across? And
where was the last island? She had missed it somehow in the mist. She
was below it, out in the wide mill-pond. Somewhere on the other side was
the boat-house, and further down was a dam. Down-stream must be straight
to the left. All at once the roar of the descending water sounded in
Eleanor's ears, and to her horror it did not come from the left. But
when she tried to tell from which direction it did come, she could not
decide; it seemed to reverberate from all sides at once; it was
perilously near and it grew louder and more terrible every moment.

Suddenly a fierce, unreasoning fear took possession of Eleanor. She told
herself sternly that there was no danger; the current in Paradise River
was not so strong but that a good paddler could stem it with ease. In a
moment the mist would lift and she could see the outline of one shore or
the other. But the mist did not lift; instead it grew denser and more
stifling, and although she turned her canoe this way and that and
paddled with all her strength, the roar from the dam grew steadily to an
ominous thunder. Then she remembered a gruesome legend that hung about
the dam and the foaming pool in the shadow of the old mill far below,
and dropped her paddle in an agony of fear. She might hurry herself over
the dam in striving to escape it!

And still the deafening torrent pounded in her ears. If only she could
get away from it--somewhere--anywhere just to be quiet. Would it be
quiet in the pool by the mill? Eleanor slipped unsteadily into the
bottom of her boat and tried to peer through the darkness at the black
water, and to feel about with her hands for the current. As she did so,
a bell rang up on the campus. It must be twenty minutes to ten. Eleanor
gave a harsh, mirthless laugh. How stupid she had been! She would call,
of course. If she could hear their bell, they could hear her voice and
come for her. There would be an awkward moment of explanation, but what
of that?

"Hallo! Hallo--o-o!" she called. Only the boom of the water answered.

"Hallo! Hallo--o-o!"

Again the boom of the water swallowed her cry and drowned it.

It was no use to call,--only a waste of strength.

Eleanor caught up her paddle and began to back water with all her might.
That was what she should have done from the first, of course. She was
cold all at once and very tired, but she would not give up yet.

She had quite forgotten that only a little while before it had not
seemed to