herself upon
him. Involuntarily she glanced up with profound pity and, turning,
caught a glimpse of a canoe that whipped down stream under the middle
span of the great bridge.

"Oh, look! he's going to be drowned." She clutched Clark's arm in
sudden terror.

The latter stared, while something rose in his throat. The canoe was
familiar. He had seen it a few hours before on the upper bay, and now
his keen sight made out the figure of Belding. Instantly he grasped
the cause of this foolhardy deed. A glance at Elsie told him she was
unaware who it was that thus played with death.

"Look, look!" she cried again.

The canoe pitched into the first cellar, and in the mound of silver
foam they could discern only the slim and tossing bow. Presently it
emerged and reeled on into the fury below. Elsie covered her eyes, and
Clark stood as though fascinated. What part had he played in this
perilous drama?

Vividly his mind flashed back to those first days, the beginning of the
engineer's unswerving loyalty. Year after year he had never faltered,
and at the end of it all, even though apparently robbed by his chief of
his heart's desire, had thrust himself between Clark and the hoarse
hatred of the mob. Came now an overwhelming sense of unworthiness, and
Clark asked of himself who was he to demand such sacrifice. Then, as
though a cloud had revealed the sun, the way became quite clear.

"Elsie," he said, "the canoe is all right, look!"

Down in the long, smooth swell at the foot of the rapids, it lay
sluggishly. The man dipped his paddle and began to move almost
imperceptibly towards shore. The girl drew a long breath.

"He's safe."

"Yes," said Clark earnestly, "he's very safe. Now I want to talk to
you."

She brightened at once. "Do."

"I've wanted to talk to you for months. Do you remember what we spoke
of last?"

"Destiny," she said softly.

He nodded. "I see it plainly to-day, more plainly than ever before.
Sometimes when a man is in deep water his sight gets keener. What I
have been through in the last seven years is only a phase, it's not an
epoch. I was meant to do it, and I did it with all my heart. Now I'm
going to do something else, in order that the works may prosper. You
have helped me to make that decision."

"I?" she whispered faintly.

He put a hand on her arm--it was his only caress.

"Yes, Elsie, you. It is as though I had caught sight of a road which
was very beautiful an