"Thank heaven that didn't happen out there," cried Betty, with a
shuddering glance out over the treacherous water.

Between them, fatigued though they were with the ordeal they had just
gone through, they got Amy to the shore and began to work over her.

It did not take very long to bring her back to consciousness, for Amy
had a wonderful constitution and strong vitality. However, it seemed
ages to the anxious girls who worked over her, and when at last she
opened her eyes they were ready to cry with relief.

"H-how do you feel?" asked Betty tremulously, for she was beginning to
feel the reaction. "Are you all right?"

"Don't try to get up," commanded Mollie, as Amy tried weakly to raise
herself on her elbow.

"Just lie still and you'll feel better in a minute," Grace added, while
Amy looked from one to the other of them with wide, bewildered eyes.

"What happened," she asked, then, as memory came sweeping back to her,
she gave a little cry and covered her eyes with her hand.

"Oh, girls," she cried, "I thought I was going to die!"

"Yes, yes, we know," said Betty soothingly, as though she were talking
to a little child, "but you're all right now, dear."

"Don't try to tell us about it unless you want to," added Mollie.

"I swam out farther than I meant to," Amy went on, as though they had
not spoken. "And when I tried to get back I found that something was
wrong with my right leg." She was shivering with exhaustion and the
memory of the awful experience she had gone through, but when the girls
tried to stop her she would not listen and hurried on feverishly.

"It was a cramp I guess, and the harder I tried to get rid of it the
worse it got till finally I got panic-stricken. I called to you girls,
but you didn't seem to hear me. Then--" she paused, and the girls held
their breath as she looked around at them. "Then--I went down. I came up
again and called, and--and--I saw you, Betty. Oh, it was terrible!"

"Then," cried Betty, her voice trembling, "when you went down that last
time--"

"I didn't go down," Amy contradicted her. "I struggled so hard that I
succeeded in getting my head above water and--that was when you reached
me--Betty--"

"Thank Heaven," said Betty, with a little sob, "that I was there!"

CHAPTER XXII

DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN

"Well," said Mollie, with a sigh, "I fancy there isn't very much use of
our sitting around here in our bathing suits. I, for one, don't feel
like swimmi