Part 14 (1/2)

”I'll stay near sh.o.r.e,” she told herself, as she laid hold of one of the canoes and launched it as she had seen the girls do. She managed to seat herself in the right end and pushed off from the sh.o.r.e. It was more fun even than she had imagined, and the canoe seemed so light in comparison to the sponson that she sent it flying through the water with little effort. ”I'll bet they're keeping me out of the canoes on purpose, so they'll have more use of them themselves,” she thought ungraciously, ”and it's not because I can't swim at all. That was a safe rule to make when I'm the only one who can't swim. And they're my own father's canoes!”

Gladys edged a little farther out from the sh.o.r.e, then a little farther and a little farther. The end of the canoe swung around until it pointed directly out across the lake, and Gladys kept on paddling in the way it pointed. When she had reached a distance about halfway between Blueberry Island and the dock she noticed with terror that the canoe was leaking. She had not been in the group when Nyoda had warned them about not using the one canoe for several days, and as luck would have it, the canoe she picked out was the very one which Sahwah had grounded on the rock. The gash was opening again and the canoe was filling with water.

Helpless from fright, Gladys dropped her paddle overboard and buried her face in her hands after one wild look at the distant sh.o.r.e. It seemed to her like a swift judgment from heaven for her outrageous conduct that day.

Sahwah, grown weary of sitting in the sun doing nothing, fixed her eyes on the camp dock to watch for the putting out of the launch. No launch was forthcoming, but she saw a canoe gliding out from the dock. ”Something must be the matter with the launch and Nyoda's coming for me in a canoe,” thought Sahwah. ”How slowly she is paddling, it will take her an age to get here!”

Sahwah waited a little while and then slid off the rocks into the water. ”I'll swim out and meet her,” she said to herself. When she had gone about half the distance she saw that it was not Nyoda in the canoe, but Gladys, and an exclamation of astonishment escaped from her lips. Coming nearer yet she saw that Gladys was in distress and had dropped her paddle overboard, and she doubled her speed, shooting through the water like a speed boat. Raising up her head once, she shouted to attract Gladys's attention. Gladys evidently did not hear her, for she did not turn around. When she was nearly there Sahwah saw that the canoe was sinking, and with a mighty spurt she reached it just as it settled to the water's edge, and Gladys, with a wild scream, fell into the lake.

Sahwah caught her by the hair as she came up and held her head out of water. ”What did you take a canoe out for, you goose?” she sputtered. ”You deserve to drown.” The canoe had not sunk entirely yet, and Sahwah thought that if she could turn it over keel up it would be all right until they could come for it. So, turning Gladys over on her back, she bade her float while she kept one hand on her to keep her above water and reached out for the canoe with the other. Gladys struggled and choked, but Sahwah paid no attention to her, for she knew that she was safe and could not get a strangle hold on her. Grasping one end of the canoe she tried to turn it over. At first it would not move, and so Sahwah exerted all her strength in a mighty push. The canoe stood partly on end, and then came down with a cras.h.i.+ng thud on her outstretched arm.

An instant of numbness was followed by the most excruciating pain, and the arm sank limply through the water. Sahwah knew that it was broken. But even then her presence of mind did not desert her. Shoving Gladys out ahead of her with her good arm, she propelled herself with her legs, swimming on her back, and slowly they began to move toward the distant sh.o.r.e. The half mile that was nothing to Sahwah ordinarily now became an endless stretch. The pain in her arm made her feel faint, and her limbs, tired from her long swim, seemed suddenly to have turned into lead. The clouds above turned black, then blood red, then every color of the rainbow. Strange lights and shadows danced in front of her eyes, and there were strange noises in her ears. Her breath came in long, sobbing gasps. The arm that was holding Gladys became cramped and weak, but there was no relief. ”Draw, kick, close! Draw, kick, close!” The monotonous rhythm beat itself into her brain. ”Draw, kick, close!” Throb! Throb!

Throb! Would the nightmare never come to an end? Through the sound of strange voices that were echoing in her ears Sahwah heard a cry that sounded like Nyoda's, and then darkness settled around her and her efforts ceased.

Nyoda, coming down to untie the launch, reached the dock just as Sahwah and Gladys came alongside of it, and held out her hand to help Gladys up. She thought she was being towed for fun.

