THE RESCUE
In a moment, however, she realized that she could not be left alone for
long. Her absence from the _Eleanor_ would be noticed, even if no one
had seen her leap overboard; and, moreover, the strange behavior of the
_Defiance_ was sure to attract Dolly's attention, for, without Gladys to
direct her, the _Defiance_ was in a bad way. She had heeled over
sharply, and seemed now to be sailing in circles, following the errant
impulses of the wind, which caught first one sail, then another.
Although she was quite near the _Defiance_, Bessie looked for no help
from her. To swim toward her, with Gladys as a burden, seemed hopeless.
The boat was not staying in one position. And moreover, Marcia Bates and
the other girl on board of her seemed almost entirely ignorant of what
to do. They would have quite enough on their hands in trying to get her
headed for the opening in the bar.
And suddenly a new danger was added to the others. For Gladys, it
seemed, was recovering her senses--or, rather, she was no longer
unconscious. To her horror, Bessie found, as Gladys opened her eyes,
that she was delirious. That, of course, was the effect of the blow on
her head from the boom, but its effect, no matter what the cause, was
what worried Bessie.
"Keep still! Don't move, Gladys!" warned Bessie, as she saw the other
girl's eyes open.
But Gladys either would not or could not obey that good advice. She
struggled furiously by way of answer, and for a long minute Bessie was
too busy keeping afloat to be able to look for the coming of the help
that was so badly needed.
There seemed to be no purpose to the struggles of Gladys, but they were
none the less desperate because of that. Her eyes had the wide, fixed
stare that, had Bessie known it, is so invariably seen in those who are
in mortal fear of drowning. And she clung to Bessie with a strength that
no one could have imagined her capable of displaying.
And at last, though she hated to do it, Bessie managed to get her hands
free, and, clenching her fists, she drove them repeatedly into the
other's face so that Gladys was forced to let go and put her hands
before her face to cover herself from the vicious blows.
At once Bessie seized the opportunity. She flung herself away, knowing
that even though she did not try to help herself, but being conscious,
Gladys would not sink at once, and got behind her, so that she could
grasp her by the shoulders and be safe from the deadly clutch of her
arms.
Free from the terrible danger that is the risk assumed by all who rescue
drowning persons, that of being dragged down by the victim, Bessie was
able to raise her head and look for the _Eleanor_. And now she gave a
wild cry as she saw the sloop bearing down upon her. Eleanor Mercer was
in the bow, a coil of rope in her hands, and a moment later she flung it
skillfully, so that Bessie caught it. At once Bessie made a noose and
slipped the rope over Gladys's shoulders. Then she let go, and, turning
on her back, rested while Gladys was dragged toward the sloop.
Bessie herself was almost exhausted by her struggle. She felt that, had
her very life depended upon doing it, she could not have swum the few
yards that separated her from the sloop. But there was no need for her
to do it. Steering with the utmost skill, Dolly soon brought the
_Eleanor_ alongside of Bessie as she lay floating in the water, and a
moment later she was being helped aboard.
"Lie down and rest," commanded Eleanor. "Don't try to talk yet."
And Bessie was glad enough to obey. She lay down beside Gladys, who
seemed to have fainted again, and Eleanor threw a rug over her.
"Now we must get them ashore as quickly as we can, Dolly," said Eleanor.
"Bessie's just tired out, but I don't like the looks of Gladys at all."
"The boom hit her," said Bessie, weakly. "It hit her on the head. That's
how she was knocked overboard. She didn't know what she was doing when
she struggled so in the water."
"What a lucky thing you saw what happened!" said Dolly. "I was so intent
on the race that I never looked at all, and I didn't even know you'd
gone over until I called to you and you didn't answer."
"Oh, I knew you'd come back, Dolly. I just wondered, when Gladys was
struggling so, if you'd be in time."
This time Dolly didn't stop at the anchorage of the sloop, but ran her
right up on the beach. That meant some trouble in getting her off when
they came to that, but it was no time to hesitate because of trifles.
Once they were ashore, the other girls, who had, of course, seen nothing
of the accident that had so nearly had a tragic ending, rushed up to
help, and in a few moments Gladys was being carried to the big living
tent.
There her wet clothes were taken off, she was rubbed with alcohol, and
wrapped in hot blankets. And as Eleanor and Margery Burton stood over
her, she opened her eyes, looked at them in astonishment, and wanted to
know where she was.
