sure we can beat them in a life-saving drill; their three best against
our three. We'd have you, Margery, and Bessie, and Dolly Ransom."

So it was agreed, and they all began to practice.

"I wish I could do something," said Zara, wistfully. "But I don't
believe I could learn to swim before Saturday."

"You could learn to keep yourself afloat," said Margery. "But that
wouldn't be much good, of course. You'd rather not go in at all, I
suppose, unless you could really swim."

"I know what I could do, though," said Zara, suddenly, after she had
watched Bessie go through the life saving drill. But she would not
confide her idea to anyone but Miss Mercer, who looked more than
doubtful when she heard it.

"I don't know, Zara," she said, "I'll see. It seems a little risky. But
I'll think it over. It would be splendid, but, well, we'll see."

Speed swimming, pure racing, was barred when Saturday came. But with
Scoutmaster Hastings and Miss Mercer as referees, and three summer
visitors from the Loon Pond Hotel, who had no prejudice in favor of
either side as judges, several contests were arranged that called for
skill rather than strength.

"In this diving," Hastings explained to the judges, "what we want to
figure on is the way they do it. If a dive is graceful, and the diver
strikes the water true, going straight down, with arms and legs held
close together, you give so many points for that. I'll make each dive