The Glenwood post., 1916-07-01
GEORGE AGNEW CT1Ak1BERLiA AIN

strong, the cane stunted but alive
Only in the pasture bottoms the stock
had gathered in frightened clumps
Their instinct had told them that dan.
! ger lowered near. Suddenly from the
quiet house burst Margarita, carrying
her son on one arm. She had seen
Gerry from a window. While the 9th.
ers watched the rising river, and now
this terrifying torrent bursting down
upon them from above, she had slipped
out to run to him.
The house at Fazenda Flores stood
on domed mound. Behind the mound
was a slight hollow before the steady
rise to the bridge began. Gerry caught
sight Of Margarita as she ran down
towards this hollow. Terrified, he cast
glance at the descending flood and
his eye measured its pace against hers.
GO back!r he shouted with all the
strength of his lungs, and waved his
arms. It was AZ though be had not
spoken. Through the din and roar of
the flood the sound Of the words scarce
" reached his own ears. s
At the very bottom Of the hollow
Margarita felt that she was stepping
in water. She took her eyes from
Gerry, who she thought was beckoning
to her, and looked down. A hurrying
rivulet whose swift flow carried it be-
fore the churning crest of the flood.
tugged at her ankles. She looked up
toward the laundering wall Of oncom-
ing water and knew that she was lost
She stopped and fixed her eyes on
Gerry, who was plunging down the
slope in a mad effort to reach her. She
called to him, but she knew he could
not hear her. With arms stretched to
their highest, she held up the Man. The
Man was not frightened. His black
eyes were fixed on his running father.
Margarita could feel him gurgling with
he cried out. 1t was a wall of fright.
The wall was cut short. Broken in
two. it rang terribly in her ears as
she went down.
The water had felled Margarita and
the Man. Gerry saw them flung down
the crest of the wave. They became
suddenly a twirllng, sodden mass. In
animate save for the ding of loose
limb into clearer view against the blue
sky or the uncoiling of long black hair
on the seething water.
Gerry reached the torrent. Marga-
rita and the Man had already been
whirled far towards the great river.
He plunged into the flood. The water
was thick with earth. sticks. uprootcd
plants and debris of every sort. Con-
tiicting. swirling currents tugged al
heavy stones, rolled them along and
sometimes even tossed one to the sur
face.
Gerry's struggling body was hurled
hither and thither. A stray current
shot him to the surface, but before he
could take breath other currents
sucked him down and dragged him
along the rough surface of the crum-
bling soil. He felt as though he were
being torn limb from limb.
Then suddenly he was cast into an
eddy that in comparison with the mael-
'strom was almost peaceful. For an
instant he felt like one who awakes
from a terrible dream, but with the
sigh that trembled to his lips came
realization.
From head to toe he was battered
and bruised. His cotton clothes were
Id tatters. His chest heaved in great,
spasmodic gasps. Breath whistled
through his wracked lungs. His eyes
protruded. His head ached till 1t
seemed on the verge of bursting. But
to his mind pierced thought sharper
than pain-the thought of Margarita
and the Man. With clenched teeth he
struck out for the current.
Far, far away rose a dusty line Of
mist. 1t marked the head of the flood
the meeting of water with the accumu-
lated dust Of rainless months. Gerry
recognized the meaning Of that line.
Somewhere there in the turmoil of the
first rush Of the mad food were Mar
Rarita and the Man-what was left of
them. The distance dismayed him, but
he swan on. Then he felt the fast ap-
nroachinR end Of endurance. A sob
choked him. '-
1twas only minutes till his arms 70
fused to answer to his will. They
moved 30 weakly that more than once
his 9asping mouth sank below the wa
ter. He swallowed great sulps Of the
turRid Hood. Then an uprooted tree
brushed by him. He clutched it,
branches.
When all else In the world haa
passed from man'B Drdm rnere re-
mains the life instinct-the will to fight
for the last minute Of his allotted be.
ing. The life instinct was all that stil!
lived In Gerry. 1t urged him to last
enort. He dragged his body upon the
tree where the branches forked from
the main trunk. Utterly exhausted, he
sank into their embrace. They held
him as though in 4 cradle.
The rush Of the waters began to
slocken. They stretched ont over the