”Sahwah, you naughty girl, what did you swim all the way home for?” she began, and then gasped in astonishment as Sahwah stiffened out in the water and went down. She grasped her by the collar as she came up and pulled her out on the dock, limp and dripping. ”What does this mean?” she asked Gladys.

”She towed me in when the canoe went down,” said Gladys, her teeth chattering with fright. ”She broke her arm and held me up with the other while she swam with her legs.” Gladys's knees gave way and she sank down on the dock, burying her face in her hands.

And Sahwah the Sunfish, the lover of maiden bravery, the envier of heroines, was the greatest of them all, and knew it not.

CHAPTER VIII.

A SERENADE.

”Is she dead?” cried the girls, gathering around with frightened faces. Gladys caught the word ”dead” and her heart turned to water within her. The horror of the afternoon's experience had made her see herself in her true light and she was overwhelmed with shame at the sight. This Sahwah whom she had twitted as being a coward and a baby because she would not break her word, was made of the stuff that heroes are made of, and had probably given her brave life to save her worthless one. Looking back over the weeks she had spent in camp, she could not remember one instance where she had done anybody a favor or entered with enthusiasm into their plans, while Sahwah's unselfish devotion to her during these last days smote her with sharp remorse. In the new light she suddenly saw the vast difference between herself and these other girls. Verily, they were not of her cla.s.s, because they were far above it. How could she ever take her hands from her face and look at them again? ”If Sahwah dies,”

she sobbed to herself, ”I'll kill myself too.”

Meanwhile Nyoda was working hard to bring Sahwah around. It was not a case of reviving a drowned person, for Sahwah had swallowed no water. She had fainted from exhaustion. Nyoda rubbed her and held salts to her nose and Sahwah finally opened her eyes. ”Did I jump off in my sleep?” she asked dreamily.

”No, my dear, you did not,” said Nyoda. ”You're a real, wide-awake heroine this time, and no mistake.”

”Where's Gladys?” cried Sahwah wildly, starting up suddenly, and falling back with a groan.

”She's all right,” said Nyoda, without looking around. Sahwah was carried up the hill and rolled in warm blankets and put to bed with a hot drink, while Nyoda sped the launch across the lake for the nearest doctor.

”Vell, vich von of de ladies has been celebrating dis time?” he said with his German accent, as he entered the tent. He was the same doctor who had come to look at Migwan's knee. ”A broken arm? Ach, so,” he said, patting the injured member. ”And for vy did you not set it right away yourself, like dat Missis Migvan did?” he asked. ”She vas a hustler, now!” He talked on jovially all the while he set the bone, and Sahwah stuffed the corners of the pillow into her mouth so that no sound should escape her.

”Vell, vell,” he continued, ”dropped a canoe on her funny bone and kicked herself all de vay across de lake, now. And pushed anoder lady by de neck! I gif it up! And now, Missis Sahvah,” he said, holding up one finger at her, ”you lie on de bed until I say you should get out. You could get a fever, pus.h.i.+ng ladies around by de neck!”

”_And_ now,” he said, looking around, ”de lady vot got drowned, vere is she?” The girls searched through the camp for Gladys, but she was nowhere to be found, and he was obliged to depart without seeing her. Far out in the woods Gladys wandered about distractedly until her anxiety regarding Sahwah drove her back to camp to face the girls and find out bow she was. Near the tent she stumbled against something on the ground, and stooping to see what it was, found the racket on which she had vented her fury that afternoon. The sight of it nearly made her ill. ”I'll get her another,” she resolved, ”the best that money can buy. Hers was only a cheap one, after all.”

It was a long time before she could make up her mind to enter the tent, but she finally crept in, hoping to remain unnoticed and hear how Sahwah was getting along. Nyoda looked up as she came in, and pitied her from the bottom of her heart. ”Come in, Gladys,” she said softly, and Gladys approached.

”How is--” she began, and then her voice broke.

”Fine and dandy,” said Sahwah herself, rather weakly. The fever that the doctor had predicted was rising, and her lips were dry.

Nyoda feared that the presence of Gladys would excite Sahwah, and led her out of the tent.

”Now Gladys,” she said, sitting down on the steps of the shack, ”I want you to tell me everything that happened this afternoon.