, 1925-10-21
q he BLACK GANG
By CYRIL NcNEuE
Copyright by GEoRGEA DoRAc o
NuSw

of the steering-wheel as soon as the
he remained behind the wheel he must
infallibly have gone to the bottom
with the car, and at that point where
the river narrowed to come through
the piers of the bridge the water was
over twenty feet deep. He had suff'
cient presence of mind to take a deep
breath as the car shot downward
then he felt the water close over his
head. And If before his struggles to
move had been fierce-now that the
end seemed at hand they became des.
perate. The desire to get clear-to
give one kick with his legs and come
to the surface reused him to one SUI
perhuman effort. He felt as If the
huge heave he gave with his legs
against the floor-boards must send him
flying to the top; afterwards he real
lied that this vast effort had been
purely mental-the actual physical re-
suit had been practically negligible.
But not quite. it had done something.
and the coat did the rest.
With that one last supreme throw
for life his mind had overcome the
effects of the poison to the extent of
forcing his legs to give one spasmodic
little kick. He fioated clear of the
car. and slowly-how slowly only his
bursting lungs could testify-the big
coat brought him to the surface. For
"a IN or two he could do nothing
save draw in deep gulps of air; hen
he realized that the danger was not
yet past. For he couldn't shout. he
could do nothing save fioat and drift,
and the current had carried him clear
of the bridge out of sight of those on
top. And his mind was quite clear
enough to realize that the coat which
had saved him, once it became sodden
woul just as surely Drown him.
He could see men with lanterns on
the bridge; he could neal them shout
ing and talking. And then he saw a
boa come back from the ship that had
passed through just before he went
ove the edge in his car. Surely
they'd pull down stream to look for
him, he thought in an agony of futile
anger; surely they couldn't be such
loplo as ~ 81 ph pulling uDpul JuSl uN
the bridge when 1t was obvious he
wasn't there. But since they thought
that he was at the bottom in his car.
and blasphemous language was al
ready being waited ut them by the
skipper of h vessel for the useless
delay, with n sinking heart Drummond
saw the boat turn around and disap-
pear upstream into the darkness. Men
with lanterns still stood on the bridge,
but he was far beyond the range of
their lights, and he was drifting
farther every minute. 1t was Just u
question of time now-and IL couldn't
be very long either. He could see that
his legs had zone down well below the
surface, and only the air that still re-
manned In the ~buttoned-up part of his
overcoat kept his head out and his
shoulders near the top. And when
hat was gOne-the end. He had done
all he could; there was nothing for It
now but wait for the inevitable finish.
Then "A sudden change in his imme-
diate surroundings began to take place.
At first he could not realize what had
happened; then little by little 1t began
to dawn on him what had occurred.
Up to date the water in which he
fioated had seemed motlonless to him
he had been drifting In II ut exactly
the same velocity as the current. And
now, suddenly, he saw that the water
was going past him. For n m
or two he failed to understand the
significance Of the fact; then wild
hope surged up In his mind. For u
time he stared ixedly at the bridge.
and the hope became n certainty. He
was not drifting any farther from II
he was stationary; he was aground.
He could feel nothing; he could see
nothlng-but the n s%tupendous fact
remained that he was aground. Life
tool on another lease-anything might
happen now. II only he could remain
there till the morning they would see
him from the bridge, and there seemed
no reason why he shouldn't. The
water still flowed sluggishly past him.
broken with the falntest ripple close to
his head. So he reasoned that Il must
be very shallow where he was, and
being an incurable optlmist. he con-
templated his X meeting with
Peterson.
,ro me coNTINIJrD