the coming of a larger breaker to undo their work.
Josephine perceived to her astonishment that the man was not fastened
to the raft, except by the vise-like gripping of his big hands. And,
too, she saw now that he was living. She guessed that he was stupefied
by exhaustion, yet not swooning. She shrieked to him to unclench his
fingers. It may be that his dulled brain understood in a measure; it
may be that he was come to the very end of his strength. Anyhow, as
she put her fingers to his, there was no resistance. The grasp that
had withstood the sea's fury, yielded at once to the soft pressure of
her touch. The two girls summoned new energy to the task. The dog let
go the rope, and, whining curiously, caught a trouser leg between its
teeth, and aided. Somehow, the three contrived to roll and push and
pull the inert form to a point of safety. Then, they sank down,
panting.

Josephine stirred first. With a gasping sigh, she struggled to a
sitting position. The dog at once stood up, and shook itself with
great violence. The drops splashed over the face of Florence, and she,
in turn, opened her eyes, groaned deeply, and sat up, with a wry smile
of discomfort.

"What'll we do with the corpse?" she inquired, in an undertaker's best
manner.

The funereal suggestion, so sincerely offered, provoked Josephine to a
weak peal of laughter.

"Better wait to worry over that till he's dead," she answered briskly,
if somewhat incoherently. "And he will be, if we don't watch out.
There should be a flask in the motor. Run and get it, Flo. I'll chafe
his hands."

"Run!" the other exclaimed. "If I can crawl it, I'll be proud."
Nevertheless, she got to her feet, stiffly, but readily enough. "And
sprinkle water on his face," she called over her shoulder. "It might
cheer him anyhow, after having had it all over him by the ton." Both
girls in the first reaction from the stress of their war against
death were brimming with joyousness, notwithstanding fatigue.

While Josephine rubbed the rough hands as strongly as she could
between her own tender ones, the dog drew near. When the girl looked
up, she saw that her pet was licking the man's face. She called out in
sharp rebuke. At the same moment, the castaway's eyes unclosed. For
long seconds, he stared, unblinking. Then, abruptly, his voice sounded
in a low drawl of wonder:

"Hit's thet-thar damned man-faced dawg!"

CHAPTER X

The castaway's gaze went to the girl kneeling be