I had for a moment an idea that my best plan might be to fetch it first,but a glance at the distance and at the condition of the sea made me seethe futility of any such hope. Already the waves were rising so fastthat they were beginning to sweep over the crest of the rocks. Even thatin front of me where the women stood was now topped by almost everywave. Without further delay I jumped into the sea and swam across. Thegirl gave me a hand up the rock, and I stood beside them, the old ladyholding tight to me whilst I held the younger one and the rising waveswashing round our feet. For a moment or two I considered the situation,and then asked them if either of them could swim. The answer was in thenegative. "Then," I said decisively, "you must leave yourselves to me,and I shall swim across with each of you in turn." The old lady groaned.I pointed out that there was no other way, and that if we came at onceit would not be difficult, as the distance was short and the waves werenot as yet troublesome. I tried to treat the matter as though it were anice holiday episode so that I might keep up their spirits; but all thesame I felt gravely anxious. The distance to swim was only some thirtyyards, but the channel was deep, and the tide running strong. Moreoverthe waves were rising, and we should have to get a foothold on theslippery seaweed-covered rock. However there was nothing to be done butto hasten; and as I was considering how best I should take the old ladyacross I said:
"What a pity it is that we haven't even a strong cord, and then we couldpull each other across." The girl jumped at the idea and said:
"There was plenty in the boat, but of course it is gone. Still thereshould be a short piece here. I took care to fasten the painter to apiece of rock; but like a woman forgot to see that the other end wasfixed to the boat, so that when the tide turned she drifted away withthe stream. The fast end should be here still." When the coming wavehad rolled on she pointed to a short piece of rope tied round a juttingpiece of rock; its loose end swayed to and fro with every wave. I jumpedfor it at once, for I saw a possible way out of our difficulty; even ifthe rope were short, so was the distance, and its strands ravelled mightcover the width of the channel. I untied the rope as quickly as I could.It was not an easy task, for the waves made it impossible to work exceptfor a few seconds at a time; however, I got it free at last and pulledit up. It was only a fragment some thirty feet in length; but my heartleaped for I saw my way clear now. The girl saw it too and said at once:
"Let me help you." I gave her one end of the rope and we commencedsimultaneously to ravel the piles. It was a little difficult to do,standing as we did upon the uneven surface of the rock with the wavesrushing over our feet and the old lady beside us groaning and moaningand imploring us to hasten. Mostly she addressed herself to me, as insome way the _deus ex machina_ and thus superior to the occasion wherehelpless women were concerned; but occasionally the wail was directed toher companion, who would then, even in that time of stress and hurry,spare a moment to lay a comforting hand on her as she said:
"Hush! oh hush! Do not say anything, dear. You will only frightenyourself. Be brave!" and such phrases of kindness and endearment. Oncethe girl stopped as a wave bigger than the rest broke over her feet. Theold lady tried to still her shriek into a moan as she held on to her,saying "Oh Miss Anita! Oh Miss Anita!" plaintively over and over again.
At last we had ravelled the four strands of the rope and I began to knotthem together. The result was a rope long enough to reach from rock torock, though it was in places of very doubtful strength. I made a bigloop at one end of it and put it over the stout lady's head and underher armpits. I cautioned both women not to tax the cord too severely bya great or sudden strain. The elder lady protested against going first,but was promptly negatived by the young lady, whose wishes on thesubject were to me a foregone conclusion. I took the loose end of therope and diving into the water swam across to the other rock upon thetop of which I scrambled with some little trouble, for the waves, thoughnot as yet in themselves dangerous, made difficult any movement whichexposed me to their force. I signed to the old lady to slide into thesea which, assisted by the girl, she did very pluckily. She gasped andgurgled a good deal and clutched the loop with a death grip; but I kepta steady even strain on the rope whose strength I mistrusted. In a fewseconds she was safely across, and I was pulling her up by the hands upthe rock. When she was firmly fixed I gave her the loose end of the cordto hold and swam back with the loop. The girl did not delay or giveany trouble. As she helped me up the rock I could not but notice whatstrength she had; her grip of my wet hand was firm and strong, and therewas in it no quiver of anxiety. I felt that she had no care for herself,now that her companion was safe. I signalled to the old lady to beready; the girl slipped into the water, I going in at the same time andswimming beside her. The old lady pulled zealously. So absorbed was shein her work that she did not heed my warning cry not to pull too hard.She pulled as though on her strength rested the issue of life and death;with the result that before we were a third of the way across the ropebroke and she fell sitting on the rock behind her. For an instant thegirl was submerged and came up gasping. In the spasmodic impulse commonat such moments she gripped me so hard round the neck that I feltwe were both in danger. Before we sank I wrenched, though with somedifficulty her hands away from me, so that when we rose I had her atarm's length. For a few seconds I held her so that she could get herbreath; and as I did so I could hear the old lady screaming out in anagonised way:
"Marjory! Marjory! Marjory!" With her breath came back the girl'sreason, and she left herself to me passively. As I held her by theshoulder, a wave sweeping over the rock took us, and in my sudden effortto hold her I tore away the gown at her throat. It was quite evident herwits were all about her now for she cried out suddenly:
"Oh, my brooch! my brooch!" There was no time to waste and no time forquestions. When a man has to swim for two in a choppy sea, and when theother one is a fully clothed woman, there is little to waste of strengthor effort. So I swam as I had never done, and brought her up to the rockwhere the old lady helped her to scramble to her feet. When I had got mybreath I asked her about her brooch. She replied:
"I would not have lost it for all the world. It is an heirloom."
"Was it gold?" I asked, for I wanted to know its appearance as Iintended to dive for it.
