more. One after another the three of them jumped.

The two men, who were both fairly young, seemed to be plucky enough.
They waited quietly enough for Tom Binns to swim to them, and, by
treading water, he was able to let each one of them put a hand on his
shoulder, so that they could keep their own heads out of water. He
couldn't swim with them, but he could, at least, keep them from sinking
until help came. That could not be very long, since the blazing launch
was a signal of danger and the need of help for everyone who could see
it.

But Jack's task was more difficult and dangerous by far, both for
himself and for the woman he was trying to save. She had been mad with
terror when she jumped, and, as soon as she felt Jack's arm about her,
after she had struck the water, she fastened both her arms about him
convulsively, and began dragging him down with her. Her strength was
greater than Jack's, since she was a big, powerful woman, and Jack had
no chance to break her hold on him by ordinary methods.

"Let go!" he cried. "I'll save you if you'll leave me alone and just
put your hand on my shoulder. You'll drag us both down if you keep
this up!"

But she only shrieked the louder, when her lungs were not so full of
water as to silence her, and Jack felt his strength going, and knew,
that in order to save either of them, he must be brutal. So, without a
moment's hesitation he seized her hair, which had come down about her
shoulders, and pulled until he wondered why it did not come out by the
roots.

She continued to shriek, but it was with pain now instead of fright,
and in a moment her arms relaxed their desperate grip about Jack's arms
and shoulders, so that he was free. She continued to struggle like a
madwoman, however, and, since there was nothing else to do, Jack hit
her again and again, until she was afraid of him, and ready to do what
he told her.

It had taken him some time, and as he turned with the woman he had
saved, limp and helpless now, to swim for the shore, Pete Stubbs passed
him.

"Want any help, Jack?" cried Pete.

"No, thanks! We're all right now. Go on out and help Tom and the two
he's got, Pete. You two can get them ashore all right, I guess."

Only the woman that Jack had saved was in need of attention when they
were all finally ashore. She was half drowned, thanks to the struggle
she had put up after she had jumped into the water, but it was not much
of a task to revive her,