Page 3 of My Gentleman Spy
Coming to his senses he tossed away the remainder of his orange. He stripped off his shirt and flung it down on the stones. He hurried down to the edge of the dock. Reaching the water's edge, he dived in. Coming up for air, he began to swim toward the ship, praying against all hope that he could reach her before shedrowned.
* * *
The impactof the water punched the air out of Hattie's lungs so hard that she feared she would lose consciousness. Salt water filled her mouth andeyes.
She flayed about for what seemed an eternity, bordering on the edge of panic as her limited vision filled with swirling skirts and foam. Finally, she caught a glimpse of light above her and realizing it was the sun began to swim toward thesurface.
Breaking the surface of the water, she sucked in a huge lungful of air. Her momentary relief dashed by the sight of the ship which filled her entirevision.
Death stared her in the face. Even if she had been able to scream, no one could have heard her above the roar of the waves and the ship. Any moment now the ship's wake would pull her under and she woulddie.
“Dear lord,” shemuttered.
She turned and began to frantically swim away, hoping against all hope that she could by some miraclesurvive.
She soon found the going to be tougher than she could ever have imagined. Hattie had never had to swim in boots and skirts before. The weight of her clothing threatened to overwhelm her efforts to make good herescape.
Lifting her head, a break in the waves afforded her a brief glimpse of the dockside. So tantalizinglyclose.
Get clear of the ship and then float. Come on Hattie, you are not done for yet. You shall not die thisday.
Knowing that the greatest enemy of any swimmer was fatigue she rolled over onto her back and began to kick strongly away from the ship. Slowly, but surely, she gradually built a safe distance between her and certaindeath.
As theBlade of Orionslowly drew away, the first tangible sense of relief pricked her brain. Her drop over the side of the ship had gone unnoticed. No one up on deck was running about and pointing to her in thewater.
Best of all she had survived. Sofar.
“Next time I jump over the side of a ship, I shall remove my boots first,” she chidedherself.
With the ship now sailing away, she gathered her thoughts. Her first task was to make it to safety. She would deal with the rest of her predicament once she was back on dryland.
With her head pointed toward the town, continuing to swim on her back made sense. It allowed her legs to partly float and take some of the weight of her boots. Every so often, she would stop, turn around and once she had reconfirmed her bearings continue to swim toward theshore.
The rhythmic strokes of her arms helped to calm her panic. As she drew closer to the dockside, hope sparked in herheart.
“I'm going to make it,” shesobbed.
A scream erupted from her mouth a second later as a firm hand took hold of her downward descendingarm.
She fought vainly against the stranger, but he was altogether too strong for her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her toward him. With her back against his chest he began to swim towardshore.
“Stop struggling or we shall both drown,” he bellowed at her above the noise of thewaves.
She caught a glimpse of dark hair and a naked torso. Where had he comefrom?
The thought that only a lunatic would be out swimming in the middle of the bay briefly crossed her mind, but at that moment all that really mattered was that they were swimming towardland.
He was also right about not fighting him. If he was prepared to do the lion's share of the work then she stood a much better chance of making it safely to shore. Accepting his assistance, she relaxed against the stranger's chest and attempted to aid him in his endeavors by kicking as best as she could in her water-loggedboots.
Working together they finally made it to the water's edge at the dockside. Several local dock hands came down and helped them bothashore.
As soon as her feet touched solid ground, Hattie's legs buckled from under her and she fell heavily to her knees. The soft flesh of her hands smacked hard against the stone paving of thedockside.
“Ooof,” shegroaned.
Her dark-haired savior bent down and putting an arm around her waist, lifted her to herfeet.
“Swimming in boots is never a good idea,” hesaid.
