Part 4 (1/2)
He saw the tragedy alun Still three hundred yards below the swiravelly bar which they rayish strip of smooth water that er anirouped close together, alht, were left farther and farther behind Then caone in with the bunch
Aldous saw the colt, with its sh out of the water, sweep down like a chip with the current A cold chill ran through hi cry that held for him the pathos and the despair of a creature that was hu!” was in that cry He saw the ive up and follow resistlessly with the deadly current, her eyes upon her colt The heads behind her wavered, then turned, and in anotherdown to its destruction
Aldous felt like turning his head But the spectacle fascinated him, and he looked He did not think of Stevens and his loss as the first of the herd plunged in a the rocks He stood hite face and clenched hands, leaning over the water boiling at his feet, cursing softly in his helplessness To hi anio under Out of the white spuainst which the flood split itself with the force of an avalanche he saw one horse pitched bodily, as if thrown froe catapault The last animal had disappeared when chance turned his eyes upstream and close in to shore Here flowed a steady current free of rock, and down this--head and shoulders still high out of the water--came the colt! What miracle had saved the little fellow thus far Aldous did not stop to ask Fifty yards beloould meet the fate of the others Half that distance in the direction of the ing the water for fifteen or twenty feet In a flash Aldous was racing toward it He climbed out on it, leaned far over, and reached down
His hand touched the water In the griot his own peril There was one chance in twenty that the colt would coe and caught it by the ear For a moment after that his heart turned sick Under the added strain the dead spruce sagged doith a warning crack But it held, and Aldous hung to his grip on the ear Foot by foot he wored the little animal ashore
And then a voice spoke behind hi ten thousand, loeet, thrilling
”That was splendid, John Aldous!” it said ”If I were a man I would want to be a man like you!”
He turned A few steps from him stood Joanne Gray Her face was as white as the bit of lace at her throat Her lips were colourless, and her bosom rose and fell swiftly He knew that she, too, had witnessed the tragedy And the eyes that looked at hilorious
CHAPTER IV
To John Aldous Joanne's appearance at thisfor a single moment into what he believed to be the absurdity of a situation He had a quicka bit ofin a half-drowned colt by one ear In another instant this had passed, and he ondering why Joanne Gray was not on her way to Tete Jaune
”It was splendid!” she was saying again, her eyes glowing at him ”I know men ould not have risked that for a hument,” replied Aldous
He noticed now that she was holding with one hand the end of a long slender sapling which a week or two before he had cut and trimmed for a fish-pole
He nodded toward it, a half-cynical s to fish me out--or the colt?” he asked
”You,” she replied ”I thought you were in danger” And then she added, ”I suppose you are deeply grateful that fate did not compel you to be saved by a woman”
”Not at all If the spruce had snapped, I would have caught at the end of your sapling like any drowning rat--or man Allow me to thank you”
She had stepped down to the level strip of sand on which the colt eakly struggling to rise to its feet She was breathing quickly Her face was still pale She ithout a hat, and as she bent for a moment over the colt Aldous felt his eyes drawn irresistibly to the soft thick coils of her hair, a glory of colour that made him think of the lustrous brown of a ripe wintelberry She looked up suddenly and caught his eyes upon her
”I came quite by accident,” she explained quickly ”I wanted to be alone, and Mrs Otto said this path would lead to the river When I saw you I was about to turn back And then I saw the other--the horses co down the stream It was terrible Are they all drowned?”
”All that you saw It wasn't a pretty sight, was it?” There was a suggestive inquiry in his voice as he added, ”If you had gone to Tete Jaune you would have missed the unpleasantness of the spectacle”
”I would have gone, but so happened They say it was a cave-in, a slide--soo on until to-morrow”
”And you are to stay with the Ottos?”
She nodded
Quick as a flash she had seehts
”I am sorry,” she added, before he could speak ”I can see that I have annoyed you I have literally projected myself into your work, and I am afraid that I have caused you trouble Mrs Otto has told erous And I have made him your enemy”