ed my
eyes, for they were back of me somewhere, moving the barrels and boxes
around. There was a lantern standing on the ground near my head, and the
thought came to me that if I could knock it over and put it out I might
make a stagger for the outside and get clear of them. So I upset it.

"The thing didn't go out. It lay on its side, burning away the same as
ever, but the move I had made tipped it off to them that I wasn't all
in. I heard Shanklin swearing as he came toward me, and I picked up what
strength I had, intending to make a fight for it. I wasn't as brisk as I
believed myself to be, unluckily, and I had only made it to my knees
when they piled on to me from behind. I suppose one of them hit me with
a board or something. There's a welt back there on my head, but it don't
amount to anything."

"The cowards!" she breathed, panting in indignation.

"I wish we could find a name in some language that would describe them,"
said he; "I've not been able to satisfy myself with anything that
English offers. No matter. The next thing that I knew I was being
drenched with icy water. It was splashing over my head and running down
my face, and the restorative qualities of it has not been overrated by
young ladies who write stories about fainting beauties for the
magazines, I can hereby testify. It brought me around speedily, although
I was almost deaf on account of a roaring, which I attributed to the
return circulation in my battered head, and sickened by an undulating,
swirling motion by which I seemed to be carried along.

"I felt myself cramped, knees against my chin, and struggled to adjust
my position more comfortably. I couldn't move anything but my hands, and
exploration with them quickly showed me that I was in a box, rather
tight on sides and bottom--one of those tongue-and-groove cases such as
they ship dry goods in--with the top rather open, as if it had been
nailed up with scraps. The water was splashing through it and drenching
me, and I knew in a flash, as well as if they had told me what they were
going to do, what they had done. They had carted me to the river and
thrown me in."

"The canyon! The canyon!" said she, shuddering and covering her face
with her hands. "Oh, that terrible water--that awful place!"

"But I am here, sitting beside you, with the sun, which I never hoped
to see again, shining on my face," he smiled, stroking her hair
comfortingly, as one might assuage the terror of a child.