“There is Ed!” shouted Cora, and without doing more than unclasping the leather belt that confined her waist, she struck out boldly toward a point considerably farther out than the spot where the stalled car stood in the water.
“Oh, you can’t swim—that way, Cora!” called Bess. “Cora! Cora! come back!”
But with arms over her head Cora plowed her way through the waves, stroke after stroke, until she was beside Ed, who was struggling to beat back the rollers that fought for the very life of the girl he had just brought up from under the heavy blanket of smothering water.
“Mother! Mother!” wailed the girl. “Let me get—mother. She is—down—down there!”
“No—she is—safe!” gasped Cora. “Come! Let us help you—out!”
“Oh is—she safe! I—I am all right! I—can swim!”
“But you are too weak!” called Ed. “Let us help you!”
A shriek—and the girl again disappeared.
Ed went down after her, and while Cora kept in motion to sustain herself, Ed came up with the girl again in his arms.
“Take hold!” he gasped to Cora. “She is hurt and cannot swim.”