“What! The silly boy! He’d better make sure of you!”
“I’m sure he feels conscientious about the war. He said that he couldn’t do what Phil is doing—not that he was criticizing Phil, you understand, Cathalina, because I know how much he thinks of him.”
Cathalina nodded.
“I don’t know whether I am ready myself, yet, either. But we just keep getting better and better acquainted and like to be together.”
Cathalina shook her head. “That isn’t very romantic, is it? Look at Isabel, Hilary! What is she doing?” Cathalina was standing on the edge of the elevation watching Isabel, who seemed to have caught her canoe in a snag or some obstruction near the opposite side of the stream. Suddenly whatever it was gave way and the canoe shot out and over toward the other shore with a force that upset it.
“Isabel will get a plunge, too,” said Cathalina lightly, watching closely, however, till Isabel should come to the surface and strike out for the shore or the canoe. But Isabel when she came to the surface made no effort and sank again a little farther down stream. “Get a canoe, Hilary!” called Cathalina as she dived from the point in the hope of catching Isabel in time.
Hilary wasted not a minute, but bounded down the incline to the shore, and thrust out with one of the canoes that had, fortunately, been left there. As she paddled, she shouted, in the hope that some one might be near enough to hear her, though none of the men was in sight, and it seemed as if all the girls must be at the lake shore. “I wish I had a bigger boat to pick them up in,” thought Hilary, “but the canoe is faster. Oh, please, Lord, let me get there in time!”
Although the river was muddy, and the branch, or small tree in which Isabel’s canoe had caught must have been brought down quite recently, the current was not very strong, and that was in the girls’ favor. Cathalina, on coming up from her dive, caught sight of Isabel’s head only a little above her, but as she disappeared at once, she dived to get her and caught her. Not for nothing had Cathalina watched the life-saving tests at camp. She had tried the “bringing in” of a supposedly drowning girl, but this was different, and the bank looked a long way off. But by this time, water was a familiar element, and she felt that she could keep them both up for a little while. Supporting Isabel’s head, she waited for help, trying to direct their way toward the shore as much as she could, but carried further down by the current.
Hilary knew that Cathalina’s endurance was not equal to her courage, and paddled her best to make up for the time lost in getting started. Several times she lost sight of the girls, and fear struck her heart. But they had only drifted around a curve, and Cathalina had managed to get out of the current and nearer the shore. But the stream was deep at that point, and Cathalina’s strength only sufficient to keep afloat. It seemed ages till she heard Hilary’s encouraging voice. “Here I am, now steady and careful, so the canoe won’t go over!”
Cathalina grasped the side of the canoe, while Hilary tried to balance it, but the pull on Cathalina’s side was too much. Hilary found herself in the water, added to the number of “casualties,” with only that fact that Hilary was a strong swimmer, and that the shore was not far away, in their favor. The canoe had slipped from Cathalina’s stiff fingers, though she still kept Isabel above the water. But just as she was about to give up hope, Hilary reached her and took Isabel, and a rowboat rounded the curve, with Mickey pulling furiously.