airly gasped with amazement to find the submerged one so
close at hand; for the patch of rushes to which she was holding the
boat was the only one anywhere near, and a little ridge of solid
ground connected it with the river bank, which was perhaps forty
yards away.

"Be careful to keep calling out now," she said, preparing to force
the boat out of its channel and into the liquid mud of the fatal
green meadow.

"Here, here, here!" said the voice, sounding now so thick and
hoarse that Katherine at once decided it must be one of the
fishermen who had risked his life on the treacherous green of the
swamp, although she wondered that anyone could have lived at Seal
Cove for a week and not known of the danger that lay in the swamps.

"Phil, where can he be?" she cried, her voice sharp now with the
terror of having a man in peril of his life at her side, and yet
being unable to help him.

"There he is; I saw the rushes move," yelled Phil. "No, not that
clump--you are looking wrong; it is the one that has got a lupin
blooming in it. Ah, I saw it move again! Keep your spirits up,
old fellow, and we will have you out in no time!"

"But how?" groaned Katherine under her breath, for no effort of
hers would move the boat a foot farther through that awful slime,
and if she got wedged she would be forced to stay there until
someone came in search. Then, remembering the horrible danger of
the man, she called out: "Please don't struggle at all, only just
keep still, and I think we can save you, for we have got rope with
us."

"So we have! My word, how fortunate!" exclaimed Phil, tugging a
big bundle of stout hempen cord from under the other things of
their miscellaneous lading.

"Get the other bundle too; I must have both," said Katherine, and,
taking the first, she made a slip knot and a loop which would
tighten to a certain extent.

"What are you going to do? You can't throw it over him from here,"
said the boy.

"Phil, can you be very brave, darling, and walk across on the
oars?" Katherine asked, a sob catching in her throat. "I will slip
this other rope round you; then, if you slip in, I can drag you
out."

"I'll go," said Phil, alert and ready. Then he kicked off his
boots, which were stout--and every ounce mattered when one took to
walking on muskegs; but as his clothing consisted of only a flannel
shirt and serge knickerbockers there were no clothes for him to
shed.

Katherine slipped one loop of rope ov