CHAPTER XI
THE RESCUE
In a moment, however, she realized that she could not be left alone forlong. Her absence from the _Eleanor_ would be noticed, even if no onehad seen her leap overboard; and, moreover, the strange behavior of the_Defiance_ was sure to attract Dolly's attention, for, without Gladys todirect her, the _Defiance_ was in a bad way. She had heeled oversharply, and seemed now to be sailing in circles, following the errantimpulses of the wind, which caught first one sail, then another.
Although she was quite near the _Defiance_, Bessie looked for no helpfrom her. To swim toward her, with Gladys as a burden, seemed hopeless.The boat was not staying in one position. And moreover, Marcia Bates andthe other girl on board of her seemed almost entirely ignorant of whatto do. They would have quite enough on their hands in trying to get herheaded for the opening in the bar.
And suddenly a new danger was added to the others. For Gladys, itseemed, was recovering her senses--or, rather, she was no longerunconscious. To her horror, Bessie found, as Gladys opened her eyes,that she was delirious. That, of course, was the effect of the blow onher head from the boom, but its effect, no matter what the cause, waswhat worried Bessie.
"Keep still! Don't move, Gladys!" warned Bessie, as she saw the othergirl's eyes open.
But Gladys either would not or could not obey that good advice. Shestruggled furiously by way of answer, and for a long minute Bessie wastoo busy keeping afloat to be able to look for the coming of the helpthat was so badly needed.
There seemed to be no purpose to the struggles of Gladys, but they werenone the less desperate because of that. Her eyes had the wide, fixedstare that, had Bessie known it, is so invariably seen in those who arein mortal fear of drowning. And she clung to Bessie with a strength thatno one could have imagined her capable of displaying.
And at last, though she hated to do it, Bessie managed to get her handsfree, and, clenching her fists, she drove them repeatedly into theother's face so that Gladys was forced to let go and put her handsbefore her face to cover herself from the vicious blows.
At once Bessie seized the opportunity. She flung herself away, knowingthat 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 couldgrasp her by the shoulders and be safe from the deadly clutch of herarms.
Free from the terrible danger that is the risk assumed by all who rescuedrowning persons, that of being dragged down by the victim, Bessie wasable to raise her head and look for the _Eleanor_. And now she gave awild cry as she saw the sloop bearing down upon her. Eleanor Mercer wasin the bow, a coil of rope in her hands, and a moment later she flung itskillfully, so that Bessie caught it. At once Bessie made a noose andslipped the rope over Gladys's shoulders. Then she let go, and, turningon her back, rested while Gladys was dragged toward the sloop.
Bessie herself was almost exhausted by her struggle. She felt that, hadher very life depended upon doing it, she could not have swum the fewyards that separated her from the sloop. But there was no need for herto do it. Steering with the utmost skill, Dolly soon brought the_Eleanor_ alongside of Bessie as she lay floating in the water, and amoment 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, whoseemed 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'show she was knocked overboard. She didn't know what she was doing whenshe struggled so in the water."
"What a lucky thing you saw what happened!" said Dolly. "I was so intenton the race that I never looked at all, and I didn't even know you'dgone over until I called to you and you didn't answer."
"Oh, I knew you'd come back, Dolly. I just wondered, when Gladys wasstruggling so, if you'd be in time."
This time Dolly didn't stop at the anchorage of the sloop, but ran herright up on the beach. That meant some trouble in getting her off whenthey 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 nothingof the accident that had so nearly had a tragic ending, rushed up tohelp, and in a few moments Gladys was being carried to the big livingtent.
There her wet clothes were taken off, she was rubbed with alcohol, andwrapped in hot blankets. And as Eleanor and Margery Burton stood overher, she opened her eyes, looked at them in astonishment, and wanted toknow where she was.
"Oh, thank Heaven!" cried Eleanor. "She's come to her senses, I dobelieve! 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 hiton 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 rememberanything after that, do you? It dazed you for a time, so that you didn'tknow what you were doing. But you're all right now, though I'vetelephoned for a doctor, and he'd better have a look at you when hecomes, 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, thegirls on your boat were pretty helpless--she was going all around incircles 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 thinkI'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'llfeel ever so much better, I know, when you wake up. Someone will be herewith you all the time, so that if you wake up and want anything, you'llonly need to ask for it."
But Gladys was asleep before Eleanor had finished speaking. Nature wastaking charge of the case and prescribing the greatest of all herremedies, 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 tohave 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 theywere 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 havesuch an experience, but maybe you're right, after all. I'm quite surethat her feelings toward Bessie will be changed after this--she'd haveto be a dreadful sort of girl if she could keep on cherishing herdislike and resentment. And I'm sure she's not."
