at along to
where he had last seen the body, was the surest way of rendering help.
But there are times when even those of the strongest mental capacity
find it is difficult to retain their presence of mind.

It was so here. Led away by his feelings and the gallant desire he felt
to succour someone in distress, Harry had as it were kicked away what
meant life for both; but he did not realise the danger then.

As he plunged beneath the surface of the racing current he recalled the
fact that he was almost fully dressed, for the thick flannel jersey he
wore seemed to cling to his arms and impede his action, but that was
forgotten directly, as he rose in the water and looked around.

There was nothing visible. He was too late, so it seemed; but he swam
strongly on, the cold immersion seeming to lend additional vigour to his
frame.

Now there was something!

No; it was only a bunch of seaweed floating by, with its long streamers
spreading out in the clear water like a woman's hair. He was too late,
too late, and--Yes, that was something white down in the water rising
now, and--Yes, he had it--a man's wrist, and the next moment he had
given it a drag which brought its owner's head above the surface.

He was not dead, for, as Harry Paul turned him so that he floated on his
back with his face above water, the drowning man began to make frantic
clutches with his hands, so that it was only by loosing his hold and
getting behind that Harry Paul avoided what would have been a deadly
embrace.

He knew well enough what he ought to do, namely, seize the drowning man
by the hair, and then turn upon his own back and float, drawing the
other after him; but on trying this a difficulty met him at the offset:
the man's hair was very short; but he got over it by grasping his ears,
and then, throwing himself back, he struck out with his legs so as to
keep afloat and go with the racing current.

CHAPTER FIVE.

COALS OF FIRE ON AN ENEMY'S HEAD.

Harry Paul had been so busily employed in avoiding the drowning man's
grasp that, for the moment, the boat was forgotten. Now, however, that
he had mastered him, he raised his head a little to look; but the boat
was far away beyond his reach, and progressing at such a rate that he
could not have overtaken it even had he been alone.

A feeling of dread would have mastered him now, but for the strong nerve
that he brought to bear. There was no help there. They were several
hundred y