r in his arms. He wiped
the salt water from her face, and did all he could to improve her
situation.

"Pull for the yacht!" said he, nervously.

All this time Bobtail had been clinging to the bow of the barge,
recovering his breath. The sailor assisted him into the boat, and he
dropped down into the fore-sheets, breathing heavily from exhaustion.
The stroke-oarsman picked up his oar, and the two men pulled with all
their might for the yacht, while the other boat went around to the
landing-place on Blank Island to bring off the party there.

"How do you feel, Grace?" asked Colonel Montague, as he laid his
daughter's head upon his breast.

"Better, father," she replied, faintly. "I'm cold."

"Give way, lively, my lads," added the colonel, to whom minutes seemed
like hours.

When the barge came alongside the accommodation-steps, Colonel Montague
bore Grace in his arms to the deck of the Penobscot.

"Let me sit down here in the sun, father," said she.

"But you must remove your wet clothes."

"Not yet. Let me rest a few moments. I shall be all well in a little
while."

"What's the matter, Edward?" asked the Hon. Mr. Montague, who had
remained on board of the Penobscot, being too old to scramble about the
rocks.

"I have been overboard, grandfather," replied Grace, with a faint smile;
and it was evident that her condition was rapidly improving.

"Overboard, child!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "How did it happen?"

"I don't know. I was not with her," replied the colonel. "But where is
that boy?"

"That boy" has just come on deck, and had seated himself in the waist.
He had recovered his wind, and was now nearly as good as new. He felt
that he had done a big thing, and he wondered that no one said anything
to him. The boat that brought him to the yacht had gone for the party
which had been left on the island; and no one but the colonel knew
anything about the part he had borne in the affair. But he was not long
neglected, for the instant Colonel Montague thought of him he hastened
to the waist, and with tears in his eyes, grasped him by the hand.
Doubtless he betrayed more emotion than the occasion seemed to
warrant--emotion which was not all gratitude.

"My lad, you have done me a service which I can never forget," said he,
wiping the tears from his eyes.

"It's all right, sir. I feel better than if I hadn't done it," replied
Bobtail.

"But come aft, and see Grace," added the colonel.

"No, sir, I th