cht, Mr. Dalken said that chairs had been
placed on the forward deck where they could sit and watch the scenes at
night, as they sailed up to the City. So all but Tom and Polly went
forward and found comfortable seats. Tom had asked Polly to stroll about
with him, and she, feeling guilty of neglecting such an old friend when
on the steamer, consented.

Thus it happened that Tom led her to the side of the craft where they had
climbed the ladder to the deck, as this side was in shadow and farthest
from the group of friends who were seated on the forward deck.

But they had not promenaded up and down many times, before the Captain
gave anxious commands to his crew. Every man jumped to obey, instantly,
while Tom and Polly halted in their walk just at the gap in the rail,
where the adjustable ladder had been lowered to the boat when the
passengers arrived from the steamer. The steps had been hauled in but the
sailor had forgotten to replace the sliding rail. In the dense fog this
neglect had been overlooked.

Immediately following the Captain's shouts, a great hulk loomed up right
beside the yacht, and a fearful blow to the rear end of the pleasure
craft sent her flying diagonally out of her path, across the water. The
collision made her nose dip down dangerously while the stern rose up
clear of the waves.

The group seated forwards slid together, and some were thrown from their
chairs, but managed to catch hold of the ropes and rail to prevent being
thrown overboard.

Polly and Tom, standing, unaware, so near the open gap in the rail, still
arm in arm as they had been walking, were thrown violently side-ways and
there being nothing at hand to hold to, or to prevent their going over
the side, they fell into the dark sea.

Feeling as if the earth had dropped from under her, Polly screamed in
terror before her voice was choked with water. Tom instinctively held on
to her arm, as he had been doing when the impact of a larger vessel came
upon the yacht, and he maintained this grip as they both sank.

Polly had always dreaded water, because it seemed so unfamiliar to her.
After living in the mountains with only narrow roaring streams, or the
glacial lakes found in the Rockies, she had never tried to swim in the
ocean, but preferred swimming in a pool. Consequently, this sudden dive
into the awesome black abyss so frightened her, that she fainted before
she could fight or struggle.

But Tom Latimer was an expert swimmer,