"Pull the dog loose, man!--he'll drown her yet!"
This was from the river policeman, who held up his bull's-eye lantern so that it threw a yellow glare on the white upturned face.
"We shall bring in the body just as it is," said the official.
"Tonnerre! Is it the law to let a child drown in one's sight?"
"Bring it in just as it is," repeated the official, adjusting a rope to the mysterious thing beneath the body.
And so it really seemed, for Tartar lay in the bottom of the boat, still breathing, but in convulsive gasps. In his teeth remained a portion of the child's clothing, torn away with him. He had hung to his charge to the last. His jaws had never relaxed.
In the mean time the whole fleet with its spoils had been floating steadily down with the powerful current. Amidst the wrangle of contending voices, and with some angry altercation, the police boat and its accompanying consorts were towing the yet unknown object and its silent burden towards the shore.
This was not an easy job, since the river becomes more narrow as it threads the city, and the current proportionately stronger, and the undertow caught at the low-hanging mass as if determined to bear it down to the morgue just below. They had been carried under the Pont de Bercy and were drawing near the Quai d'Austerlitz. Finally they got ashore at the Gare d'Orléans.
"She has evidently fallen into the river with her basket on her back."
They had now, in the rapidly growing daylight, discovered the character of the object that held her in its embrace. In fact, when half a dozen stout fellows had attempted to lift the whole thing out of the water the rags had dropped out unseen and were borne away by the current, leaving the light empty pannier and the body of the child in their hands. And the men marvelled at the resistance they had encountered.
A messenger had been at once despatched for medical assistance. The great hospital of Salpêtrière was near at hand.
"May as well take her to the morgue," muttered one.
"Soon enough,--soon enough," replied the river policeman. "Follow the custom."
Notwithstanding the general opinion that it was too late, a rough boatman had torn off a section of his flannel shirt and was chafing the cold little hands, while another rubbed the legs and a third tried to restore respiration. These people were familiar with cases of drowning, and knew the best and simplest immediate first aid by heart.