Dave felt his senses leaving him.
"I'd sooner die than give up easily!" groaned the young midshipman,
and he seemed about to have his wish.
CHAPTER XXII
THE SEARCH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAY
By the strongest effort of the will that he could make, Darrin
steadied himself and forced his eyes once more open.
Drifting toward him, two feet above his head, was what looked like
another shadow. It came closer.
At the first thought Darrin was inclined not to believe his senses.
"I'll have to go up, after all, and let Dan have his chance. I'm
seeing things," Dave decided.
For, though the object floating toward him had some of the semblance
of a skirt-clad figure, yet it looked all out of proportion---perhaps
twice the size of Pauline Butler.
That was a trick of the scanty light coming through the water
at an angle---this coupled with Darrin's own fatigue of the eyes.
Closer it came, and looked a bit smaller.
"It is a girl---a woman---some human being!" throbbed Dave internally.
Now, though his head seeming bursting, Dave hung on more tightly
than ever. The drift of the water was bringing the body slowly
nearer to him. He must hold on until he could let himself strike
upward, seizing that body in his progress.
At last the moment arrived. Dave felt a hard tug at the cable,
but he did not at that instant realize that Dan Dalzell had just
started down from the steamer.
Dave judged that the right instant had come.
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