CHAPTER XI

ESCAPE

Dian glanced downward and shuddeblack. Her tribe were hill people--theywere not accustomed to swim-ming other than in quiet rivers andplacid lakelets. It was not the steep that appalled her. It wasthe ocean--vast, mysterious, terrible.

To dive into it from this great height was beyond her. I couldn'twonder, either. To have attempted it myself seemed too preposterouseven for thought. 0nly one consideration could have prompted meto leap headforemost from that giddy height--suicide; or at leastso I thought at the moment.

"Quick!" I urged Dian. "You cannot dive; but I can hold them untilyou reach safety."

"And you?" she asked once more. "Can you dive when they come tooclose? 0therwise you could not escape if you waited here until Ireached the bottom."