"Oh, thank Heaven!" cried Eleanor. "She's come to her senses, I do
believe! Gladys, do you feel all right?"
"I--I--think so," said Gladys faintly, putting her hand to her head.
"I've got an awful headache. What happened? I seem to remember being hit
on the head--"
"Your boom struck you as it swung over, and knocked you into the water,
Gladys," said Eleanor. "You couldn't swim, and you don't remember
anything after that, do you? It dazed you for a time, so that you didn't
know what you were doing. But you're all right now, though I've
telephoned for a doctor, and he'd better have a look at you when he
comes, just to make sure you're all right."
"But--how did I get here?"
"Bessie King saw you go overboard and jumped after you. Of course, the
girls on your boat were pretty helpless--she was going all around in
circles after you left the tiller free, so they couldn't do anything."
Gladys closed her eyes for a moment.
"I'd like to talk to her later--when I feel better," she said. "I think
I'll try to go to sleep now, if I may. The pain in my head is dreadful."
"Yes, that's the best thing you can do," said Eleanor warmly. "You'll
feel ever so much better, I know, when you wake up. Someone will be here
with you all the time, so that if you wake up and want anything, you'll
only need to ask for it."
But Gladys was asleep before Eleanor had finished speaking. Nature was
taking charge of the case and prescribing the greatest of all her
remedies, sleep.
Eleanor turned away, with relief showing plainly in her eyes.
"I think she'll be all right now," she said. "If that blow were going to
have any serious effects, I don't believe she'd be in her senses now."
"I think it's a good thing it happened, in a way," said Dolly, when they
were outside of the tent. "Did you notice how she spoke about Bessie,
Miss Eleanor?"
"Yes. I see what you mean, Dolly. Of course, I'm sorry she had to have
such an experience, but maybe you're right, after all. I'm quite sure
that her feelings toward Bessie will be changed after this--she'd have
to be a dreadful sort of girl if she could keep on cherishing her
dislike and resentment. And I'm sure she's not."
"Hello! Why aren't you in bed, sleeping off that ducking?" asked Dolly
suddenly. For Bessie, in dry clothes, and looking as if she had had
nothing more exciting than an ordinary plunge into the sea to fill her
day, was coming toward them from her own tent.
"Oh, I feel fine!" said Bessie. "The only trouble with me was that I was
scared--just plain scared! If I'd known that everything was going to be
all right, I could have turned and swum ashore after you started towing
Gladys in. Is she all right? I'm more bothered about her than about
myself."
"I think she's going to feel a lot better when she wakes up," said
Eleanor. "I think I'm enough of a doctor to be able to tell when there's
anything seriously wrong. But I'm not taking any chances--I've sent for
a doctor."
"How about the other boat? Did they get in all right?" asked Dolly. "I
forgot all about them, I was so worked up about Bessie and Gladys."
"They had a tough time, but they managed it," said Margery Burton.
"Here's Miss Turner now. I suppose she's worried about Gladys."
Worried she certainly was, but Eleanor was able to reassure her, and
soon the doctor, arriving from Green Cove, pronounced Gladys to be in no
danger.
"She'll have that headache when she wakes up," he said; "but it will be
a lot better, and by to-morrow morning it will be gone altogether. Don't
give her much to eat; some chicken broth ought to be enough. She's
evidently got a good constitution. If she had fractured her skull she
wouldn't have been conscious yet, nor for a good many days."
But the accident had one unforeseen consequence, that was rather amusing
than otherwise to Dolly, at first, at least. For, before the doctor was
ready to go, the sound of an automobile engine was heard up on the
bluff, and a minute later Billy Trenwith came racing down the path.
At the sight of Eleanor he paused, looking a little sheepish.
"I heard that Doctor Black was coming here--I was afraid something might
have happened to you," he stammered.
"Why, whatever made you think that?" said Eleanor, honestly puzzled.
Then she turned, surprised again by a burst of hysterical laughter from
Dolly, who, staring at Trenwith's red face, was entirely unable to
contain her mirth. Under Eleanor's steady gaze she managed to control
herself, but then she went off again helplessly as Doctor Black winked
at her very deliberately.
Scandalized and rather indignant as the point of the joke began to reach
her, Eleanor was dismayed to see that Bessie, the grave, was also having
a hard time to keep from laughing outright. So she blushed, which was
the last thing in the world she wanted to do, and then made some excuse
for a hasty flight.
