The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-01-28
The brarc girl bv my side never mur-

The brdrC girl bU my side neVer mur-
atnrGu
ly we struck out In Its direction. Occa-
wave could see it burning brightly in
spite of the water that dashed about 1t
and all over it. But II was terrible
work attempting to swim in such u sea,
and, realizing this, quickly divested
myself of everything but pair of
trousers. Foreseeing what was to
come, l prepared for 1t to the best Of
my ability.
My companion swan on, but more
feebly every stroke, and presently l
had to support her. or, rather, | lent
her aid, for she still went through the
mechanical action of keeping herself
afioat. Feeling her grow heavier every
minute, l redoubled my efforts, very
wildly, fear, for the agony Of the sit.
uation was holding ME with grip of
terror. Realizing the futilty Of such
waste of energy and quickly grasping
the fact that my one policy was to re-
main af1oat. l soon abandoned my ex-
haustlve efforts and, with slower
movement, struggled on, on. But the
fare danced before me like a will-o'.
the-wisp, and ever as thought drew
nearer the thing, curling on the crest
of wave, seemed to my eyes, half
blinded as they were by the spray, US
far off as ever.
I felt my strength going. My heart
beat ominously. brcathed with the
utmost difficulty. The girl, though /
could not see, though l dared not look,
appeared to be unconscious. felt one
Of her hands. 1t trailed in the water
like a dead thing. How fought, how
] struggled to keep myself ahoat!
seemed to hear my brain throb throb,
as throbs the propeller Of great
steamship. My forehead was bursting
with apprehension. knew that l was
surely sinking. The dead weight of the
girl had completely paralyzed me on
one side. no longer kept the horizon
tai or senihOrizontal position of the
swimmer, but found my weary feet
searching the perpendicular for sup
port. the last extremity of the van
flished. Then in a sudden at of fury
struck out fiercely once more, the last
fearful effort Of the drowning man, and
presently my hand came In contact
with something hard.
l drew back in terror, for even half
conscious as l was l believed that |
had struck some living thing, and the
thought Of shark sent thrill of hor-
ror through my enfeebled body. With
eyes wildly staring glared ahead, and
as the flare still danced some distance
off l felt that my suspicious were real
lied. But the light rising once more
tinted the object with its glow, and a
sudden thrill of happiness put new life
into my fiaccid muscles. 1t was no
shark, but the life buoy to which the
fare was attached.
With a few strokes had reached 1t,
and though the sea tried to tear IT from
my grasp clung with the energy Of a
drowning man, and, though not with
out some difficulty, slipped II over the
head of the unconscious girl and got
her arms above 1t. Then breathed
fervent ''Thank Godr'
1t all takes some time to tell, and to
me that struggle with the waves SEEM
ed and still seems, like an eternity,
but in reality 1t was a battle Of min.
utes and not many of them, though l
am inclined to maintain that under
such conditions one would find still
fewer more than enough. When look.
ed round again, saw the steamer COM
ing up behind me, and presently she
lay to, u world of welcome light. I
had no fear now, and my eyes stung
with something more than sea water
as looked up ut the great lights and
thought Of the brave hearts and the
willing hands which were coming to