Tish Marches On Read Online Free Page A

discovered the flying field in time and thus have been hauled down to earth; but here her conscience intervened.
    “Due to no fault of our own,” she said, “we have left Mr. Blane’s motorboat to drift without guidance and inevitably be lost. We must locate it again, and bring it back.”
    No protests availing, we again headed for the broad Atlantic. Tish was in excellent spirits, rejoicing at having reunited the two young lovers, and certain that their quarrel was over. But as we passed over the naval vessels once more she grew more sober.
    “How strange it is,” she observed, “to be high in this beautiful air, secure from danger; and yet to see beneath us the murderous instruments of warfare. Nature,” she added, “is kind. It is only man who is cruel.”
    It is at such moments that Tish is at her best.
    How true, as we were to discover later!
    We moved on. Aggie was now calm, if despairing. Tish was watching for Mr. Blane’s boat and—it being almost noon by that time—I prepared a luncheon. Due to various causes the soup had been spilled, and the caramel custard was spread largely over the basket. Indeed, strangely enough, all that remained intact was our eggs; and over Aggie’s protests we were reduced to scrambled eggs and tea again.
    Thus reinforced, we all felt better, and Tish fell to planning how to rescue the boat without damage.
    “If we can use the shark hook to bring up a handling rope,” she said thoughtfully, “we can then make a loop in the rope and drop it, preferably over the steering wheel. After that it will be a simple matter to tow it back.”
    After some difficulty this was arranged, and as we had by this time seen what was apparently the boat far ahead, all appeared well. We lowered the loop into the water and prepared for action.
    It was then that we saw the shark. It was coming from the coast directly toward us, swimming under the surface and moving with amazing rapidity. I recall Tish and her expression as she gazed down at it.
    “I had no idea,” she said thoughtfully, “that they swam so fast.”
    Those were the last words I heard her speak for some time!
    Considering the situation now, I understand what followed. At the time, however, I only knew that there was a terrific jerk, and that without warning the Snark was brought close to the surface of the water and shot forward with astounding speed. This is undoubtedly when the fisherman saw us; however that may be, the result was shocking. All of us were thrown to the rear of the cabin, and to make matters worse, an occasional wave washed in and almost smothered us.
    Nor was that all. We were up to our waists in water when Tish, gazing ahead, saw that we were approaching a floating structure, shaped roughly like a boat, and hastily called to us to hold on to something. The next moment there came a shocking explosion. We were showered with pieces of wood, and the Snark , abruptly released, rose high in the air and whirled about in a most dizzy fashion.
    It was Tish who recovered first and rose slowly to her feet.
    “That was a torpedo, Lizzie,” she said, in a strange voice.
    “Indeed!” I replied coldly. “I thought it was a shark that had swallowed some dynamite.”
    But she ignored me.
    “It is quite evident what has happened,” she observed. “The navy is at practice and the thing caught in the loop of our rope. It is extremely fortunate,” she added, “that it struck the target. Otherwise we might be far at sea by this time.”
    I had no time to consider what might have happened. What had occurred was plenty. The fact is that a hasty survey had showed me no sign whatever of Aggie, and it was some time before, on wading to the rear of the cabin, I discovered her in the small lavatory installed there. So violent had been the impact that she was wedged tightly against a sanitary fixture, with only her head above water. And I can still see her gazing up at me with agonized eyes.
    “I have lost by teeth, Lizzie,”