r, for she found that the two unfortunate persons who had
been brought in were men. Nobody knew whether they were alive or not,
but everything possible was being done to revive them. Several doctors
had made their appearance, and messengers were running to the hotels
for brandy, blankets, and other things needed. In obedience to an
excited entreaty from a physician, one of the groups surged outward and
scattered a little, and Miss Panney saw the form of a strongly built man
lying on his back on the sand, with men kneeling around him, some
working his arms backward and forward to induce respiration, and others
rubbing him vigorously. It was difficult for her to restrain herself
from giving help or advice, for she was familiar with, and took a great
interest in, all sorts of physical distress, but now she turned away and
hurried toward the sea.

She had heard the people say there was another one out there, and her
sickening feeling returned. She walked but a little way, and then she
stopped and eagerly watched what was going on. The bathing-master had
been nearly exhausted when he reached the shore the second time, but he
had rallied his strength and had swum out to the boat which was pulling
about the place where the unfortunate bathers had been swimming. Suddenly
the oarsmen gave a quick pull, they had seen something, a man jumped
overboard, there was bustling on the boat, something was pulled in, then
the boat was rapidly rowed shoreward, the man in the water holding to the
stern until his feet touched ground.

The people crowded to the water's edge so that Miss Panney could scarcely
see the boat when it reached shore, but presently the crowd parted, and
three men appeared, carrying what seemed to be a very light burden.

"Oh, dear," said a woman standing by, "that one was in the water a long
time. I wonder if it is a girl or a boy."

Miss Panney said nothing, but made a few quick steps in the direction of
the limp figure which the crowd was following up the beach; then she
stopped. Her nature prompted her to go on; her present feelings
restrained her. She could not help wondering at this, and said to herself
that she must be aging faster than she thought. Her distant vision was
excellent, and she knew that the inanimate form which was now being laid
on the dry sand was not a boy.

She turned and looked out over the sea, but she could not stand still;
she must do something. On occasions like this it was absolutely