d out of the back-water alongshore, and then,
heading diagonally up-stream, shot out into the turmoil, paddling like a
man possessed in order to make sure of getting far enough out before the
current swept him abreast of his destination. Mary, according to
instructions, paid out the rope freely. Before starting he had marked
every rock in his course, and he avoided them now by instinct. His
thinking had been done beforehand. He worked like a machine.

He saw that he was going to make it, with something to spare. When he
had the log-jam safely under his quarter, he stopped paddling, and,
bringing the canoe around, drifted down on it. There was plenty of
water out here. He held up a hand to Mary, and according to
pre-arrangement she gradually took up the strain on the line. The canoe
slowed up, and the current began to race past.

So far so good. The line held the canoe slightly broached to the
current, thus the pressure of the current itself kept him from edging
ashore. The log-pile loomed up squarely ahead of him. Mary let him down
on it hand over hand. He manoeuvred himself abreast an immense log
pointing up and down river, alongside of which the current slipped
silkily. Casting his loop over the stump of a branch, he was held fast
and the strain was taken off Mary's arms.

The moccasined foot protruded from the water at the bow of his canoe. He
soon saw the impossibility of attempting to work from the frail canoe,
so he untied the rope which bound him to it, and pulled himself out on
the logs. The rope from the shore was still around his body in case of a
slip. He was taking no unnecessary chances.

The body was caught in some way under the same great log that his canoe
was fastened to. The current tore at the projecting foot with a snarl.
The foot oscillated continually under the pull, and sometimes
disappeared altogether, only to spring back into sight with a ghastly
life-like motion. Stonor cautiously straddled the log, and groped
beneath it. His principal anxiety was that log and all might come away
from the jam and be carried down, but there was little danger that his
insignificant weight would disturb so great a bulk.

The body was caught in the fork of a branch underneath. He succeeded in
freeing the other foot. He guessed that a smart pull up-stream would
liberate the whole, but in that case the current would almost surely
snatch it from his grasp. He saw that it would be an impossible task
from his insec