But fear I must, and as she realised it, I think--though I am not sure--that there was a second during which her own mind faltered. But if so, it was for an instant only. Then she realised the full peril of the moment, and her courage rose to meet it. Cool and swift, and very urgent, she thrust forward the full force of her mind to overcome the panic which had possessed me. “I shall be first. Swim on. Listen. You are safe if you hear me. You must stop thinking. Give your mind to mine, and I can save you. Do not think at all, but believe it. It is everything that you do this.” The rest is a dream only. I was dimly conscious that the first of the rushing beasts was upon me, and that it dived slightly as it came, so that it should snap at me from below. I saw the wide flat shovel-jaws opened to take me, and then two things happened. Almost into the mouth of the gaping jaws she came between us--she had swum at least three times the distance that our opponents had covered--and at the same instant the second monster charged sideways into its rival in its eagerness to get a share of the expected dainty. They were afraid of her, clearly. They both recoiled for a moment. But it was clear also that they regarded me as a prey of which she had no right to deprive them. On they came again from different sides, and into their very teeth she swam to thwart them. Even so, had they been capable of concerted action, I do not see how she could have saved me. But she was cooler, swifter, more agile, with a mind that mocked them and bewildered. Nor was she content with defensive movements only, but as either would draw back for a moment, she followed the retreated mouth as though she dared it to harm her, as no doubt she did. How it would have ended I cannot say, but at that moment fate interposed to help us. We were still a hundred yards from the shore, when the ground beneath us shallowed, and they pursued us no further. We climbed out into a place of shade and of mossy softness, but I was too exhausted to regard it. Where I sank I lay. Perhaps, she was exhausted also. Anyway she gave me no thought, but remained in silence beside me. After a time I slept. CHAPTER IV THE SILENCE IN THE WOOD When I waked, she was sitting looking into the water with brooding eyes in which amusement flickered more than once as I watched them, but which seemed, for the most part, to be puzzled by some thoughts for which she could find no solving. She looked at me at last, and saw that I was awake, and offered me her mind in a moment. “I am glad,” she thought, “that I saved you, and I think that the Leaders will approve it; but of this I cannot be as certain as I gladly would be.