histled
up, and had granted her what he never granted before... nor
since--permission for the boys to come up on the promenade deck. You
see, Miss Caruthers was a swimmer, and she was interested. She took up
a collection of all our small change, and herself tossed it overside,
singly and in handfuls, arranging the terms of the contests, chiding a
miss, giving extra rewards to clever wins, in short, managing the whole
exhibition.

"She was especially keen on their jumping. You know, jumping feet-first
from a height, it is very difficult to hold the body perpendicularly
while in the air. The center of gravity of the male body is high, and
the tendency is to overtopple. But the little beggars employed a method
which she declared was new to her and which she desired to learn.
Leaping from the davits of the boat-deck above, they plunged downward,
their faces and shoulders bowed forward, looking at the water. And only
at the last moment did they abruptly straighten up and enter the water
erect and true.

"It was a pretty sight. Their diving was not so good, though there was
one of them who was excellent at it, as he was in all the other stunts.
Some white man must have taught him, for he made the proper swan dive
and did it as beautifully as I have ever seen it. You know, headfirst
into the water, from a great height, the problem is to enter the water
at the perfect angle. Miss the angle and it means at the least a twisted
back and injury for life. Also, it has meant death for many a bungler.
But this boy could do it--seventy feet I know he cleared in one dive
from the rigging--clenched hands on chest, head thrown back, sailing
more like a bird, upward and out, and out and down, body flat on the air
so that if it struck the surface in that position it would be split in
half like a herring. But the moment before the water is reached, the
head drops forward, the hands go out and lock the arms in an arch in
advance of the head, and the body curves gracefully downward and enters
the water just right.

"This the boy did, again and again, to the delight of all of us, but
particularly of Miss Caruthers. He could not have been a moment over
twelve or thirteen, yet he was by far the cleverest of the gang. He was
the favorite of his crowd, and its leader. Though there were a number
older than he, they acknowledged his chieftaincy. He was a beautiful
boy, a lithe young god in breathing bronze, eyes wide apart, intelligent
and daring