"Heavens!... What was that?"
"Who has fallen overboard?"
"Daughter of my heart!... Marta!... Marta! Let go of me!... Let me save my daughter!"
"She is already safe, Don Mariano; there is no need of you wetting yourself."
"Back water! Back water! Steady!..." said the captain's rough voice. "Fling that line, Manuel.... Don't be alarmed, ladies; it is nothing at all.... Back water! Weigh all.... Lay hold, all of you, on that line. There is nothing to worry about."
At first the confusion was great. Ricardo and one of the sailors had leaped into the water and were swimming powerfully to make up the short distance which the falúa had gone before the alarm was given. Ricardo, who was ahead, dived, and in a few seconds re-appeared with the girl on his arm. The falúa was near them, and he could clutch the rope which they had flung him, and then the gunwale of the yawl, finding himself suspended by a number of arms which lifted them on deck. Don Mariano, in the short moments that this lasted, struggled with Don Maximo and others, trying to leap into the water. When he saw his daughter on board, it took him but a moment to press her to his heart.
Martita had fainted away. Various ladies hastened to loosen her clothing and shake her violently to rid her of the water which she had swallowed. Then they laid her down on one of the seats on the deck, and Ricardo, taking a bottle of salts which Don Maximo had brought with him, applied it to her nostrils. She soon opened her eyes and, on seeing the young man's solicitous face leaning over her, she smiled sweetly, and said to him, so that no one else could hear:—"Thanks, señor marqués!... It is not so bad down below there."
When they reached El Moral, they dried themselves at the house of some friends who were taking baths there, and they donned the first clothes that came to hand. Then they once more took up their homeward way, and reached the quay at one o'clock, finding each of their respective families were beginning to feel anxious over their late arrival.
CHAPTER XI.
A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE.
DON MARIANO'S guests were amusing themselves with the game of forfeits. The evening was thoroughly disagreeable, and only the most courageous had ventured out. When this happened (and it was not very infrequent) music and dancing were forbidden and games of cards, of commerce[51], or of forfeits were substituted, or at times merely a pleasant, bright conversation. On the evening of which we are speaking, the feminine sex was represented by three Misses de Ciudad, two Delgados, the Señorita de Morí, and one more who, together with those of the family made a sufficiently respectable nucleus; in the masculine part figured the family physician, Señor de Ciudad, Don Serapio, the engineer Suárez, and four or five other young fellows who, being simple and insignificant, deserve no special mention. The tertulia occupied only one corner of the parlor, although on occasions when the game required, it was scattered about over the whole of it. Don Mariano, surrounded by the solemn fathers, walked up and down, and enjoyed his discussions, frequently stopping to lay down some intricate logic, and then continuing his walk with hands behind his back.