A Fool There Was | Page 9

not hear...
The Long Island shore was close at hand now.
Suddenly Blake shouted: "Hard a lee!" and jammed the tiller over;
Schuyler, on the after overhang, scrambled fast to take in the slack of
the sheet. Kathryn Blair bent, to avoid the swinging boom.
The little boat swung about as though on a pivot. The wind filled the
sail; she sped forward like a hawk unhooded.
Then something happened. A stay parted; there was a great, grinding
crack, followed by the snapping and whipping of canvas. And the mast
fell.
Schuyler was knocked over into the water by the boom. It struck him
fair upon the brow. Kathryn, springing to catch him, was hit by the
flapping canvas. She went overboard, too, and under the sail.
Blake, on the weather side, was free from the wreck. Without even
stopping to turn, he dove backward from the cockpit. Under the cold,
green water he went. He struck out, blindly, frenziedly. His hand felt
something that was not canvas and yet was cloth--struck, and gripped.
Then, holding his breath still until he thought his lungs would burst, he
felt his way out from under the sail. The rail of the boat was at hand; he
gripped it. And he dragged Kathryn to it.
"Hold on!" he cried in her ear. "Jack's gone!"
Though but half conscious, she understood. Her firm, white fingers
gripped the cutting edge of the cockpit rail; she nodded.

Blake struck out again. He had tried to remember where he had seen
Schuyler disappear. Four strokes brought him to the spot; and then he
dove.
Again his hand struck something. Again he pulled, and tugged, and
fought. At length he was at the surface. It was Schuyler. His eyes were
closed.
The tide, setting down the sound, was carrying the boat from him; he
set his teeth. He caught Schuyler by the neck of his jersey, over his own
shoulder, bringing his head out of water.
And he struck out, with his free arm, desperately.
It seemed as though he would never make progress. A dead weight, in
the water, is hard to drag. Every ounce of strength that was in his strong,
young body he threw into those long, quivering strokes. He must get to
the boat! He must! The shore was too far away.... He stopped for a
minute, treading water. There was no sail in sight. He flattened out in
the water again, breasting it with all his power.
Stroke after stroke he took--stroke after stroke--reaching with strong
right arm, thrusting with strong legs. The boat was no nearer.... He kept
on, doggedly.... He could feel that his strokes were getting weaker; his
mouth was under water more than half the time; he had to raise up to
breathe.... But he fought on.... He began to grow dizzy--there was a
ringing in his ears....
Suddenly he thought he saw, right before him, the face of Kathryn Blair.
He knew that he did not; he thought he did; that was all. Then,
suddenly, his fingers caught a rope; the face was still there; and the
rope that he held led to where it was caught between white, even teeth.
A great wave hit him a buffet, full in the face; it cleared his senses, for
a moment; yet perhaps it was more due to the feel of the rope in his
fingers.... Then he knew that it was she--that the face was real, and the
rope.... Went surging through his mind that she, taking the end of the
sheet in her teeth, had swum to him, and to Schuyler--and that to her

they both owed their lives.
She was beside him, now, swimming strongly. She gripped an arm of
the unconscious Schuyler.... Together, she and Blake, dividing the
weight, slowly, inch by inch, fought their way along the rope. At length
they reached the side of the swamped knockabout.... Blake crawled
upon its slippery deck. He lay for a moment, helpless; she supported
Schuyler. Then he essayed to aid her again; and together they began to
lift him out of the water, and to safety.
Dr. DeLancey, from the after deck of "The Idlesse," had seen the
accident. A minute later, he, John Stuyvesant Schuyler, Thomas
Cathcart Blake, the captain of "The Idlesse," and two sailors were in
the launch.... They reached the side of the knockabout as Blake and
Kathryn were dragging Jack Schuyler from the water; and they took
him into the other boat. Blake, in his father's clutch, followed. At the
same time, Dr. DeLancey leaned over to grasp Kathryn. But she shook
her head, and smiled, weakly:
"No," she said. "I--I had to--to take off part of my clothes. I--"
Dr. DeLancey was an old man; some assert that he fell overboard.
However, be