The Woman-Haters Part 21

Then, as he lay lazily paddling in deep water, he heard the rattle of gravel on the steep bank of the other side of the cove. Looking up, he saw, to his huge disgust, a female figure in a trim bathing suit descending the bluff from the bungalow. It was the girl who had left him to fight the wasps. Her dark hair was covered with a jauntily tied colored handkerchief, and, against the yellow sand of the bluff, she made a very pretty picture. Not that Brown was interested, but she did, nevertheless.

She saw him and waved a hand. "Good morning," she called. "Beautiful day for a swim, isn't it?"

"Yes," growled the young man, brusquely. He turned and began to swim in the opposite direction, up the cove. The girl looked after him, raised a puzzled eyebrow, and then, with a shrug, waded into the water. The next time the a.s.sistant looked at her, she was swimming with long, sweeping strokes down the narrow creek to the bend and the deep hole at the end of the wharf. Round that bend and through that hole the tide whirled, like a rapid, out into the miniature bay behind Black Man's Point. It was against that tide that Seth Atkins had warned him.

And the girl was swimming directly toward the dangerous narrows. Brown growled an exclamation of disgust. He had no mind to continue the acquaintance, and yet he couldn't permit her to do that.

"Miss Graham!" he called. "Oh, Miss Graham!"

She heard him, but did not stop.

"Yes?" she called in answer, continuing to swim. "What is it?"

"You mustn't--" shouted Brown. Then he remembered that he must not shout. Shouting might awaken the lightkeeper, and the latter would misunderstand the situation, of course. So he cut his warning to one word.

"Wait!" he called, and began swimming toward her. She did not come to meet him, but merely ceased swimming and turned on her back to float.

And, floating, the tide would carry her on almost as rapidly as if she a.s.sisted it. That tide did not need any a.s.sistance. Brown swung on his side and settled into the racing stroke, the stroke which had won him cups at the athletic club.

He reached her in a time so short that she was surprised into an admiring comment.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "you CAN swim!"

He did not thank her for the compliment. There was no time for that, even if he had felt like it.

"You shouldn't be here," he said sharply.

She looked at him.

"Why, what do you mean?" she demanded.

"It isn't safe. A little farther, and the tide would carry you out to sea. Come back, back up to the cove at once."

He expected her to ask more questions, but she did not. Instead she turned and struck out in silence. Against the tide, even there, the pull was tremendous.

"Shall I help you?" he asked.

"No, I can make it."

And she did. It was his turn to be surprised into admiration.

"By Jove!" he panted, as they swung into the quiet water of the cove and stood erect in the shallows, "that was great! You are a good swimmer."

"Thank you," she answered, breathlessly. "It WAS a tug, wasn't it? Thank you for warning me. Now tell me about the dangerous places, please."

He told her, repeating Seth's tales of the tide's strength.

"But it is safe enough here?" she asked.

"Oh, yes! perfectly safe anywhere this side of the narrow part--the creek."

"I'm so glad. This water is glorious, and I began to be afraid I should have to give it up."

"The creek, and even the bay itself are safe enough at flood," he went on. "I often go there then. When the tide is coming in it is all right even for--"

He paused. She finished the sentence for him. "Even for a girl, you were going to say." She waded forward to where the shoal ended and the deeper part began. There she turned to look at him over her shoulder.

"I'm going to that beach over there," she said, pointing across the cove. "Do you want to race?"

Without waiting to see whether he did or not, she struck out for the beach. And, without stopping to consider why he did it, the young man followed her.

The race was not so one-sided. Brown won it by some yards, but he had to work hard. His compet.i.tor did not give up when she found herself falling behind, but was game to the end.

"Well," she gasped, "you beat me, didn't you? I never could get that side stroke, and it's ever so much faster."

"It's simple enough. Just a knack. I'll teach you if you like."

"Will you? That's splendid."

"You are the strongest swimmer, Miss Graham, for a girl, that I ever saw. You must have practiced a great deal."

"Yes, Horace--my brother--taught me. He is a splendid swimmer, one of the very best."

"Horace Graham? Why, you don't mean Horace Graham of the Harvard Athletic?"

"Yes, I do. He is my brother. But how . . . Do you know him?"

The surprise in her tone was evident. Brown bit his lip. He remembered that Cape Cod lightkeepers' helpers were not, as a usual thing, supposed to be widely acquainted in college athletic circles.

"I have met him," he stammered.

"But where--" she began; and then, "why, of course! you met him here. I forgot that he has been your neighbor for three summers."

The a.s.sistant had forgotten it, too, but he was thankful for the reminder.

"Yes. Yes, certainly," he said. She regarded him with a puzzled look.

"It's odd he didn't mention you," she observed. "He has told me a great deal about the bungalow, and the sea views, and the loneliness and the quaintness of it all. That was what made me wish to spend a month down here and experience it myself. And he has often spoken," with an irrepressible smile, "of your--of the lightkeeper, Mr. Atkins. That is his name, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I want to meet him. Horace said he was--well, rather odd, but, when you knew him, a fine fellow and full of dry humor. I'm sure I should like him."

Brown smiled, also--and broadly. He mentally pictured Seth's reception of the news that he was "liked" by the young lady across the cove. And then it occurred to him, with startling suddenness, that he had been conversing very familiarly with that young lady, notwithstanding the solemn interchange of vows between the lightkeeper and himself.

"I must be going," he said hastily; "good morning, Miss Graham."

He waded to the sh.o.r.e and strode rapidly back toward the boathouse. His companion called after him.

"I shall expect you to-morrow afternoon," she said. "You've promised to teach me that side stroke, remember."