Frank Merriwell's Athletes Part 22

It seemed that the struggles of the two girls were growing weaker, and once they were beneath the surface so long that Frank feared they would not come up again.

They did come up, however, and Inza's white face was turned for a moment toward the two lads who were swimming to their rescue.

There was something in that look of appeal that smote Merriwell to the heart and made him frantic to reach her. He tore at the water with his powerful arms, and even the strongest roller did not bear him back or seem to check him in the least.

To him it did not seem that he was making any progress at all, and he was furious at the slowness with which he got along. He felt as if weights of lead were attached to his feet.

"Oh, this infernal water!" he panted. "It drags at me! I never swam so slowly in all my life! If they go down again-- Where are they?"

The girls had disappeared.

In a moment, however, they arose into view on the crest of a swell, still struggling.

"Hold on, Inza!" cried Frank. "Bear up a little longer!"

She answered with an inarticulate cry that seemed full of despair and turned Frank's blood cold.

"Have I saved her from that English puppy for this!" he gasped. "Is it possible that she is to die now? Oh, no, no!"

Then Frank Merriwell prayed as he swam. He asked G.o.d to give him power to reach her and give her strength to bear up till he could get to her.

He remembered how he had first met her at a picnic at Fardale, and how pretty she had looked in her short pink dress. He remembered how on that very day, by a wonderful display of nerve and strength, he had saved her from being bitten by a mad dog. And after that-oh, she had thought him such a hero! She had wors.h.i.+ped him as her ideal of all that was brave and n.o.ble. All that seemed years and years ago.

And now-could he save her again? or was she to perish before he could reach her?

Nearer and nearer he swam.

Close behind Frank, Hodge was exerting every muscle.

"We'll get to them, Merry!" he called, encouragingly. "We'll pull them out all right. We are sure to-- They've gone down again!"

It was true!

"Merciful heavens!" came huskily from Frank's lips. "I fear this is the last time!"

He swam on-he reached the spot where the girls had last been seen.

Where were they?

He looked around for them, but could see nothing of them.

"Gone!" he groaned, his lips turning a blue-white. "My Heaven, they are both drowned!"

Hodge was at hand, swimming about and looking around. Now his face was ashen white. He tried to speak, but his voice died away in a husky whisper.

The agony of soul that Frank experienced at that moment was such as he had never before known. It seemed as if he turned to be a very old man in a fraction of time.

"Poor Inza!" he gasped.

A cry came from Hodge!

"Look there!"

Something floated on the surface of the water for a moment, and then it disappeared.

Frank dived.

Down beneath the surface he went, where the water was green and shot through with streaks of suns.h.i.+ne. He kept his eyes open and looked about him.

Just ahead of him something was slowly sinking toward the bottom, making faint struggling movements.

The sunlight that came down through the green waves showed the white face of a girl upturned for a moment, the eyes wide open and staring.

Frank plunged at the object with remarkable speed, and he felt a wild thrill of hope as his arm closed around the waist of a girl.

That clutch seemed to arouse her, and, in a moment, she had fastened her hands about his neck.

It was the clutch of a drowning person, and the girl seemed to possess the strength of Samson.

Frank tried to break away, but she held fast to him.

Down they went toward the bottom.

"I must break her hold!" thought the youth. "If I do not, she will drown us both! It is the only chance!"

He understood how desperate the situation was, and prepared to make a last mad effort.

Then the girl folded him in her arms and drew him close to her with a frantic clutch that caused him to gasp, and the salt sea water poured down his throat.

He found he could not well exert his strength, as the girl held him in a position so that he could not get hold of her hands.

"It means death!" was his thought, as they sank still more swiftly.

"Poor Inza! We will die together!"

CHAPTER XI-THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE

It was growing dark down there beneath the waves. The golden sunlight had turned to a bluish gloom that lay dense beneath the boy and girl, who were slowly sinking into that mysterious region.

Those dark depths were suggestive of rest and peace. They seemed most inviting and alluring to the lad who was wearied and exhausted by his struggles to save the girl who was so dear to him.

Frank felt like ceasing to struggle-like giving over all effort and floating gently down into those cool depths, where he could rest.

Inza was with him, and they would rest down there together, still locked in each other's arms.