The farmer rose to the surface, struggling. His eyes were dilated, his whole countenance presented a frightened and imploring appearance.
He uttered a cry, 'twas a cry in which he poured forth all his soul; his last and supreme appeal to heaven and earth; but one word, but ah! what a deep prayer to one, what an earnest appeal to the other, were centred in that word: "Help."
The drowning man saw the dangling sleeve, his last chance of salvation. Frantically he clutched at it. Ah! he has missed it. No, as he was going down for the third time he threw out his arm once more. It was a forlorn hope, but it was successful. He caught hold of the coat with both his hands and raised himself. He found a creek in which he placed his foot, and with Frank's manly help, was soon extricated from his perilous position.
Mr. Rougeant was panting for breath, and exhausted, but saved from a watery grave.
Frank bent over the man he had rescued, dried his face and took off his boots, examining him meanwhile. Mr. Rougeant, whom we did not describe when we first met him, was a man of medium height. He had broad shoulders, a powerful chest, an almost square head and a formidable nose. Under his nasal organ, there bristled a short moustache.
When he had partly recovered his senses, he looked around him. "Where is my saw?" he questioned, then he added: "My hat, where is it?"
The hat, probably a leaky one, had gone to the bottom.
Frank was as much amused as he was astonished to hear him. He replied: "I suppose they must both be given up as lost."
"It is a pity," said the prostrate man, "it was a good saw, and a brand new one too."
The man spoke in the patois of the island, a kind of old Norman French which the young man understood very well. He, therefore, answered in the same language.
"Shall I go and call your people?" Frank said after a while.
"No, thank you, I think I can walk home."
He stood up and they both proceeded towards the farm-house.
"Not a word of thanks," soliloquized Frank, as he surveyed the strong frame and the powerful limbs of his companion.
Just then the farmer turned abruptly to him: "A good thing you were passing near at the time of the accident. I might have been drowned," he said.