Part 38 (1/2)
Telling Suarez to pull for all he orth, Gray, clambered to the stern of the boat and emptied the revolver at what he took to be the black heads of the swiain,” he said, and Elsie obeyed with a ni
The American fired three more shots before he was satisfied that the canoes were untenanted and not cut adrift They were now leaving the pande, freed him from that most objectionable muzzle Joey forthwith awoke the welkin with his uproar, but, although the girl strained her ears for so of Indians at each other across the narrow creek, and the repeated echoes of the dog's barking
About this ti them onward at a remarkable rate In the somber depths of the cleft or canon it was difficult to discern stationary objects clearly enough to obtain athe pace of the streaave hi The canoes behind ca in on the more solid boat, and an oar held out until it encountered some invisible branch was rudely swept aside In a word, they were being iathering speed of a h his work may have little to do with sea or river, cannot fail to accue as to the properties and limitations of water in motion Gray knew that the quickened impulse of the strearadually lessened its width The boat was traveling at sea level Therefore, there could be neither rapids nor cataract in front; but the steady rush of the current, now plainly audible, could not be accounted for sih a mere by-way, as the boat was now nearly half a mile fro each moment
”We must endeavor to reach the bank and hold on to the branches of a tree,” he shouted in Spanish ”Doith your heads until the boat strikes, and then try to lay hold of so”
There was no ti the boat's nose round By chance, he used the starboard oar
All unknowing he spun a coin for life or death, and life won They crashed through so bank
Gray unshi+pped the oar and jaht down It stuck between stones at a depth of three feet, and the life-boat was held fast for the tiainst each other, but were swept aside instantly When the noise ceased, they plainly heard the swirl of the water In their new environment, it had the uncanny and sinister hiss of some monstrous snake
”Everybody happy?” Gray de to a tree trunk,” answered Elsie
”Bully for you Make fast with a piece of rope But be careful to provide a slip-knot, in case we have to sheer off in a hurry Can you e that?”
”Quite well”
Elsie was fully aware that the leadershi+p of the expedition had gone fro hands Suarez, too, secured a stout branch, and passed a rope around it
”Now, silence! and listen!” said Gray
They soon detected a curiously subdued clamor frouishable, it gradually assumed the peculiar attribute of immense volumes of distant sound, and filled the ear to the exclusion of all else It was like nothing any of thehty waterfall, and again its strange ht rinding noise of innu was afraid
”Guess we tied up just in ti the need of speech A little sob answered hi to ad
”Now, cheer up, Miss Maxwell,” said he ”All the water that is going in must come out by the same road At the worst, we can skate back the e caht, and I'll answer for it that if Captain Courtenay is yet alive he is not between us and the mouth of the inlet, or he would have contrived some sort of racket to let us know his whereabouts Now, I propose that our friend in the bows be asked to shi+n up the cliff and prospect a bit
He ought to kno to crawl through this undergrowth Fifty feet higher he will be able to see soreed miserably She was crushed by the i them Expedients which looked simple beforehand were found lamentably deficient to cope ild nature on the stupendous scale of this gloomy land Suarez, too, was very reluctant to leave the boat, but the A hi thrown overboard
So the Argentine adopted the less hazardous method, and cliht excla had followed Soon the swish of leaves and the crackling of rotten wood ceased Suarezto return with news of an impassable precipice There was a crumb of coo on or coirl was too heart-broken to talk He listened to the rhythmical chorus of that witches' cauldron in the heart of the defile, and watched the gray light slowly etching a path through the trees, until it touched the fast-running water with a shi+ they re of the boat warned the and the ropes needed readjusting It was now possible to see that Elsie hadthe gnarled roots of the lowerh-waterin the pace of the current, and Gray fancied that the distant ruhboring rocks were covered; high tide, he kneas at 315 AM He forebore to look at his watch, lest the girl should note his action That would iht be that his mind was too taken up with the weird influences of the hour, or that Elsie's senses were strung to a superhu to her feet all a-quiver with agitation
”Do you hear?” she whispered, and her hand clutched Gray's shoulder with an energy which set his heart beating high He did not answer
He had heard no unusual sound, but he was not without faith in her
”There!” she panted again ”So Some one cried 'Elsie' I am sure of it”