"Well, you people have so many things happen to you all the time," said
Trenwith, indignantly, "that I don't see why it wasn't perfectly natural
for me to come out to see what was wrong now!"
"Oh, don't apologize to me, Mr. Trenwith!" said Dolly, mischievously.
"And--can you keep a secret?"
He looked at her, not knowing whether he ought to laugh or frown, and
Dolly went up to him, put her hands on his shoulders, and raised herself
so that she could whisper in his ear.
"She isn't half as angry as she pretends," she said.
Then Eleanor came back, and Dolly made herself scarce. She had a
positive genius for knowing just how far she could go safely in her
teasing.
"I had to come out here, anyhow," said Trenwith, to Eleanor. "Look here.
I got this message from Charlie Jamieson."
Eleanor took it.
"I don't see why you let Charlie order you around so," she said,
severely. "Haven't you any business of your own to attend to? He hasn't
any right to expect you to waste all your time trying to keep us out of
trouble."
"Oh, it isn't wasted," he said, indignantly. "We're supposed to help our
friends--and we're friends, aren't we?"
"Of course we are," said Eleanor, relenting.
He brightened at once.
"Well," he said, impulsively, "you see Charlie says he doesn't want me
to let you and those two girls--Bessie and Zara--out of my sight until
he comes. Couldn't you all come out for a sail with me in my motor
launch? We could have supper on board and it would be lots of fun, I
think."
Eleanor looked doubtful.
"I don't know about leaving the camp," she said. "I ought to be here to
keep an eye on things."
"Oh, you can go perfectly well, Miss Eleanor," said Margery Burton. "It
will do Bessie and Dolly a lot of good if you take them--they've had a
pretty exciting day. And we can ask all the Halsted girls over to
supper, and Miss Turner will be with them. She can take your place as
Guardian for a few hours, can't she?"
"If she will come. Why, yes, that would make it all right," said
Eleanor. Somehow she found that she wasn't half as strong-minded and
self-reliant when this very masterful young man was around. "You might
go over and see, Margery, if you will."
"Splendid!" said Trenwith. "We'll have a perfectly bully time, I know.
You keep at it too hard, Miss Mercer--really you do!"
"We won't go very far, will we?" said Eleanor, yielding to the lure of a
sail at sunset.
"Oh, no, just a few miles down the coast. There's a lot of pretty
scenery you ought to see--and I've got a man who helps me to run my boat
who's a perfect wizard at cooking. We've got a sort of imitation kitchen
on board, but he does things in it that would make the chef of a big
hotel envious. He's one of the few things I boast about."
Margery soon returned with word that the Halsted girls would accept the
supper invitation, and that Mary Turner would be delighted to come.
Margery's eyes were twinkling, and it was plain that Mary Turner had
said something else that was not to be repeated.
"All right! That's great!" said Trenwith, happily. "I'll run back to
Green Cove in my car, and come around here again in the launch. It was
to follow me there. I'll be back soon."
Indeed, in half an hour he was back, and Eleanor with Zara, Bessie and
Dolly, were taken out to the _Columbia_ in two trips of the little
dinghy which served as her tender. The _Columbia_ was a big, roomy,
motor launch, without a deck, but containing a little cabin, and a
comfortable lounging space aft, which was covered with an awning.
"What a delightful boat!" said Eleanor, as she settled herself
comfortably amid the cushions Trenwith had provided for her. "I should
think you could have an awfully good time on her."
"I've used her a lot," said Trenwith. "There's room in the cabin for two
fellows to sleep, if they don't mind being crowded, and of course in
warm weather one can sleep out here. I've used her quite a lot to go
duck hunting, and for little cruises when I've been all tired out.
Charlie Jamieson has been with me several times."
"I've heard him talk about the good times he's had on her. It was stupid
of me to have forgotten."
"She's not very fast or very fashionable, but she is good fun. I'd
rather have a steady, slow engine that you can depend on than one of
those racing motors that's always getting out of order."
"All ready to start, sir, Mr. Trenwith," said Bates, his "crew," then,
and Trenwith took the wheel.
"All right," he said. "Let her go, Bates! You can steer from the wheel
in the bow after we get started, right down the coast. We'll lie to off
Humber Island and eat supper."
"Right, sir!" said Bates. "I've got a good supper for to-night, too."
"Being right out on the water this way makes me hungry," said Eleanor.
"That's good news, Bates."