cramp. Madge knew that being hurled from a boat in such sudden fashion
with her clothes on instead of a bathing suit would completely terrify
Eleanor. She might lose her presence of mind completely and fail to
strike out when she rose to the surface of the water. As for Tania, Madge
was aware that she, of course, could not swim a stroke. The little one
had never been in deep water before in her life.

Madge struggled for breath for a second as she came to the surface of the
bay again. She had swallowed some salt water as she went down. In the
next desperate instant she counted three heads above the waves besides
her own. Phyllis was swimming quietly toward Eleanor. Evidently she had
entertained Madge's fear. "Make for the 'Water Witch,' Nellie," Madge
heard Phil say in her calm, cool-headed fashion. "It has overturned and
come up again and we can hang on to that. Don't be frightened. I am
coming after you. Try to float if your clothes are too heavy to swim.
I'll pull you to the boat."

Lillian's golden head reflected the light from the sun's rays as she swam
along after Phil. But nowhere could Madge see a sign of a little, wild,
black head with its straight, short locks and frightened black eyes.

She waited for another breathless moment. Why did Tania not rise to the
surface like the rest of them? Madge was trying to tread water and to
keep a sharp lookout about her, but her clothes were heavy and kept
pulling her down; swimming in heavy shoes is an extremely difficult
business, even for an experienced swimmer. All of a sudden it occurred to
Madge that Tania might have risen under the overturned rowboat. Then her
head would have struck against its bottom and she would have gone down
again without ever having been seen.

There was nothing else to be done. Madge must dive down to see what had
become of her little friend, yet diving was difficult when she had no
place from which to dive. Madge knew she must get all the way down to the
very bottom of the bay to see if by any chance Tania's body could have
been entangled among the sea weed, or her clothes caught on a rock or
snag.

Once down, she looked in vain for the little body along the sandy bottom
of the bay. She espied some rocks covered with shimmering shells and sea
ferns, but there was no trace of Tania. For the second time she rose to
the surface of the water. She hoped to see Tania's black head glistening
among those of her older friends clustered about th