"Hello! Why aren't you in bed, sleeping off that ducking?" asked Dollysuddenly. For Bessie, in dry clothes, and looking as if she had hadnothing more exciting than an ordinary plunge into the sea to fill herday, was coming toward them from her own tent.
"Oh, I feel fine!" said Bessie. "The only trouble with me was that I wasscared--just plain scared! If I'd known that everything was going to beall right, I could have turned and swum ashore after you started towingGladys in. Is she all right? I'm more bothered about her than aboutmyself."
"I think she's going to feel a lot better when she wakes up," saidEleanor. "I think I'm enough of a doctor to be able to tell when there'sanything seriously wrong. But I'm not taking any chances--I've sent fora doctor."
"How about the other boat? Did they get in all right?" asked Dolly. "Iforgot 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, andsoon the doctor, arriving from Green Cove, pronounced Gladys to be in nodanger.
"She'll have that headache when she wakes up," he said; "but it wi
ll bea lot better, and by to-morrow morning it will be gone altogether. Don'tgive her much to eat; some chicken broth ought to be enough. She'sevidently got a good constitution. If she had fractured her skull shewouldn't have been conscious yet, nor for a good many days."
But the accident had one unforeseen consequence, that was rather amusingthan otherwise to Dolly, at first, at least. For, before the doctor wasready to go, the sound of an automobile engine was heard up on thebluff, 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 mighthave 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 fromDolly, who, staring at Trenwith's red face, was entirely unable tocontain her mirth. Under Eleanor's steady gaze she managed to controlherself, but then she went off again helplessly as Doctor Black winkedat her very deliberately.
Scandalized and rather indignant as the point of the joke began to reachher, Eleanor was dismayed to see that Bessie, the grave, was also havinga hard time to keep from laughing outright. So she blushed, which wasthe last thing in the world she wanted to do, and then made some excusefor a hasty flight.
"Well, you people have so many things happen to you all the time," saidTrenwith, indignantly, "that I don't see why it wasn't perfectly naturalfor 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, andDolly went up to him, put her hands on his shoulders, and raised herselfso 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 apositive genius for knowing just how far she could go safely in herteasing.
"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'tany right to expect you to waste all your time trying to keep us out oftrouble."
"Oh, it isn't wasted," he said, indignantly. "We're supposed to help ourfriends--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 meto let you and those two girls--Bessie and Zara--out of my sight untilhe comes. Couldn't you all come out for a sail with me in my motorlaunch? We could have supper on board and it would be lots of fun, Ithink."
Eleanor looked doubtful.
"I don't know about leaving the camp," she said. "I ought to be here tokeep an eye on things."
"Oh, you can go perfectly well, Miss Eleanor," said Margery Burton. "Itwill do Bessie and Dolly a lot of good if you take them--they've had apretty exciting day. And we can ask all the Halsted girls over tosupper, and Miss Turner will be with them. She can take your place asGuardian for a few hours, can't she?"
"If she will come. Why, yes, that would make it all right," saidEleanor. Somehow she found that she wasn't half as strong-minded andself-reliant when this very masterful young man was around. "You mightgo 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 asail at sunset.
"Oh, no, just a few miles down the coast. There's a lot of prettyscenery you ought to see--and I've got a man who helps me to run my boatwho's a perfect wizard at cooking. We've got a sort of imitation kitchenon board, but he does things in it that would make the chef of a bighotel envious. He's one of the few things I boast about."
Margery soon returned with word that the Halsted girls would accept thesupper invitation, and that Mary Turner would be delighted to come.Margery's eyes were twinkling, and it was plain that Mary Turner hadsaid something else that was not to be repeated.
"All right! That's great!" said Trenwith, happily. "I'll run back toGreen Cove in my car, and come around here again in the launch. It wasto follow me there. I'll be back soon."
Indeed, in half an hour he was back, and Eleanor with Zara, Bessie andDolly, were taken out to the _Columbia_ in two trips of the littledinghy which served as her tender. The _Columbia_ was a big, roomy,motor launch, without a deck, but containing a little cabin, and acomfortable lounging space aft, which was covered with an awning.
"What a delightful boat!" said Eleanor, as she settled herselfcomfortably amid the cushions Trenwith had provided for her. "I shouldthink you could have an awfully good time on her."
"I've used her a lot," said Trenwith. "There's room in the cabin for twofellows to sleep, if they don't mind being crowded, and of course inwarm weather one can sleep out here. I've used her quite a lot to goduck 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 stupidof me to have forgotten."
"She's not very fast or very fashionable, but she is good fun. I'drather have a steady, slow engine that you can depend on than one ofthose 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 wheelin the bow after we get started, right down the coast. We'll lie to offHumber 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."