They went down the hill toward the beach, Harrigan singing and McTee
silent, with downward head. On the beach they started for some rocks
which shelved out into the water, for it was possible that they might
find some sort of shellfish on the rocks below the surface of the
water. Before they reached the place, however, McTee stopped and
pointed out across the waves. Some object tossed slowly up and down a
short distance from the beach.

"From the wreck," said McTee. "I didn't think it would drift quite as
fast as this."

They waded out to examine; the water was not over their waists when
they reached it. They found a whole section from the side of the
wheelhouse, the timbers intact.

_On it lay Kate Malone, unconscious._

Manifestly she never could have kept on the big fragment during the
night of the storm had it not been for a piece of stout twine with
which she had tied her left wrist to a projecting bolt. She had wrapped
the cord many times, but despite this it had worn away her skin and
sunk deep in the flesh of her arm. Half her clothes were torn away as
she had been thrown about on the boards. Whether from exhaustion or the
pain of her cut wrist, she had fainted and evidently lain in this
position for several hours; one side of her face was burned pink by the
heat of the sun.

They dragged the float in, and McTee knelt beside the girl and pressed
an ear against her breast.