within the
breakers I kept tight hold of her, and indeed such precaution was
needed, for she began to regain her terrors as the huge combers whirled
us high in the air, to throw us, half smothered into a hissing cauldron
of milky foam. However, they threw us forward, and by using my judgment
I managed so that we should ride more and more in on the crest of each
roller. And the undertow at the very last proved the most difficult of
all to withstand, and twice we were dragged irresistibly backward, to be
pounded by the breaking thunder of the next onrushing comber. At last
we were through, and I believe but for the incentive afforded by the
very act of saving life, I should have collapsed--anyway, the child
could never have gained that beach unaided.

We stood, panting and dripping, and looking at each other for some
moments. Then I said, as I pulled on my boots--

"Well, young lady, you seem to have had something of a swim. Where did
you go into the water, and what on earth made you venture out so far,
may I ask?"

She explained that she was staying at a seaside camp whose tents were
pitched just beyond a few rocks a little way further on. The water was
sheltered there, and there was no difficulty in getting a smooth swim.
But she had somehow got too far to the right, and just as she was
turning to come in again, she had seen the triangular fin of a shark
cleaving the surface at no great distance, and coming towards her--then
another, much nearer. This, together with the knowledge of the distance
necessary to return, unless she could try to land through the surf, had
unnerved and flurried her, resulting in exhaustion.

"Well, I believe it's jolly lucky for you I happened to be at hand," I
said reprovingly. "Now, don't you go running any such silly risks
again, or you may not get off so easily. You'd better cut back now, and
get dressed, or you'll catch cold."

"No fear. The sun's much too hot for that," she answered, laughing up
into my face.

She was, as I have said, a pretty child, with large blue eyes and a
clear skin somewhat sun-tanned. She had a pretty voice too, and spoke
with a peculiar intonation, not unpleasing, and a little way of dipping
the letter "r" where it occurred to end a word--which I afterwards found
was the prevailing method of speech among most of those born in the Cape
Colony.

I picked up my hat and coat intending to see her safely, at any rate
until within sight of her peopl