n through that
lashing hell of waters to the beach beyond. For a girl to do it was too
hopeless even to contemplate; but she recalled Theriere's words of so
short a time ago: "There's no hope, I'm afraid; but, by George, I intend
to go down fighting," and with the recollection came a like resolve
on her part--to go down fighting, and so she struck out against the
powerful waters that swirled her hither and thither, now perilously
close to the rocky sides of the entrance, and now into the mad chaos of
the channel's center. Would to heaven that Theriere were near her, she
thought, for if any could save her it would be he.

Since she had come to believe in the man's friendship and sincerity
Barbara Harding had felt renewed hope of eventual salvation, and with
the hope had come a desire to live which had almost been lacking for the
greater part of her detention upon the Halfmoon.

Bravely she battled now against the awful odds of the mighty Pacific,
but soon she felt her strength waning. More and more ineffective became
her puny efforts, and at last she ceased almost entirely the futile
struggle.

And then she felt a strong hand grasp her arm, and with a sudden surge
she was swung over a broad shoulder. Quickly she grasped the rough shirt
that covered the back of her would-be rescuer, and then commenced a
battle with the waves that for many minutes, that seemed hours to the
frightened girl, hung in the balance; but at last the swimmer beneath
her forged steadily and persistently toward the sandy beach to flounder
out at last with an unconscious burden in his mighty arms.

As the man staggered up out of reach of the water Barbara Harding opened
her eyes to look in astonishment into the face of the mucker.

CHAPTER IX. ODA YORIMOTO

ONLY four men of the Halfmoon's crew were lost in the wreck of the
vessel. All had been crowded in the bow when the ship broke in two,
and being far-flung by the forward part of the brigantine as it lunged
toward the cove on the wave following the one which had dropped the
craft upon the reef, with the exception of the four who had perished
beneath the wreckage they had been able to swim safely to the beach.

Larry Divine, who had sat weeping upon the deck of the doomed ship
during the time that hope had been at its lowest, had recovered his
poise. Skipper Simms, subdued for the moment, soon commenced to regain
his bluster. He took Theriere to task for the loss of the Halfmoon.

"An'