The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-10-20
A Rival in the
Flood
Rv FRANK II. WILLIAMS
g. 1921. BY Mcclure Newspaper syndtcar

Pretty Dorothy Gordon pressed her
pretty face against the window pane
and looked through the gusts Of rain
and sleet TO the swollen river some
little distance beyond the house.
It was wild night. The river had
risen steadily since morning and now
spread in the distance, a rain-sWept,
ugly, moody lake whose farther shore
vas lost in the darkness of the early
twilight. The river bade fair TO be up
TO the house by midnight.
Dorothy shivered slightly as she
saZed at this dismal scene. She was
worried-not about herself, for mo-
tor boat riding at ease on the rising
waters near the house gave her sure
means of escape, but because OF
| Howard Freeman, her sweetheart,
who was immured in an office building
on the other side of the river. Some
moments ago Howard had telephoned
that the building was surrounded by
water and that he was leaving by
rowboat. Dorothy had pleaded with
him to let her come for him in the
| motorboat but he had refused. Per-
! haps now, at this very moment, he was
! getting into the rOwbOat. OF course
there was no danger, but the current
in the center Of the stream was swift,
the river was filed with floating logs
and debris Would he be able to win
the shore In his fragile boat without
trouble?
To Dorothy, who had lived there by
the river all her life, the flood was a
! normal occurrence. Every year the
! river overtiOwed its banks-nOt as ex-
tensively as this present food, Of
course, but enough to familiarize those
people who lived near the stream with
the characteristics Of flood time. So
Dorothy did not fear the food so far
as she herself was concerned. 1t was
only because of Towards unfamiliar
ify with food conditions, owing to the
recentness of his arrival In the city,
that she was worried
That and another thing which kept
beating at the back of Dorothy's mind
and which she resolutely tried to keep
from her were the causes Of her wor-
ries.
OF the two worries, this thing at the
back of her mind was much the great
er. Despite her efforts to keep 1t down
1t rose up and frightened her. She
/ tapped restlessly on the window pane
with the tips Of her fingers as she con-
tiI:ued gazing out at the flood. What
should she do? Towards message had
! been eXplicit-she should remain where
she was and not come out to him. He
would be angry if she ventured out
into the flood and storm to come to
him. There had been no question
! about the sincerity with which he had
said this
And yet-DOrothy came to a sudden
resolution. She swung back into the
di,nly lighted room.
I'm going out in the boat" she
cried to her stepmother, the only other
occupant of the house, who was sway
! ing agitatedly back and forth in a
rocking chair near the center table.
II wouldn't" was the reply. ITS
dangerous"
dad will be here any minute now
in the other motor boat" said DOrO-
thy. I've got to go that's all.
can't stand it any longer"
The rain dashed ut Dorothy and a
, chill wind butfeted her as she raced
from the house toward the boat. Her
feet sank into the soft earth as she
ran. slowing her speed considerably.
Now that she had come to this deci-
sion and was actually launched on the
thing she had been longing to do all
afternoon, she was atire with eager
ness She wanted to get to Howard
just as quickly as she possibly could.
Fortunately the launch started at
once. Dorothy heaved up the anchor
which had moored the boat close to
the house in a little bayou made by
the advancing waters, and switching
on the searchlight, started up stream
against the swift current for the office
building mile away where Howard
worked.
Darkness had come by now, swift
and dense. The searchlight cutting
through the night disclosed steady
, doWnpour and d rushing mass Of
brsnches, tree trunks and junk of one
kicd and another.
It was slow work beating up against
the current Every now and then Dor
cshy gave a swift turn to the wheel
60 escape a rushing log. Once or
twice the boat quivered under the i'm
pact of some heavy object, whose on
! rush was unavoidable
Would she never reach the office
| building?
Suddenly, as the boat vee"ed to one
side in response to DorOtEy's efforts
to escape a tree trunk, she. gasped.
There, coming swiftly down the
stream some tairty feet to DorOthy's
right, w&s a rowboat. No oars We're
visible. At the rear OF the boat, hold
ing his coat ~ the water and trying
10 guide the boat il this fashion, was
Howard. And crcuched in the front
Of the BOAT 5as woman!
Dorothy's keart skipLed a beat or
TWO at this sight. It Was this woman
who had been tie strongest OF Doro-