from rock to rock, until, within a few seconds, she stood poised above
the seething surf on the top of the larger boulder. Here, balancing
herself as easily and securely as a wild antelope, she raised her arms
to dive. But now from the shadows below the white man called once more.

"Attempt it not, oh Wildenai! 'Tis death to leap from there!"

But without waiting even to reply, the Indian girl sprang into the
waves. An instant later and he saw her arms gleam in the moonlight as,
with the strong slow strokes of an experienced swimmer, she struck out
for the boat. In spite of the perilous rocking of the little craft he
rested on his oar to watch her for a moment in sheer admiration of her
skill. But the maid knew well the danger of every instant's delay. In
the very nick of time she seemed almost to throw herself between him and
the rocks while, with a strength he would have believed impossible in
one so small, she pulled the boat around. Then, still swimming and
without a word to him, she began to push it ahead of her toward the
shore. It was but a few minutes before they stood together on the beach.

And now the young noble, overcome with gratitude, fell on his knees
before her and caught her hand between his own. He would have kissed it
in sheer joy at his escape, but the Indian girl drew sharply back.

"Quick!" she whispered, yet remembering to speak in Spanish, "You must
hide yourself at once. My father will kill you if he should find you
here!"

Swiftly she concealed the boat in a tiny cove behind the boulder, a
hiding place he would never have seen though it was apparently perfectly
familiar to her.