The calm and pleasant weather had allowed the waters of the Hudson to run as smooth as a looking-glass, except for the turbulence caused by the ever restless pleasure boats thronged with sightseers, each endeavoring to get a better vantage point of the impending struggle. As the contest progressed, the interest of the watchers began to increase. Thousands of field and marine glasses and lorgnettes were leveled at the racers as they sped along the course. The teams had now reached the point of divergence, and had begun to recede from each other at every stroke on their parabolic circuit, the boys turning to port and the girls to starboard. But alas! Hardly had the Seminary shell advanced half a dozen strokes when, by some unexpected and inexplicable accident, Margaret's feet slipped off the foot guard and, in an instant, she was thrown into the waters of the Hudson, the shell meanwhile gliding swiftly by. Instantly the air was filled by a deafening cry of dismay from the throats of thousands of eager spectators, coupled with piercing whistles of the steamboats. What a moment of anguish for the Diana Seminary girls! What a shocking sense of humiliation for the fair contestants! To think that in an event so crucial for their honor and standing, such an unforeseen disaster should overwhelm them! But fate was with them. It was decreed that such a catastrophe should happen in order to heighten the grandeur of their ultimate victory. While the spectators were still paralyzed with the awful situation before them, there was activity and heroism among the Diana mermaids in the shell. The instant Aurora with her alert eyes saw Margaret's mishap, she realized at once the situation and before the shell had glided past, she leaned over and caught Margaret by the hair. By the same impulsive and almost animal agility, Margaret grasped Aurora's arm and in another moment, with less loss of time than would seem possible, she was again in the shell. In a twinkling of an eye the breathless girl had resumed her place at the oar as if nothing had happened.