She saw the big flatboat sweep into line of sight at the same time Joel turned into the current.

But while the larger craft drifted slowly the other way, the smaller one came swiftly down and across.

Joel swept out of the current into the eddy, rowed across that, and slid the skiff up on the sand-bar.

Then he stepped out.

He was bareheaded and barefooted, but it was not that which made him seem a stranger to Lucy.
"Are you lookin' fer me ?" he shouted.
Lucy waved a hand for him to come up.
Then he approached.