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within the breakers I kept tight hold of her, and indeed such precaution was needed, for she began to regain her terrors as the huge combers whirled us high in the air, to throw us, half smothered into a hissing cauldron of milky foam. However, they threw us forward, and by using my judgment I managed so that we should ride more and more in on the crest of each roller. And the undertow at the very last proved the most difficult of all to withstand, and twice we were dragged irresistibly backward, to be pounded by the breaking thunder of the next onrushing comber. At last we were through, and I believe but for the incentive afforded by the very act of saving life, I should have collapsed--anyway, the child could never have gained that beach unaided. We stood, panting and dripping, and looking at each other for some moments. Then I said, as I pulled on my boots-- "Well, young lady, you seem to have had something of a swim. Where did you go into the water, and what on earth made you venture out so far, may I ask?" She explained that she was staying at a seaside camp whose tents were pitched just beyond a few rocks a little way further on. The water was sheltered there, and there was no difficulty in getting a smooth swim. But she had somehow got too far to the right, and just as she was turning to come in again, she had seen the triangular fin of a shark cleaving the surface at no great distance, and coming towards her--then another, much nearer. This, together with the knowledge of the distance necessary to return, unless she could try to land through the surf, had unnerved and flurried her, resulting in exhaustion. "Well, I believe it's jolly lucky for you I happened to be at hand," I said reprovingly. "Now, don't you go running any such silly risks again, or you may not get off so easily. You'd better cut back now, and get dressed, or you'll catch cold." "No fear. The sun's much too hot for that," she answered, laughing up into my face. She was, as I have said, a pretty child, with large blue eyes and a clear skin somewhat sun-tanned. She had a pretty voice too, and spoke with a peculiar intonation, not unpleasing, and a little way of dipping the letter "r" where it occurred to end a word--which I afterwards found was the prevailing method of speech among most of those born in the Cape Colony. I picked up my hat and coat intending to see her safely, at any rate until within sight of her peopl
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