Evening star., 1932-03-16
INSTALLMENT III.

VAR away out on tie lake, Douy-
l. ant as spar OF WOOD, Martln
lay extended at full stretch in
4 the water and propelled himself
with a four-stroke crawl. Ills
supple arms scooped the water as regu-
larlv as a pair of paddles and the
elastic recoil of his legs whipped him
forward. leaving a track of foam in his
wake. In his ears and eyes and noStrllS
were the well known tingling hiss, and
the green murmuring twilight OF the
waves. and as each arm-Stroke l1teo
him out of the water he turned MS
head toward his left shoulder and drew
a deep breath His breath was mucn
warmer than the water, and there was
something in it OF expectancy ana urg-
ency. Even when brief shower pat
tered down its big drops from heavy
cloud. his breath was neither cooler
nor quicker, but the lake grew rougter
and opposed stronger resistance 70
his arms.
The lake was cold and very deep.
Fed BY the glacier streams that flowed
into it. it became colder and colder
toward the middle and the coldness OF
it sometimes gripped the swimmers
fianks as if with hoops and made
breathing more difficult. The cold nip
ped his heels and toes and caused
slight stiffening, and this provoked
Martin to blow a trumpet note OF an
noyance through the water.
When, as far as he could tell, he was
about halfway across he felt h1mseiI
getting tired, and this annoyed ana
worried him. He trod water and TOOK
look back over his course and over the
lake. He was a little disappointed with
what he saw. The Frauensee shore,
still not very far of, and all those COM
Portable and inviting features to which
Petermann's Grand Hotel on its pro-
jecting spit of land owed its good name,
were easily discernible. In the garden
below the terrace white-aproned walters
were shutting the big red tea garden
umbrellas and carrying them INDOORS.
That pointed to steady rain. There was
not a boat on the lake-only one, at
least, and this rocked about as II "a
bored heavily to and fro in per1ecty
aiualess fashion. Martin recognized IL
at once. It was the old, broad-beameo
emergency boat of the bathing station,
manned by little MatZ, who appeared
to be making no headway against TIE
increasing force Of the wind.
Martin raised one arm above the
water and sent short yodel1ng call
over the lake. The answering can
could only be guessed, for 1t was swept
awav by the wind Martin smiled, put
he was a little anxious all the same.
Now the boy was getting the boat
along. though it was shipping water all
the time, and with him was the stop
watch that he revered like 1etlSn.
The lake was in an ugly mood, ana tne
waves broke relentlessly over MarIln
head. The Wurmtal shore, 1or Wnic1
Martin was making, was far away ana
its outlines were obscured by mist. The
white walls and dark trees OF Castle
Dobbersberg alone stood out clear on
an eminence jutting out into the lake.
Martin took his bearings once more by
the wurmtal landing stage OF the mo-
torboat. which he could hear footing In
the distance without being able to see
il. The familiar sound made the va
cant expanses of the lake seem rather
more friendly.
He yodeled across TO Matz once more.
They were farther apart now and 1t
looked as II the boy had to turn back
to the bathing beach. But perhaps u
was the wind from the west that drove
him backward, or else he was trying TO
tack. For a moment Martin considered
returning, but 1t was only heetlng
idea that he brushed aside at once as
he extended himself again in the water
and shot forward as If at the start OF
He could not keep it up long, for the
waves grew bigger and he had to rise
to each one and override 1t, and tnlS
cost him more breath than before. But
once for a moment he found himself In
a stretch of still, black water that lay
like a patch of oil amid the tempestu-
GUS lake. This to local weather proph-
cts was a presage of storms to come. 1t
was warm there. Then he swan on
again, using the crawl stroke, as be-
fore, almost mechanically, in dazed
and bewildered state.
After 10 minutes of this he was tired
out again and making no headWay. IL
seemed to him that he was dragging
his limbs not through water but through
a thick, cohesive maSS-an icy lava.
cold and yet burning. The lake was
now transformed into mountainous
waves with swirling valleys between.
The sky hung low and lowering. 1t
was very yellow, and weird metallic
light fringed the black and heavy
clouds The shores had vanished. A
confused and angry roar of thunder,
tempest and hail broke over Martins
head. A rush of water was dashed
against his face when he looked up. 1t
he fought for breath while he coughed
and choked wave caught him up
and he sat like pigmy on a great wet
palm. When after second or two ne
opened his eyes again all was dark.
He knew no longer where he was. He
did not know in what direction he
ought to swim.
For a while he lay on his back and