ng spray,
which were dwarfed by the distance.

"That is the greatest danger, that and the whirlpool. Anything would swing
round in the eddy, would it not?" he said. "Now, I want only the
truth--you understand these rivers--could any white man take a canoe down
there and through the pool safely?" and Lawrence, who dare not prevaricate
with that gaze upon him, answered reluctantly, "I do not think so."

The Colonel's thin face twitched. "I thank you. No other possible landing
place or foothold, is there? And it would take a day to go back to
Tomlinson's and portage a canoe. Well, we'll go on to the end in a last
hope that they have got through."

Now climbing is difficult in that region, because where the mountain
slopes do not consist of almost precipitous snow-ground rock, they are
clothed with forest and dense undergrowth, and it was therefore some time
before the three had traversed the league or so that divided the summit
from the outlet valley. Neither when they got there did they find the
canoe, because when I helped Grace ashore I did not care where it went,
and, once on terra firma she fainted suddenly, and then lay for a time
sobbing on my shoulder in a state of nervous collapse. As she said, though
a brave one, she was after all only a woman, and what had happened would
have tested the endurance of many a man. At last, however, I managed to
help her up a ravine leading down to the river, after which she leaned
heavily on my arm as we plodded through the forest until we reached a
small rancher's shanty, where, as the owner was absent, I took the
liberty of lighting his stove and preparing hot tea. Then I left Grace to
dry her garments.

We must have spent several hours at the ranch, for Grace was badly shaken,
and I felt that rest was needful for both of us, while, when I returned to
the cabin after drying myself in the sun, she lay back in a hide-chair
sleeping peacefully. So while the shadows of the firs lengthened across
the clearing I sat very still, until with a light touch I ventured to
rouse her. She woke with a gasp of horror, looked around with frightened
eyes, then clung to me, and I knelt beside the chair with my arms about
her, until at last with a happy little laugh she said:

"Ralph, I have lost my character, and you know I am a coward at heart;
but, and until to-day I should not have believed it, it is so comforting
to know I have a--I have you to protect me." Then she laid her hand on my
bro