kly than before. It was, indeed, as if fate finally
relented, for the raft was borne this time on a smaller wave, almost
with gentleness, as it seemed. Yet, the gentleness of appearance was
only mockery. When the two girls laid hands on it with all their
strength it swerved violently, wrested itself from their clutch.
Josephine cried out in despair. She saw the dog, released by her
effort, plunging forward. A rope dragged in the raft's wake, a remnant
of the lashings. The dog lunged viciously, and its jaws locked on the
rope. Immediately, then, the bull-terrier began swimming toward the
shore. There was no progress. But the going of the raft was
momentarily stayed. Josephine saw the opportunity and shrieked to
Florence. The two sprang, and caught the raft again. It rested
passively in the grasp of the three. The dog continued swimming, its
face set resolutely shoreward. The girls, up to their breasts in
water, stepped forward, tugging lustily. The three advanced slowly.
The raft moved with them.

It was a struggle that taxed the strength of each to the uttermost.
Those three puny creatures fighting against the might of the ocean for
the body of a dead man! Dead the man seemed, at least, to the girls,
who, after one glance into the drawn and ghastly face of their burden,
dared not look again. The undertow writhed about their legs, jerked at
them wrathfully. Waves crashed upon them with shattering force. Once,
Florence was hurled from her footing, but her hands held their grip on
the raft. The wrenching shock was sustained by Josephine and the dog.
They gave a little, but with fierce, stubborn resistance. Florence
regained her feet. The rout was stayed. The pitiful combat between
pigmies and Titans was on again. There was good blood in the three. A
fighting ancestry had dowered them with the courage that does not know
defeat when it is met. Their strength was exhausted. Yet, they battled
on. A great comber smashed against them. It snatched the raft from the
weakened hold of the girls, threw it far up on the sand. The dog shot
in a wide arc through the air. They could hear its grunt as it fell.
But the jaws were still locked. In the same instant, the beast was
firmly set, hauling at the rope. The raft was held for a little by the
dog alone, against the waters as they sucked back. Then, the girls
tottered to aid. They fell to their knees in the shallows, and clung
frantically. The waves hissed away from them.

They feared