The Delta independent., 1914-08-28


DARKNESS followed A flash OF light
ming seemed to flame between them
like fiery sword. To its crashing
thunder, he lapsed into unconscious
ness.
When he reused, 1t was with a shiv
er and a shudder. Rain was falling
in torrents from a sky the hue of
slate. Across the lake dense volumes
of steam enveloped the fires that
tainted beneath the deluge. A great
kissing noise filled the world, muting
even the roar of the spillway.
He was alone.
But in his hand. tattered and bruised
by the downpour. he found-a rose.
But there was now no escaping that
ordeal. The canoe was already spin
ming between walls where the water
ran deep and fast with CLASSY sur
face.
The next instant 1t was in the jaws;
and the man settled down to work
with grim determination, pitting cour-
age and strength and experience
against the ravening waters that tore
at the canoe on every hand. whose
mad clamor beat back and forth be-
tween the walls of the gorge like vast
bellowings Of Internal mirth.
He fought like one possessed.
There was never an instants grace
for judgment or execution; the one
must be synchronous with the other,
both instantaneous, or else-destruc-
ton.
The canoe wove this way and that
like an insane shuttle threading some
satanic loom. Now 1t hesitated, nuz-
Fling a gigantic boulder over which
the water wove a pale green and
glistening hood, now in the space of
q heartbeat it shot forward twice its
length through a sea of creaming
waves. now plunged wildly toward
what promised instant humiliation
and cheated that only by the timely
plunge of paddle, guided by luck or
instinct or both.
The one ray of hope in Alan's mind,
when he surveyed before committing
himself and the woman he loved to
that hideous gauntlet. sprang from
the fact that, however rough, the
rapids we're short. Now, when he had
been in their grasp a minute. he
seemed to have been there hours.
His laborings were tremendous, un.
believable. inspired. In the end they
were all but successful. The goal of
safety was within thirty seconds
more Of quick, hard work, when Alan's
paddle broke and the cs.,e swung
and precipitated both headlong into
that savage welter.
As the next few minutes passed he
was fighting like a mad thing against
overwhelming odds. Then, of a sud
den, he found himself rejected, spewed
forth from the cataract and swimming
mechanically In the smooth water OF
q wide pool beyond the lowermost
eddy, the canoe floating bottom Ut
near by, and Rose supporting herself
with one hand on 1t.
Her eyes met his, clear with the
sanity OF her adorable courage.
He fioundered to her side, painted in
structions TO transfer her hand to his
shoulder, and struck out for the
nearer shore.
Both found footing at the same
time and waded out, to collapse, ex
hausted. against the bank.
Then. with a sickening Qualm, Alar
remembered the pursuit He rose ant
looked up the rapid just in time II
view the last swift quarter of thu
canoes descent: Judith in the bow
motionless, rife across her knees, il
the stern an Indian guide kneelinl
and fighting the waters with scarcel.
perceptible effort in contrast witt
Alan's supreme struggles.
Like a living thing the cano'
seemed to gather itself together, u
poise, to leap with all its strength
It hurdled the eddy In a bound, too
the still water with mighty splash
and shot downstream at diminishe
speed, the Indian furiously backin
water.
As though that had been the on
moment she had lived for. Judit
lifted her rife and brought 1t to bea
upon her sister.
With a cry of horror, Alan fun
himself before Rose, living shielt
anticipating nothing but immediat
death. This was not accorded hin
For a breathless instant the woman