a moment since there
had been no other boats in sight near them. Eleanor was resting in the
prow with her eyes closed. The sun blazed hotly in her face, she could
only see a bright light dancing before her eyes.

As Lillian leaned back in her seat in the stern her face took on an
expression of sudden alarm. At the same moment the four girls heard the
distinct chug of a motor engine. Cutting down upon them was a pleasure
yacht run by a gasoline motor. The prow of the yacht was head-on with the
"Water Witch" and running at full speed. The boat had blown no whistle,
so the girls had not seen its approach.

"Look ahead!" shouted Lillian.

The young man who was steering the yacht paid no heed to her warning. He
kept straight ahead, although he distinctly saw the rowboat and its
passengers.

Madge and Phyllis had no time to call out or to protest. They realized,
almost instantly, that the motor launch meant to make no effort to slow
down but to put the full responsibility of getting out of danger on the
rowers.

The girls had no particular desire to be thrown into the water, nor to
have their boat cut in two, so they pulled for dear life, with white
faces and straining throats and arms.

They just missed making their escape by a hair's breadth. The young man
running the yacht must have believed that the skiff would get safely by
or else when he found out his mistake it was too late for him to slow
down. The prow of his yacht ran with full force into the frail side of
the "Water Witch" near her stern.

The little skiff whirled in the water almost in a semi-circle. By a
miracle it escaped being completely run down by the launch. Yet a second
later, before any one of the girls could stir, the water rushed into the
hole in its side and it sank. Madge and Phyllis had had their oars
wrenched from their hands. Then they found themselves struggling in the
water.

A cry rose from the launch as the "Water Witch" and her passengers
disappeared. But there was no sound from the little rowboat, save the
gurgle of the water and a shrill scream from Tania as the waves closed
over her head.

The yacht swept on past, borne perhaps by her own headway.

As Madge went down under the water two thoughts seemed to come to her
mind in the same second: she must look after Eleanor and Tania. Her
cousin, Nellie, was not able to swim as well as the other girls. She had
always been more nervous and timid in the water and was liable to sudden