CHAPTER XXXVI
A CRY FROM THE SEA
Miss Panney left Thorbury the next morning, but she had to go withoutseeing Phoebe, who did not appear at the station. She arrived at Barportin the afternoon, and went directly to the house of the friend to whomshe had written, and who, it is to be hoped, was glad to see her. Shedeferred making her presence known to the Bannister party until the nextmorning. When she called at their hotel about ten o'clock, she wasinformed that they had all gone down to the beach; and as they could notbe expected to return very soon, Miss Panney betook herself to theocean's edge to look for them.
She found a wide stretch of sand crowded with bathers and spectators. Ithad been a long time since she had visited the seashore, and shediscovered that seaside customs and costumes had changed very much. Shewas surprised, amused, and at times indignant; but, as she had come tolook for the Bannisters, she confined herself to that business,postponing reflections and judgments.
Her search proved to be a difficult one. She walked up and down the beachuntil she assured herself that the Bannisters and Miriam were not amongthose who had come as lookers-on, or merely to breathe the salt air andenjoy the ocean view. When she came to scrutinize the bathers, whetherthey were disporting themselves in the sea or standing or lying about onthe sand, she found it would be almost impossible to recognize anybody inthat motley crowd.
"I can scarcely make out," she said to herself, "whether they are men orwomen, much less whether I know them or not. But if the Bannisters andMiriam are among those water-monkeys, I shall know them when I see theirfaces, and then I shall take the first chance I get to tell them what Ithink of them."
It was not long before Miss Panney began to grow tired. She was not usedto trudging through soft sand, and she had walked a good deal before shereached the beach. She concluded, therefore, to look for a place whereshe might sit down and rest, and if her friends did not show themselvesin a reasonable time she would go back to their hotel and wait for themthere; but she saw no chairs nor benches, and as for imitating thehundreds of well-dressed people who were sitting down in the dirt,--forto Miss Panney sand was as much dirt as any other pulverized portion ofthe earth's surface,--she had never done such a thing, and she did notintend to.
Approaching a boat which was drawn up high and dry, she seated herselfupon, or rather leaned against, its side. The bathing-master, a burlyfellow in a bathing-costume, turned to her and informed her courteouslybut decidedly that she must not sit upon that boat.
"I do not see why," said Miss Panney, sharply, as she rose "for it isnot of any use in any other way, lying up here on the sand."
She had scarcely finished speaking when the bathing master sprang to hisfeet so suddenly that it made Miss Panney jump. For a moment the manstood listening, and then ran rapidly down the beach. Now Miss Panneyheard, coming from the sea, a cry of "Help! Help!"
Other people heard it, too, and began hurrying after the bathing master.The cry, which was repeated again and again, came from a group of batherswho were swimming far from shore, opposite a point on the beach a hundredyards or more from where Miss Panney was standing. The spectators nowbecame greatly excited, and crowds of them began to run along the beach,while many people came out of the sea and joined the hurrying throng.
Still the cries came from the ocean, but they were feebler. Thoseexperienced in such matters saw what had happened, a party of fourbathers, swimming out beyond the breakers, had been caught in what iscalled a "seapuss," an eccentric current, too powerful for them toovercome, and they were unable to reach the shore.
As he ran, the bathing master shouted to some men to bring him thelifeline, and this, which was coiled in a box near the boat, was soonseized by two swift runners and carried out to the man.
"Fool!" exclaimed Miss Panney, who, with flushed face, was hurrying afterthe rest, "why didn't he take it with him?"
When the bathing master reached a point opposite the imperilledswimmers, he was obliged to wait a little for the life-line, but as soonas it reached him he tied one end of it around his waist and plunged intothe surf. The men who had brought the line did not uncoil it nor eventake it out of the box, and very soon it was seen that the bathing-masterwas not only making his way bravely through the breakers, but was towingafter him the coil of rope, and the box in which it had been entangled.As soon as he perceived this, the man stopped for an instant, jerked theline from his waist and swam away without it.
Meanwhile a party of men had seized the life-boat, and had pushed it overthe sand to the water's edge, where they launched it, and with muchdifficulty kept it from grounding until four young men, all bathers,jumped in and manned the oars. But before the excited oarsmen had begunto pull together, an incoming wave caught the bow of the boat, turned itbroadside to the sea, and rolled it over. A dozen men, however, seizedthe boat and quickly righted her; again the oarsmen sprang in, and havingbeen pushed out until the water reached the necks of the men who ranbeside her, she was vigorously pulled beyond the breakers.
The excitement was now intense, not only on the beach, but in the hotelsnear the spot, and the shore was black with people. The cries hadentirely ceased, but now the bathing-master was seen making his waytoward the shore, and supporting a helpless form; before he could touchbottom, however, he was relieved of his burden by some of the men whowere swimming out after him, and he turned back toward a floating headwhich could just be seen above the water. He was a powerful swimmer, butwithout a line by which he and any one he might rescue could be pulled toshore, his task was laborious and dangerous.
