The girl in the water was still struggling hard against the current that
was dragging at her cruelly, and at the sound of Betty's words she shook
the water from her eyes and looked about her dazedly. She had forgotten
the girls.

Then she saw something that sent a tingle of renewed hope through her
tired body. What she saw was a long branch bobbing on the water not two
feet from her outstretched hand, and at the other end of the stick was--
Betty.

With a sigh that was half a sob she struck out for it, reached it, and
clung to it as only the drowning know how to cling.

Then she felt herself being drawn through the water, and once more she
closed her eyes. When she opened them again she was on a warm grassy bank
with Amy chafing one hand, Grace the other, while Betty was busy
unfastening the clothes about her waist.

As Mollie was never under any circumstances expected to act as people
thought she should act, so this occasion was no exception to the rule. She
pushed Amy and Grace aside, glared at Betty, and sat up with a little
jerk.

"For goodness' sake, stop undressing me, Betty Nelson!" she said. "I'm not
dead yet."

"So we see," said Betty, while her eyes lost their anxious expression and
began to twinkle instead. "But you might have been, you know, if we had
left you to yourself."