"By heaven, what pluck!" muttered Marmaduke as, without a second's delay, he plunged from the wharf and swam, with quick overhand strokes, to where the woman had disappeared. He was just preparing to dive after her when she came up close beside him.
One look was sufficient.
"Marmie!" he cried. "God in heaven, am I dreaming? Marmie!"
"Yes--yes," she gasped impatiently, for owing to the weight she carried her dive had been prolonged. "The child's head--see that it is out of water!"
In a second he was cool, self-reliant.
"Your hands on my shoulders, please. That will raise you--I must swim round--the burning wood."
In truth every instant a fierce hiss, a cloud of steam close to them showed where some blazing fragment had fallen to be extinguished.
"Are you all right?" he called over his shoulder, as with powerful strokes he made for a further wharf.
"All right; but please be quick--the child----"
How like Marmie--always the child--the child. He swam on, feeling bewildered but, he knew not why, desperately happy.