"QUICK, NILS! GRETA IS IN DANGER"
The screams had grown louder. Puffing and panting, Erik followed Nils into the rowboat. Nils picked up the oars. He pulled them with powerful arms, and the boat skimmed ahead.
Before they reached the island, however, Erik pointed and cried, "Look, Nils! There is someone in the water."
It was Greta. She was struggling to keep afloat, sinking, then rising to the top again. Nils tore off his coat. He dived into the water and soon was back in the boat again, with Greta in his arms.
"Row to shore, Erik," he said, and Erik picked up the oars.
He saw Nils wrap his coat about Greta's shoulders. He heard Nils asking Greta what had happened to her.
Greta looked at Erik as she replied, "Erik left me alone on the island. As night fell, I thought of my mother and how worried she would be. I found a leaky, old raft and tried to return on it. But it sank, and I should have sunk, too, if you had not come."
"Why did you do such a terrible thing, Erik?" Nils was glowering, and Erik saw the scolding in his eyes.
Erik answered, "I did it to prove that Baron Karl is a coward."