The boat had now pulled to the bather who, though farthest out to sea,was the best swimmer, and he, just as his strength was giving way, washauled on board. The lifeline had been rescued and disentangled, and theshore end of it having been taken into proper charge, a man, with theother end about him, swam to the assistance of the bathing master.Between these two another lifeless helpless body was borne in.
As might have been supposed, Miss Panney was now in a state of intenseagitation. Not only did she share in the general excitement, but she wasfilled with a horrible dread. In ordinary cases of sickness and danger,it had been her custom to offer her services without hesitation, but thenshe knew who were in trouble and what she must do. Now there was asickening mystery hanging over what was happening. She was actuallyafraid to go near the two lifeless figures stretched upon the sand, eachsurrounded by a crowd of people eager to do something or see something.
But her anxious questioning of the people who were scattered aboutrelieved her, for she found that the two unfortunate persons who hadbeen brought in were men. Nobody knew whether they were alive or not,but everything possible was being done to revive them. Several doctorshad made their appearance, and messengers were running to the hotelsfor brandy, blankets, and other things needed. In obedience to anexcited entreaty from a physician, one of the groups surged outward andscattered a little, and Miss Panney saw the form of a strongly built manlying on his back on the sand, with men kneeling around him, someworking his arms backward and forward to induce respiration, and othersrubbing him vigorously. It was difficult for her to restrain herselffrom giving help or advice, for she was familiar with, and took a greatinterest in, all sorts of physical distress, but now she turned away andhurried toward the sea.
She had heard the people say there was another one out there, and hersickening feeling returned. She walked but a little way, and then shestopped and eagerly watched what was going on. The bathing-master hadbeen nearly exhausted when he reached the shore the second time, but hehad rallied his strength and had swum out to the boat which was pullingabout the place where the unfortunate bathers had been swimming. Suddenlythe oarsmen gave a quick pull, they had seen something, a man jumpedoverboard, there was bustling on the boat, something was pulled in, thenthe boat was rapidly rowed shoreward, the man in the water holding to thestern until his feet touched ground.
The people crowded to the water's edge so that Miss Panney could scarcelysee the
boat when it reached shore, but presently the crowd parted, andthree men appeared, carrying what seemed to be a very light burden.
"Oh, dear," said a woman standing by, "that one was in the water a longtime. I wonder if it is a girl or a boy."
Miss Panney said nothing, but made a few quick steps in the direction ofthe limp figure which the crowd was following up the beach; then shestopped. Her nature prompted her to go on; her present feelingsrestrained her. She could not help wondering at this, and said to herselfthat she must be aging faster than she thought. Her distant vision wasexcellent, and she knew that the inanimate form which was now being laidon the dry sand was not a boy.
She turned and looked out over the sea, but she could not stand still;she must do something. On occasions like this it was absolutely necessaryfor Miss Panney to do something. She walked up the beach, but not towardthe ring of people that had now formed around the fourth unfortunate. Shemust quiet herself a little first.
Suddenly the old lady raised her hands and clasped them. It was a usualgesture when she thought of something she ought to do.
"If it is one of them," she said to herself, "he ought to know itinstantly! And even if it isn't, he ought to know. They will be in aterrible state; somebody should be here, and Herbert has gone to themountains. There is no one else." She now began to walk more rapidly."Yes," she said, speaking aloud in the intensity of her emotion, "heought to come, anyway. I can't be left here to take any chances. And ifhe does not know immediately, he cannot get here today."
She now directed her steps toward one of the hotels, where she knew therewas a telegraph office.
"No matter what has happened, or what has not happened," she said toherself as she hurried along, "he ought to be here, and he must come!"
The old lady's hand trembled a good deal as she wrote a telegram to RalphHaverley, but the operator at the window could read it. It ran: "Adreadful disaster here. Come on immediately."
When she had finished this business, Miss Panney stood for a few momentson the broad piazza of the hotel, which was deserted, for almosteverybody was on the beach. In spite of her agitation a grim smile cameover her face.
"Perhaps that was a little strong," she thought, "but it has gone now.And no matter how he finds things, I can prove to him he is needed. I donot believe he will be too much frightened; men never are, and I will seeto it that he has a blessed change in his feelings when he gets here."
Miss Panney was now allowing to enter her mind the conviction, previouslydenied admittance, that no one of her three friends would be likely to beswimming far from shore with a party of men. And, having thus restoredherself to something of her usual composure, she went down to the beachto find out who had been drowned. On the way she met Mrs. Bannister andthe two girls, and from them she got her information that two of thepersons were believed to be beyond any power of resuscitation, and one ofthese was a young lady from Boston.
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