"Is it not worth some sacrifice to be with you? Nor would I appear here as lord and master; no, but as your humble oarsman! Away little one, let me go to the oar."
The fisher-girl did not stir; seeing he was about to take the oar from her by force, she prepared to stand upon the defensive.
"Let the poor child alone," said Eva, "she will not leave her post."
Blanden hesitated; suddenly the girl voluntarily relinquished the oar, cried again twice in a shrieking voice--
"Father's boat! Father's boat!" and then plunged into the sea. Blanden was about to jump after her.
"Do not," said Eva, "she is the best swimmer in all the villages on the coast; but she is imbecile, and only seldom has gleams of reason."
"And you trust yourself to her?" asked Blanden.
"No one pulls so good an oar, has better knowledge of wind and weather and of the sea's peculiarities; she is a water spirit with her meaningless frog's eyes. I should rely most implicitly upon her in every danger of the stormy sea. Only look how she swims; she has reached the forsaken boat, swings herself into it, and grasps the oar!"
"That is disagreeable enough for me!" said Blanden.
"Why in the world?"