"Yes!" she said, and without another word I jumped into the channelagain to swim to the outer rock, for it was close there it must havebeen lost and I could dive from there. The channel between the rockshas a sandy bottom, and it would be easy to see the gold. As I went shecalled out to me to come back, not to mind, that she would rather loseit a thousand times than have me run any risk, and so forth; thingsmightily pleasant to hear when spoken by such lips. For myself I hadonly exultation. I had got off both the women without accident, and thesea was as yet, not such as to give any concern to a good swimmer. Idived from the rock and got bottom easily, the depth being only ten ortwelve feet; and after a few seconds looking round me I saw the gleam ofgold. When I had risen and swam to the inner rock the two women pulledme up to my feet.
When I gave her the brooch the young lady pressed it to her lips, andturning to me with tears in her eyes said:
"Oh you brave man! You kind, brave man! I would not have lost this foranything I call mine. Thank you that you have saved our lives; andthat you have saved this for me." Then with girlish impulsiveness andunpremeditation she put up her face and kissed me.
That moment, with her wet face to mine, was the happiest of my life.
CHAPTER VIII
A RUN ON THE BEACH
The girl's kiss was so spontaneous and so natural that it could notconvey any false impression to me. It was a manifest expression ofgratitude, and that only. Nevertheless it set my heart beating and myveins tingling with delight. From that instant I did not feel quite astranger to the giver; nor could I ever feel as quite a stranger again.Something of the same idea may have passed through the girl's mind, forshe blushed and looked around her shyly; but, with a proud lifting ofher head and a slight stamp of her foot on the rock, she put the matterbehind her, for the present. The old lady, in the midst of her concernfor her companion and herself, was able to throw a glance of disapprovalon me, as though I had done something wrong; from which I gathered thatthe younger lady was not only very dear to her, but held in some sort ofunusual respect as well. It was peculiar that she should in the midst ofher present condition be able to give a thought to so trivial a thing.For though death did not now stare her in the face, she was cold andwet; the rock she stood on was hard and slippery, and the foam of thebreaking waves was even now curling around her feet.
She looked about her apprehensively; she did not know whether or no wewere on another isolated rock. I reassured her on this subject, and wescrambled as quickly as we could over the rocks on our way shoreward.The elder lady took up most of my time. Here and there in a difficultplace, for the wind by now blew so strongly that one found it hard tobalance oneself as is necessary when walking on rocks, I offered theyounger my hand. At first she firmly declined; but then, manifestlythinking it churlish, she relented and let me help her. That kiss wasevidently rankling in her mind.
Both the women breathed more freely when we had reached the shore andstood secure from the sea. And indeed by this time the view, as welooked back, was enough to frighten one. Great waves topped with whitewere rolling in from as far as we could see; dashing over the rocks,sending up here and there white towers of spray, or rolling in on theflat shore in front of us with an ominous roar. Woe betide any one whomight be isolated now on any rock beyond; he would be swept off, andbeaten on the rocks. The old lady groaned as she saw it, and then saidaudibly a prayer of thankfulness. Even the girl grew white for a moment;then, to my secret joy, unconsciously she drew closer to me. I tookcontrol of the party.
"Come," I said, "you mustn't stand here in your wet clothes. Hurry tothe hotel and get dried. You will get your death of cold. We must allrun! Or hasten, at all events!" I added, as I took in the dimensions ofthe elder lady.
"We have left our trap at the hotel" said the younger lady as we beganto walk quickly in the direction of Port Erroll.
As we were moving off it suddenly struck me that Gormala might have seenthe episode of the rescue. The very thought of such a thing filled mewith such dismay that I groaned aloud. Not for all the world would Ihave had her have a hand in this; it was too sacred--too delightful--toomuch apart from ordinary things! Whilst I was lost in a reverie ofinexpressible sweetness for perhaps two or three seconds altogether, Iwas recalled to myself by the voice of the girl who came close to me:
"Are you hurt? Please tell me if you are. I am a First Aid."
"Hurt?" I asked, surprised "not at all. What on earth makes you thinkso?"
"I heard you groan!"
"Oh that----" I began with a smile. Then I stopped, for again thehaunting fear of Gormala's interference closed over my heart like a wetmist. With the fear, however, came a resolution; I would not have anydoubt to torment me. In my glance about the shore, as we came off therocks on to the beach, I had not seen a sign of anyone. At this part ofthe shore the sandhills have faded away into a narrow flat covered withbent-grass, beyond which the land slopes up directly to the higherplain. There was not room or place for any one to hide; even one lyingamongst the long bents could be seen at a glance from above. Without aword I turned to the left and ran as quickly as I could across the beachand up the steep bank of the sandy plateau. With a certain degree ofapprehension, and my heart beating like a trip-hammer--I had certainlytaken this matter with much concern--I looked around. Then I breathedfreely; there was not a sign of anyone as far as I could see. The wind,now coming fiercely in from the sea, swept the tall bent-grass till itlay over, showing the paler green of its under side; the blue-green,metallic shimmer which marks it, and which painters find it so hard toreproduce, had all vanished under the stress.
I ran back to join the ladies. The elder one had continued walkingstolidly along the shore, leaving a track of wet on the half dry sandas she went; but the younger one had lingered and came towards me as Iapproached.
"I hope there was nothing wrong?" she asked in a most natural way.
"No," I said it without thinking, for there was something about thegirl which made me feel as if we were old friends, and I spoke to herunconsciously in this strain. "It's all right. She's not there!"
"Who?" she asked with unconsciousness of any _arriere pensee_, anunconsciousness similar to my own.