It was taking all her strength to hold her own against the rush of the river—­ and now she was not even doing that!  Slowly, very slowly, she was being pushed backward; in a little while more she would be sucked downward, and then——­

She closed her eyes, and then, as though the obliteration of one sense made more clear the other, she heard Betty calling to her above the roar of the falls.

“Mollie!  Mollie!” it came, faint but distinct, “take hold of the stick and we’ll pull you in.  Mollie, do you hear me?”

The girl in the water was still struggling hard against the current that was dragging at her cruelly, and at the sound of Betty’s words she shook the water from her eyes and looked about her dazedly.  She had forgotten the girls.

Then she saw something that sent a tingle of renewed hope through her tired body.  What she saw was a long branch bobbing on the water not two feet from her outstretched hand, and at the other end of the stick was—­ Betty.

With a sigh that was half a sob she struck out for it, reached it, and clung to it as only the drowning know how to cling.

Then she felt herself being drawn through the water, and once more she closed her eyes.  When she opened them again she was on a warm grassy bank with Amy chafing one hand, Grace the other, while Betty was busy unfastening the clothes about her waist.

As Mollie was never under any circumstances expected to act as people thought she should act, so this occasion was no exception to the rule.  She pushed Amy and Grace aside, glared at Betty, and sat up with a little jerk.

“For goodness’ sake, stop undressing me, Betty Nelson!” she said.  “I’m not dead yet.”

“So we see,” said Betty, while her eyes lost their anxious expression and began to twinkle instead.  “But you might have been, you know, if we had left you to yourself.”

Mollie looked down at her dripping clothes ruefully and then out at the rushing water.

“I guess you are right,” she said with a little grimace, “It wasn’t very pleasant while it lasted, either.  Whew, but that water was cold!” She shivered involuntarily and Betty sprang to her feet.

“We had better be getting back to the lodge,” she said.  “You can put on some dry things, Mollie, and we girls will get you some hot soup.  You are chilled to the bone.”

“Nonsense,” denied Mollie grumpily.  “I’m beginning to feel fine and warm.  Besides,” she added, trying to cover a chill that fairly made her teeth ache, “I want to stay and find out about that thing that got us into all this fuss.”

“Nonsense,” Grace put in.  Up to this time Grace had been made speechless by Mollie’s sudden recovery.  “You are shivering so you can’t sit still.”

“It makes me cold just to look at you,” added Amy,

“Don’t be foolish, honey,” said Betty impatiently.  “You can’t sit there all day in dripping clothes, and besides you will really get cold.”