lf blinding me. At that the lady attracted attention by
screaming, so the third shot stampeded poor Jones.

I ain't religious, being only thirty, and not due to reform this side of
rheumatism, but all the sins I've enjoyed was punished sudden and
complete in that one minute. Blind with blood, half stunned, and reeling
sick, I heard the mare as she plunged along the bank dispensing
boulders. No top-heavy cargo was going to stand that strain without
coming over, so the woman I loved--yes, I knew that now for a fact--was
going to be dragged until her brains were kicked out by the mare. It
seemed to me ages before I could rouse my senses, wipe my eyes, and
mount the gelding. When sight and sense came back, I was riding as I had
never dared to ride in all my life, galloped Mr. Swift on rolling
boulders steep as a roof, and all a-slither. I got Swift sidewise up
the bank to grass, raced past the mare, then threw Swift in front of
Jones. Down went the mare just as her load capsized, so that she and the
lady, Swift and I, were all mixed up in a heap.

My little dog Mick was licking my scalp when I woke, and it seemed to me
at first that something must have gone wrong. My head was between two
boulders, with the mare's shoulder pressing my nose, my legs were under
water, and somewhere close around was roaring rapids. Swift was
scrambling for a foothold, and Mrs. Trevor shouting for all she was
worth. I waited till Swift cleared out, and the lady quit for breath.

"Yes, ma'am," says I.

"Oh, say you're not dead, Jesse!"

"Only in parts," said I, "and how are you?"

"I'm cutting the ropes, but oh, this knife's so blunt!"

"Don't spoil your knife. Will you do what I say?"

"Of course I will."

"Reach out then on the off side of the load. The end of that lashing's
fast to the after-basket line."

When I'd explained that two or three times, "I have it," she answered.
"Loose!"

"Pull on the fore line of the diamond."

"Right. Oh, Jesse, I'm free!"

"Kneel on the mare's head, reach under the pannier, find the latego, and
cast off."

She fumbled a while, and then reported all clear.

"Get off the mare."

In another moment Jones was standing up to shake herself, knee deep in
the river, and with a slap I sent her off to join Swift at the top of
the bank. Mrs. Trevor was sitting on a boulder, staring out over the
rapids, her eyes set on something coming down mid-stream. Her face was
all gray, and she clutched my hand, h