4
The Lady Thalia
"Sapristi! I believe you," said he, and hove himself awkwardly to his feet, raised both huge hands to his mouth, and shouted to the girl. She was swimming on her side, and as the hoarse hail reached her she looked back over her shoulder, then held steadily on.
"Tiens!" cried the Jew, "but she will not come."
Again he shouted, and this time the girl threw up one hand with a mocking gesture, but held on seaward with her strong, rhythmic stroke. Sir James had entered the water and was swimming after her.
Dallas looked about him in extreme vexation. There was probably not a man in France who was in the habit of taking as frequent and hazardous risks as he when on the road with his big car; and he was also a fearless hunter of big game and an almost reckless cross country rider. But he was one of those individuals of nervous temperament, who, while willing to take chances themselves, are nevertheless extremely disturbed at the sight of others exposed to danger. Moreover, he was himself an inlander, a poor swimmer, and one to whom deep water represented treachery and danger. He had never found himself on or in the water without a certain instinctive dread.
"Call her again," he said almost sharply. "My friend swam out there yesterday and had hard work getting back."
The younger man glanced at him with an almost insolent expression, but the Jew nodded his big, shaggy head, then looked doubtfully at Dallas, who observed that his eyes were very large, of a muddy brown, and shot with small, hazel-colored spots.
"Unfortunately, Mademoiselle is of a very obstinate disposition," said he. "She does not like to be told what to do. But she is a very strong swimmer."
Dallas frowned, then glanced over to where the fisherman was working at his boat. As he did so, the man laid down his caulking-iron and walked towards the group.
"Madame has swum out farther than is safe," said he, touching his cap. "At this tide the current is very strong. I do not believe that Madame will be able to get back."
"Then we must shove your boat into the water," said Dallas.
The man shrugged. "I do not believe that the boat would float, M'sieu," he answered. "The caulking is all pulled out of her seams, and the water would run in very fast. Besides this, the oars and sail are in my cabin, up on the top of the cliffs."
The big Jew scowled, then looked anxiously seaward. By this time the girl was over three hundred yards from the beach and swimming straight out, quite unconscious of the strong current on which she was borne — for the splash of the water about her had prevented her hearing what had been shouted. One hundred yards in her wake Sir James was ploughing along in an effort to overtake her.
