Chapter 164: Natale, Part 2

A dozen throws later, I concede that I'm not going to succeed this way. My makeshift lasso has ample range to reach but, the palm lying flat to the ground, I can't get the loop around. At the least, I need to snag a hand to have any hope of towing Juliana closer...

No...

A finger would do it...

It just needs a good hold...

Picking at the knot to my loop of rope, I unravel it. Irritatingly, the soaking in the water, or maybe the subsequent drying, has shrunk the cloth a little and the knot has tightened. It would do my soul good to curse and fling the wretched thing against the wall, but resisting my own temper, I work away at the snarl of tattered cloth and frayed threads until it unravels.

My thinking is frayed too...

Dehydration?