The Hardest Fighters 255 



could not swim, and throwing his arms about the bow of the 

 boat, she rolled over in a menacing fashion. Jim and I 

 got him in, but the boat still rolled, being light and shallow ; 

 so we tipped her over, bottom up, helped the non-swimmer 

 onto the bottom, where, by remaining perfectly quiet and 

 lying flat, he was safe. I then looked for the launch, and 

 noticed that in the excitement I had dropped my rod, a 

 valuable piece of angling machinery. 



The launch had not moved, and we saw that the engine 

 would not work ; so I decided to leave my companion, as the 

 boat would not hold more than one, and swim to the launch. 

 Gardner was a professional swimmer, and I was fairly at 

 home in the water, having had many capsizing experi- 

 ences in Florida ; but I was handicapped by a heavy, impos- 

 sible suit of corduroy, leggings and heavy shoes. 



The sea was perfectly calm, and I soon distanced Gardner 

 who, I thought, had not been very active about arranging 

 the boat for my companion, nor did he seem to make much 

 headway for a professional. But it was not exactly the 

 time for criticism, and I took it easily, and was perhaps 

 fifty feet ahead of Gardner, when I saw that the launch had 

 started and was coming for us, the men waving and shout- 

 ing encouragement. 



How far we swam I do not know, but my armor of 

 corduroy was deadly, and I felt relieved to see the launch 

 coming. She had almost reached us, and I was slowing up, 

 when my boatman's wife, who was aboard, raised her voice 

 in a scream that made the welkin ring. It suggested sharks 

 to my somewhat excited imagination, especially as she cried, 

 " Jim's drowning." I stopped swimming and turned for a 

 second, treading water, but could see nothing, as my eye- 

 glasses had tipped; when I straightened them, Jim was in- 

 deed gone, and way back, seemingly on the horizon, was my 

 angling companion, lying placidly on the bottom of the 

 boat. 



I started to swim back, but had not gone five feet, I con- 



