d when some seconds later I
stood erect, gasping, with the torrent racing past me, the horse was
swimming down-stream a dozen yards away, while Johnston struggled in that
direction to intercept it.

"Let it go!" I roared. "Water's deepening; you'll be sucked out into the
main river," and caught the answer, "All our provisions there!" after
which there was a confused shouting, which ended in the warning, "For the
Lord's sake, Johnston, look out for yourself!"

I could see that our best chance of rendering assistance would be to cross
and try to overtake them from the further bank, and a few seconds later I
was clattering over the shingle with the prospector close behind me. But
we were already too late. When, waist-deep, I floundered down a shingle
spit, the half-submerged beast, handicapped by its burden, swept past out
of reach, and I caught a momentary glimpse of a wet white face and a man's
uplifted arm before a tumbling ridge splashed up and hid them.

"Couldn't never overtake them, but it's running slacker in the river," the
prospector said.

We smashed through a willow thicket which covered a little promontory,
and then, staring wide-eyed under the branches, I saw an indistinct object
lurch unevenly into the froth of a rapid, and so pass the next instant out
of sight. Whether it was man or horse no one could say.

"He's gone," said the grizzled prospector. "Many another has gone the same
way. Find them! Of course, we'll search, but I guess it's hopeless. Don't
think your partner was great on swimming, and he was loaded heavy. Come
on, daylight's going."

For a moment I felt limp and abject, then in savage fury I broke through
barberry branches and thorny brakes, fell into the river, and blundered
down a shoaler portion of its channel, until I brought up breathless on
the verge of a deep boiling pool, while even as I stared across it the
last of the day went out.

"It sounds hard," said the prospector, "but you can't do nothin'. No man
could make his way through this bush in the dark, and it wouldn't be any
good. Your partner never got so far. We can only say we're sorry, and
strike back for camp."

He was right, though I think I cursed him for cowardice then. We struggled
on through a horrible chaos of tangled forest, but each time when, peering
out between the dark fir branches, I cried aloud, the blackness returned
no answer save the boom of angry water. So, bruised, wet, and bleeding, I
struggled back