Do!" gasped my poor sister; and I knew she would have sacrificed her
precious life to save that of the stranger.

"Come here, Sim!" I called.

My blundering deck hand came promptly at my call, and I gave him the
steering oar, bidding him keep the raft steady before the current. I
took the long lines, which I used as mooring ropes, and tied them
together, making a cord at least a hundred feet in length. I took off
all my clothes but my pants and shirt, and secured the cord around my
body, making fast the other end to the raft.

"Sim!" said I, startling him with the sharpness of my tones.

"Yes; I'm here, Buck! Hookie!" stammered he.

"Mind what you're about!"

"O, yes! I will!"

"When I tell you, let go the oar, and pull in on this rope."

"I'll help him," said Flora.

"Don't you touch the rope, Flora. You may get dragged overboard."

"What shall I do?"

"You may make a fire in the stove, if you can," I answered, wishing to
get her out of the reach of danger if I could.

"I will, Buckland;" and she went into the house.

I was a powerful swimmer, and nerved by the peril of the stranger in the
water, I felt able to do anything. I let myself down into the river, and
struck out with all my strength towards the sufferer. The current of the
Mississippi is swift and treacherous. It was the hardest swimming I had
ever known; and, dragging the rope after me, I had a fierce struggle to
make any progress. In going those fifty feet, it seemed to me that I
worked hard enough to accomplish a mile.

I reached the sufferer, and grasped the stick to which she clung. I was
nearly exhausted myself by the violence of my efforts. I waited a moment
to regain my breath, before I attempted to deal with the difficulties of
the situation. I glanced at the person for whom I was to struggle. She
was not a woman, but a girl of fourteen. She was in a sinking condition,
apparently more from the effects of fear than actual suffering, for the
stick to which she clung afforded her ample support.

Afraid that the act of hauling us in would detach her from the stick, I
grasped it firmly with one hand, and clasped her around the waist with
the other. Her frame quivered with the cold and the terror of her
situation. As all persons in peril of drowning are apt to do, she was
disposed to cling to me.

"Don't be afraid," said I to her. "You are safe now."

"Save me!" gasped she, hardly loud enough to be heard.

"Haul in!" I shouted to Sim.