Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper Part 25

Louise admired the rod Lawford himself used. She knew something about fancy tackle, and this outfit of the young man, she knew, never cost a penny less than a hundred dollars.

"And this sloop, which is his property," she thought, "is another expensive possession. I can see where his money goes--when he has any to spend. He is absolutely improvident. Too bad."

She had to keep reminding herself, it seemed, of Lawford Tapp's most glaring faults. Improvidence and a hopeless leaning toward extravagance were certainly unforgivable blemishes in the character of a young man in the position she believed Lawford held.

The sport of chumming for snappers, even if they hooked more of sluggish fluke than of the gamier fish to tempt which the chopped bait is devoted, was so exciting that Betty, sailing the sloop, overlooked a pregnant cloud that streaked up from the horizon almost like a puff of cannon smoke.

The squall was upon them so suddenly that Louise could not wind in her line in good season. Lawford was quicker; but in getting his tackle inboard he was slow to obey Betty's command:

"Let go that sheet! Want to swamp us, foolin' with that fancy fish rod?"

"Aye, aye, skipper!" he sang out, laughing, and jumped to cast off the line in question just as the sail bulged taut as a drumhead with the striking squall.

There was a "lubber's loop" in the bight of the sheet and as the young man loosed it his arm was caught in this trap. The boom swung viciously outboard and Lawford went with it. He was s.n.a.t.c.hed like some inanimate object over the sloop's rail and, the next instant, plunged beneath the surface of the suddenly foam-streaked sea.

CHAPTER XVI

A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS

Lawford came up as the sloop swept by on her new tack, his smile as broad as ever. He blew loudly and then shouted:

"Going---too--fast--for--me! Whoa! Back up a little, ladies, and let me climb aboard."

"Well, of all the crazy critters!" the "able seaman" declared. "Stand by with that boathook, Miss Lou, and see if you can harpoon him."

Louise swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to laugh too. To tell the truth, the accident to Lawford Tapp had frightened her dreadfully at the moment it occurred.

Betty Gallup put over the wheel and the _Merry Andrew_, still under propulsion of the bursting squall, flew about, almost on her heel.

Louise, who was s.h.i.+elding her eyes from the flying spray under the sharp of her hand and watching the head and shoulders of Lawford as he plowed through the jumping waves with a great overhand stroke, suddenly shrieked aloud:

"Oh, Betty!"

"What's the matter? Land sakes!"

Both saw the peril threatening the swimmer. The light skiff at the end of the long painter whipped around when the line tautened. As Betty cried out in echo to Louise's wail, the gunnel of the skiff crashed down upon Lawford's head and shoulders.

"Oh! Oh! He's hurt!" cried Louise.

"He's drowned--dead!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Betty Gallup. "Here, Miss Lou, you take the wheel----"

But the girl had no intention of letting the old woman go overboard.

Betty in her heavy boots would be wellnigh helpless in the choppy sea.

If it were possible to rescue Lawford Tapp she would do it herself.

The human mind is a wonderfully const.i.tuted--mechanism, may we call it?

It receives and registers impressions that are seemingly incoordinate; then of a sudden each cog slips into place and the perfection of a belief, of an opinion, of a desire, even of a most momentous discovery, is attained.

Thus instantly Louise Grayling had a startling revelation, "Handle the boat yourself, Betty!" she commanded. "_I am going to get him_."

Her skirt was dropped, even as she spoke. She wore "sneaks" to-day instead of high boots, and she kicked them off without unlacing them.

Then, poising on the rail for a moment, she dived overboard on a long slant.

She swam under the surface for some fathoms and coming up dashed the water from her eyes to stare about.

The black squall had pa.s.sed. The sea dimpled in blue and green streaks as before. A few whitecaps only danced about the girl. Where Lawford had gone down----

A round, sleek object--like the head of a seal--bobbed in the agitated water. It was not ten yards away. Had she not been so near she must have overlooked it. He might have sunk again, going down forever, for it was plain the blow he had suffered had deprived Lawford of consciousness.

Louise wasted no breath in shouting, nor moments in looking back at Betty and the sloop. All her life she had been confident in the water.

She had learned to ride a surfboard with her father like the natives in Hawaii. A comparatively quiet sea like this held no terrors for Louise Grayling.

She dived in a long curve like a jumping porpoise, and went down after the sinking man. In thirty seconds she had him by the hair, and then beat her way to the surface with her burden.

Lawford's face was dead white; his eyes open and staring. There was a cut upon the side of his head from which blood and water dribbled upon her shoulder as she held him high out of the sea.

There sounded the clash of oars in her ears. How Betty had lowered the jib, thrown over the anchor, and manned the skiff so quickly would always be a mystery to Louise. But the "able seaman" knew this coast as well, at least, as Lawford Tapp. They were just over a shoal, and there was safe anchorage for a small craft.

"Give him to me. Land sakes!" gasped Betty over her head. "I never see no city gal like you, Miss Lou."

Nor had Louise ever seen a woman with so much muscular strength and the knowledge of how to apply it as Betty displayed. She lifted Lawford out of the girl's arms and into the skiff with the dexterity of one trained in hauling in halibut, for Betty had spent her younger years on the Banks with her father.

Louise scrambled into the skiff without a.s.sistance. Betty was already at the oars and Louise took the injured head of the man in her lap. He began to struggle back to life again.

"I--I'm all right," he muttered. "Sorry made such a--a fool--of--myself."

"Hush up, _you_!" snapped Betty. "I'd ought to have seed to this skiff. Then you wouldn't have got battered like you did." A tear ran frankly down Betty's nose and dripped off its end. "If anything really bad had happened to you, Lawford, I'd a-never forgive myself. I thought you was a goner for sure."

"Thanks to you, I'm not, I guess, Betty," he said more cheerfully. He did not know who had jumped overboard to his rescue.

For some reason the girl was suddenly embarra.s.sed by this fact.

The skiff reached the plunging sloop and Louise got inboard and aided Betty to get Lawford over the rail. Then she slipped on her skirt.

Lawford slumped down in the c.o.c.kpit, saying he was all right but looking all wrong.

"Going to get him back to Tapp Point just as quick as I can," declared the "able seaman" to Louise. "Doctor ought to see that cut."

"Oh, Betty!"

"Now, now, Miss Lou," murmured the old woman with the light of sudden comprehension in her eyes. "Don't take on now! You've been a brave gal so fur."

"And I will keep my courage," Louise said with tremulous smile.

"Go right over there an' hold his head, Miss Lou. Pet him up a leetle bit; 'twon't hurt a mite."

The vivid blush that dyed the girl's cheeks signaled the fact that Betty had guessed more of the truth than Louise cared to have her or anybody know. She shook her head negatively to the keen-eyed old woman; nevertheless she went forward, found one of Lawford's handkerchiefs and bound up his head. The cut did not seem very deep; yet the shock of the blow he had suffered certainly had dulled the young man's comprehension.