"Doctor" Abbott, who had ridden over to "take a look at Knight's wrist," had stayed to dinner--there being always room for one more at that elastic table--and his bright humorous talk had completely fascinated every one. After dinner the men went off for a smoke, and the girls retired for their siesta in an atmosphere as hazy as if they too had indulged in the fragrant weed. They went to the swimming hole later in the day, but somehow the zest was all gone from the sport, with the two leading spirits distrait and moody, avoiding direct speech with each other, and preserving an attitude of injured pride. Blue Bonnet had made up her mind that Kitty owed her an apology, while Kitty obstinately refused even in her thoughts to acknowledge herself in the wrong. "Blue Bonnet thinks she's the king-pin of the universe," she mused angrily. "The others can keep on spoiling her if they want to, but I'm not going to kowtow all the time. They ape her every action,--_I'll_ show her that one of us has independence." Keyed up by this formula, repeated mentally a great many times, Kitty began to indulge in heroics. Aching to excite some admiration for herself she did "stunts" in the water that would have terrified her the day before. Once she plunged her bright head under the water and kept it there until she was almost black in the face, in an effort to prove her "staying powers." It only frightened the other girls and went apparently unnoticed by Blue Bonnet for whose benefit the test had been made. [Illustration: "'_I_ BELIEVE THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN TO SWIM IS TO DIVE IN HEAD-FIRST.'"] "I'll show her we're not all 'fraid-cats!" Kitty resolved passionately. "I believe," she announced to the girls, in a tone loud enough to reach Blue Bonnet, who was doing an overhand stroke in the quiet water of the opposite bank. "_I_ believe the only way to learn to swim is to dive in head-first--then you just _have to_. Big boys always toss little fellows into the middle of the pool and make 'em scramble back--they always do it right off. Here goes!" She poised only for a moment on the bank, not daring to give herself time to reconsider. Blue Bonnet shot a quick glance at her; she saw at once that Kitty had chosen too shallow a spot,--a dive at that point might be dangerous. At any other time she would have shouted a hasty warning, but now she hesitated,--and in that second Kitty shot head-first into the water. The girls gave a gasp, and kept their eyes on the spot where she had gone down, waiting to see the red locks reappear. But the water closed over Kitty,--and stayed closed. "Blue Bonnet!" they shouted shrilly, "she hasn't come up!"