked again for the cap she
found to her horror that it was gone.
"Oh," she moaned, "I'm too late. I'm too late. Oh, Amy, Amy, just
another minute--just a little minute--" she redoubled her efforts and
suddenly gave a shout of joy.
There was the cap again, almost under her hand. In her frenzy of haste
she had covered the distance with almost unbelievable speed.
Her shout seemed to rouse Amy, who had been struggling feebly to keep
her head above the water, and the girl turned a terror-stricken face to
her.
"Can you put a hand on my shoulder?" gasped Betty, beginning to feel the
tremendous effort she had made. "Hang on to me, Honey, and we'll get out
of this all right."
Amy clutched her shoulder, and slowly the Little Captain turned about,
saving her strength for the long swim back. She could not be too long
about it either, she thought desperately. Amy was almost exhausted and
had all she could do to keep her head above the water.
It all depended on her, Betty. If she could get to shore, carrying the
double weight before Amy's strength left her and she gave up altogether,
all well and good. But if she could not--she groaned and set herself
grimly to her task.
She had covered about an eighth of the distance back when her heart
leapt suddenly and she gave a sigh of relief. There were two other
bobbing caps on the water coming rapidly nearer--and those two caps
could belong to nobody but Mollie and Grace.
[Illustration: TWO OTHER BOBBING CAPS WERE COMING RAPIDLY NEARER. _The
Outdoor Girls at Bluff Point._ _Page 193._]
That meant help--and, oh, she did need help! She was putting forth all
her strength, but to her agonized fancy she was not going forward at
all. Amy's almost dead weight dragging at her shoulder seemed a
nightmare. Yet she dreaded beyond anything else to be relieved of the
weight for that would mean--. She refused to put the awful thought into
words, merely driving herself on more desperately. And all the time she
was gasping out words of hope and courage to the poor girl she
supported.
Amy seemed beyond words, for she made no answer, merely clutching
Betty's shoulder more tightly and holding on with a grimness born of
terror.
Then just as the gallant Little Captain felt her strength going and knew
she could not hold out much longer, Mollie came abreast of her with
Grace a few feet behind.
Mollie shook the water from her eyes, gave one glance at Betty's face,
then gave peremptory orders.
"Give her to me, Betty," she directed. "I guess you're about all in.
That's it, Amy; grasp my shoulder with your other hand. Get a good grip
before you let go of Betty. That's the way. Now we're all right. Between
us we'll have you in in a jiffy. All right, Betty? Do you need help
yourself?"
But Betty shook her head, her long steady strokes keeping her even with
Mollie. In a moment Grace came up to them and directed Amy to put her
free hand on her shoulder, and in this fashion they finally reached
shallow water.
They found that they were not a moment too soon, for as they got to
their feet and stooped to lift Amy, they found that she had fainted.
"Thank heaven that didn't happen out there," cried Betty, with a
shuddering glance out over the treacherous water.
Between them, fatigued though they were with the ordeal they had just
gone through, they got Amy to the shore and began to work over her.
It did not take very long to bring her back to consciousness, for Amy
had a wonderful constitution and strong vitality. However, it seemed
ages to the anxious girls who worked over her, and when at last she
opened her eyes they were ready to cry with relief.
"H-how do you feel?" asked Betty tremulously, for she was beginning to
feel the reaction. "Are you all right?"
"Don't try to get up," commanded Mollie, as Amy tried weakly to raise
herself on her elbow.
"Just lie still and you'll feel better in a minute," Grace added, while
Amy looked from one to the other of them with wide, bewildered eyes.
"What happened," she asked, then, as memory came sweeping back to her,
she gave a little cry and covered her eyes with her hand.
"Oh, girls," she cried, "I thought I was going to die!"
"Yes, yes, we know," said Betty soothingly, as though she were talking
to a little child, "but you're all right now, dear."
"Don't try to tell us about it unless you want to," added Mollie.
"I swam out farther than I meant to," Amy went on, as though they had
not spoken. "And when I tried to get back I found that something was
wrong with my right leg." She was shivering with exhaustion and the
memory of the awful experience she had gone through, but when the girls
tried to stop her she would not listen and hurried on feverishly.
"It was a cramp I guess, and the harder I tried to get rid of it the
worse it got till finally I got panic-stricken. I called to you girls,
but you didn't seem to hear me. Then--" she paused, and the girls held
their breath as she looked around at them. "Then--I went down. I came up
again and called, and--and--I saw you, Betty. Oh, it was terrible!"
"Then," cried Betty, her voice trembling, "when you went down that last
time--"
"I didn't go down," Amy contradicted her. "I struggled so hard that I
succeeded in getting my head above water and--that was when you reached
me--Betty--"
"Thank Heaven," said Betty, with a little sob, "that I was there!"