"Follow, of course; but I shall take to the water. There are no oars here. Nothing to use as a substitute for them. I'll have to swim, and push that old ark as far away as possible. When the yacht goes down, the suction is liable to swamp us, if we are close in." "But I can swim, Captain West." "I am glad to know that; but now you do just as I say. There is no necessity for both of us getting wet through. Are you ready?" She poised herself, held steady by the grip of his hands, her eyes on the dark outline of the floating raft. There was no hesitancy, no questioning. "Say when," he said sharply. "Now." She sprang outward, and came down, sinking to her knees, and clinging fast, as the raft bobbed up and down under her sudden weight, dipping until the water rolled completely over it. CHAPTER XXVI THE COMING OF DAWN West leaned far out, and stared off at the faint blotch made by the raft against the water surface. He could perceive little except a bare, shapeless outline. "Did you make it? Are you all right?" "Yes, I'm safe enough; but wet just the same; the thing bobbed under." "It will hold us up though, don't you think?" "Why, of course, it will float; it is supposed to support four people. It rides dry enough now. But--but, Captain West, I want you to come." "I'm coming; I'll throw my shoes and coat over there to you first. To be rid of them will make swimming easier. Watch out now--good! Now draw in the line; we may need it. Got it all right? Very well; here goes." He made the plunge, coming up to the surface close beside the raft, the edge of which he quickly grasped with his hands. The girl remained motionless, barely perceptible through the gloom, but with anxious eyes marking his every movement. The frail support beneath her rose and fell on the swell of the waters, occasionally dipping beneath the surface. Beyond, a grim, black, threatening shadow, wallowed the wreck. West swam steadily, urging the unwieldy raft away from the menacing side of the vessel, driven by the necessity of escaping the inevitable suction when she went down. It was a hard, slow push, the square sides of the raft offering every obstacle to progress. Yet the waves and wind helped somewhat, the raft being lighter than the water-sogged _Seminole_, so that gradually the distance widened, until there extended a considerable waste of water between the two. Exhausted by his exertion, and breathing hard, West glanced back over his shoulder at the dimmer shadow of the yacht, now barely revealed against the clouded sky. The bulk of it seemed scarcely visible in any defined form above the level of the sea--the end must be almost at hand.