nd one red-faced young
man. Then Madge understood that she had been brought aboard the yacht
that had run down their rowboat.

The little captain sat up indignantly. "I am quite all right," she said
haughtily, looking with an unfriendly countenance at their wreckers.
Then, feeling strangely dizzy, she sank back and with a little sigh
closed her eyes.

"Don't do that," protested Eleanor tragically. "You must not faint.
Captain Jules, please don't let her."

The old captain's strong hands took hold of Madge's cold ones. "Pull
yourself together, my hearty," he whispered. "A girl who can dive down
into the bottom of the bay as you can shows she has good sea-blood in
her. She can see the old captain's diving suit any day she likes--own it
if she has a mind to. Fishing for pearls isn't half so good a trade as
fishing for a human life. You'll be yourself in a minute. Lucky I
happened to walk down the beach in the same direction your boat went."

One of the two strange girls came to Madge's side at this moment with a
cup of strong tea. "_Do_ drink this," she pleaded. "It has taken some
time to make the water boil. I wish to give some to the other girls, too.
I am so sorry that we ran into you. You must know that it was an
accident."

Madge drank the tea obediently, gazing a little less scornfully at the
girl who was serving her, her face pale with fright and sympathy. The
other girl stood apart at a little distance with a young man. They were
both staring at the wet and shivering girls with poorly concealed
amusement.

"We are awfully sorry to give you so much trouble," said Madge to the
girl with the tea. She was trying to control her feelings when she caught
sight of the owner of the small yacht and his friend and her temper got
the better of her.

"I am sorry," she repeated, "that we are giving _you_ trouble. But,
really, your motor launch had no right to bear down on our boat without
blowing its whistle or giving the faintest sign of its approach. It put
the whole responsibility of getting out of the way on us."

Madge was sitting beside the old captain. Her direct mode of attack
showed that she was feeling more like herself.

"What the young lady says is true," declared Captain Jules with emphasis.
"I doubt if you have the faintest legal right to navigate a boat in these
waters. If I hadn't happened to walk along down the shore of the bay
after these young ladies left me two of them would have been drowned.
I'l