slower, and if possible
feebler!

"Have they got another cripple to work?" roared the Contingent in one
furious voice.

"No--it's a woman--a little one--yes! a girl. Hello! Why, sure as you
live, it's Delaware!"

A spontaneous cheer burst from the Contingent, partly as a rebuke to
Sparrell, I think, partly from some shame over their previous rage. He
could take it as he liked.

Still the blows went on distressingly slow. The girls were hoisted
on the men's shoulders; the men were half submerged. Then there was a
painful pause; then a crumbling crash. Another cheer went up from the
canyon.

"It's down! straight across the trail," shouted Fairfax, "and a part of
the bank on the top of it."

There was another moment of suspense. Would it hold or be carried away
by the momentum of the flood? It held! In a few moments Fairfax again
gave voice to the cheering news that the flow had stopped and the
submerged trail was reappearing. In twenty minutes it was clear--a muddy
river bed, but possible of ascent! Of course there was no diminution of
the water in the canyon, which had no outlet, yet it now was possible
for the party to swing from bush to bush along the mountain side until
the foot of the trail--no longer an opposing one--was reached. There
were some missteps and mishaps,--flounderings in the water, and some
dangerous rescues,--but in half an hour the whole concourse stood
upon the trail and commenced the ascent. It was a slow, difficult, and
lugubrious procession--I fear not the best-tempered one, now that the
stimulus of danger and chivalry was past. When they reached the dam made
by the fallen tree, although they were obliged to make a long detour to
avoid its steep sides, they could see how successfully it had diverted
the current to a declivity on the other side.

But strangely enough they were greeted by nothing else! Sparrell and
the youngest Miss Piper were gone; and when they at last reached the
highroad, they were astounded to hear from a passing teamster that no
one in the settlement knew anything of the disaster!

This was the last drop in their cup of bitterness! They who had expected
that the settlement was waiting breathlessly for their rescue, who
anticipated that they would be welcomed as heroes, were obliged to
meet the ill-concealed amusement of passengers and friends at their
dishevelled and bedraggled appearance, which suggested only the
blundering mishaps of an ordinary summer outing! "B