"Let go, or I'll let you drown. Turn over on your back. There isn't a
thing to be afraid of."

Margery, with a sob, obeyed and Lydia towed her the short distance to
the boat. "There, catch hold," she said.

Both the children clung to the gunwale, Margery choking and sobbing.

"I can't lift you into the boat," panted Lydia. "But quit your crying.
You're safe. There's Kent."

The whole episode had taken but a few minutes. Kent had heard the call
and some note of need in it registered, after a moment, in his mind.
He ran back and leaped into the water.

He clambered into the flat boat and reaching over pulled Margery bodily
over the gunwale. The child, sick and hysterical, huddled into the
bottom of the boat.

"Are you all right, Lyd?" he asked.

"Sure," replied Lydia, who was beginning to recover her breath.

It was the work of a minute to ground the boat. Then unheeding little
Patience's lamentations, the two children looked at each other and at
Margery.

"I'll run for her mother," said Kent.