I strained my eyes intently in the effort to
discover its direction, but I could see nothing save the black wall.
We approached closer; I shouted to Harry and Desiree to brace
themselves for a shock, praying that the raft would meet the rock
squarely and not on a corner.

I had barely had time to set myself and grasp the straps behind when we
struck with terrific force. The raft rebounded several feet, trembling
and shaking violently. The water was rushing past us with noisy
impetuosity.

There was a cry from Desiree, and from Harry, "All right!" I crawled to
the bow. Along the top the hide covering had been split open for
several feet, but the water did not quite reach the opening.

And we had reached the end of our ambitious journey. For that black
wall marked the finish of the tunnel; the stream entered it through a
narrow hole, which accounted for the sudden, swift rush of the current.
Above the upper rim of the hole the surface of the water whirled about
in a widening circle; to this had we been led by the stream that was to
have carried us to the land of sunshine.

When I told Desiree she stared at me in silence! I had not realized
before the strength of her hope. Speechless with disappointment, she
merely sat and stared straight ahead at the black, unyielding rock.
Harry knelt beside her with his arm across her shoulders.

I roused him with a jerk of the arm.

"Come--get busy! A few hours in this hole and we'd suffocate. Do you
realize that we've got to pull this raft back against the current?"

First it was necessary to repair the rent in the hide covering. This
we did with strips of hide; and barely in time, for it was becoming
wider every minute, and the water was beginning to creep in over the
edge. But we soon had the ends sewed firmly together and turned our
hands to the main task.

It appeared to be not only difficult, but actually impossible to force
the raft back up-stream against the swift current. We were jammed
against the rock with all the force of many tons of water. The oar was
useless.

Getting a purchase on the wall with our hands, we shoved the raft to
one side; but as soon as we got to the wall on the left the whirling
stream turned us around again, and we found ourselves back in our
original position, only with a different side of the raft against the
rock. That happened three times.

Then we tried working to the right instead of the left, but with no
better success.