The dory was fairly water-logged. That indeed was the salvation for the moment of her two passengers. The dory would not turn turtle while it swam so low in the sea. Lorna was at last thoroughly frightened. It was not that she had never been in equal peril. Once, when they were half-grown, she and Ralph had been swept out to sea in a never-to-be-forgotten tempest, and had taken refuge upon the Quail Shoal lightship. That was an occasion to be remembered in very truth! But the girl had not experienced at that time this terrible sinking feeling of helplessness that she now endured. It was born in her mind that it had been her perfect trust in Ralph Endicott that had buoyed her up on those other occasions when they were in peril together. She felt her own helplessness at the present time, and in Conny Degger’s face she marked nothing but an equal fear. Degger possessed none of Ralph’s initiative nor any degree of his cool courage. She was face to face with death. She could not swim to the shore in such a sea as this. Indeed, no swimmer could live in it. If Ralph in his motor-boat did not overtake them soon, Lorna believed there was little hope for Degger and herself. She continued to bail desperately. The water in the boat rose against her breast and almost choked her. The chill of it made her gasp. Dimly she saw Degger struggling with the oar. She looked away at the plunging _Fenique_ with Ralph standing amidships and clinging to the wheel. "Ralph! Oh, Ralph!" she cried aloud. The words were driven back into her throat by the gale. Degger’s wildly glaring eyes betrayed his complete panic. His very soul had turned to water. It was mere muscular reaction—like that of a dead man—that caused him to cling to the oar. He was positively transfixed with terror. The motor-boat plunged awkwardly toward the water-logged dory. Its bow seemed aimed to ram the smaller craft amidships. The girl stopped bailing. If the motor-boat plunged upon them, what could save the two in the dory? Lorna stretched her arms out to Ralph, Conny Degger released the oar, ashen-faced and trembling. Ralph’s voice (how full and unshaken it seemed!) came down the wind to them: "Stand by to grab the rail! Look out for yourself, Degger!" He threw the steering wheel over and lashed the spokes to hold it steady. As the _Fenique’s_ bow swerved off from the floundering dory, Ralph sprang upon the roof of the cabin and flung himself along its slippery surface to reach Lorna’s out-stretched hands. "Hold hard, Lorna!" he shouted. The motor-boat slid past the dory. Ralph fairly snatched the girl out of it. Astern he heard an awful cry. Hugging Lorna tightly in the embrace of his right arm, Ralph looked back. Conny Degger had missed the _Fenique’s_ rail, but he had gripped the bight of a rope trailing overboard. He was being towed in the sea; dragged through the bursting waves rather than over them. His precarious situation was not to be derided.