Antony's jaw dropped and he swallowed more of the river water than was conducive to his comfort.
"I--I don't know, really," he gasped, "but it can't be, of course, if this beastly current will only let us land. Shall I hold you a little? Aren't you tired?"
"Not yet" she answered briefly. "I'll let you know. Of course my clothes make a dif----"
She paused abruptly and devoted her breath to keeping up with him. Antony was a strong and rapid swimmer and had had more than one occasion to practice the art when fully dressed. Rising on his stroke, he glanced about him and saw with joy that the current was sweeping them gradually, though not directly, to the left bank of the river. He could in fact discern their course in the different texture of the water as it sparkled in the sun.
"Just put your hand on my shoulder," he begged. "There's no use wasting your strength. I think we ought to be there in five minutes, at this rate. It must be awfully hard in those skirts." 76
Her breath came short and hard now; with a slight motion of her head she indicated her assent, and placed her hand on his shoulder, and they slid in silence through the water. The bank, which now loomed clearly over them, was quite high at this point, and Antony deliberately neglected more than one place where a brief effort would have got them out of the current, in order to make sure of an easy slope by which to land. Suddenly his eye lit on what he had been waiting for, a winding, easy path up through the cleared underbrush, with a rough, three-sided shanty near it.
"Here we are!" he cried encouragingly. "I think I can get you across--by Jove, it's taking us there!"
And this was so: the current, with a distinct twist, urged them in towards shore, and in a moment more Antony touched the bottom of the river and towed his companion, now hanging heavily on him, in to safety. They dragged themselves wearily up the little path, 77 soggy and dripping, Nette's skirts heavy with water, and sat down with one accord on a sunny rock in front of the decaying old building, evidently a deserted boathouse, from the coils of rope and broken oars that lay there. They looked dully at each other, and as they looked they shivered, for hot as was the sun, the river, not yet warmed by this specious early spring, had chilled them to the bone.
Antony shook himself and tried to overcome the lassitude that had crept on him.