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Rh Pemberley swam up to the end of the pier and trode water.

"All right," he said, holding out his arms. "Jump!"

Garth pulled himself up by a post and stood erect, with his arm around it. Suddenly letting go, he collapsed neatly into the water with a royal splash, and came up in a moment, his father's arms around him and his curly hair dripping.

"Now, then," said Jim. "Hang on tight, and don't breathe in my ear, you old porpoise, you."

So they set out, Garth's arms about his father's neck and his small body stretched along his father's back.

"Come on!" he called to Joan, who still stood on the pier. "We're going out to the Ailouros."

Joan was no diver and a little apprehensive in water above her head, but there was nothing for it but to follow. She splashed in somehow and set off for the sail-boat, which looked very far away.

"If that child has confidence enough to let himself fall in that way, I certainly should be able to swim out to a boat," she reflected.