boot and for what seemed interminable hours the
two bailed in silence. But despite their efforts, the water gained.
Nearly half full, the boat floated lower and more sluggishly. Waves
broke over the side with greater frequency, adding their bit to the
stream that flowed in through the bottom. At length, the girl dropped
her boot with a sigh that was half a sob: "I can't lift another
bootful," she murmured; "my shoulders and arms ache so--and I
feel--faint."

"Just you prop yourself up in the corner an' rest a while," advised the
Texan, with forced cheerfulness, "I can handle it all right, now."
Wearily, the girl obeyed. At the bow and stern of the square-ended boat,
the bottom curved upward so that the water was not more than six or
eight inches deep where she sank heavily against the rough planking,
with an arm thrown over the gunwale. Her eyes closed, and despite the
extreme discomfort of her position, utter weariness claimed her, and she
sank into that borderland of oblivion that is neither restful sleep, nor
impressionable wakefulness.

It may have been minutes later, or hours, that the voice of the Texan
brought her jerkily erect. Vaguely she realized that she could see him
dimly, and that his arm seemed to be pointing at something. With a sense
of great physical effort, she managed to follow the direction of the
pointing arm, and then he was speaking again: "It's breakin' daylight!
An' we're close to shore!" Alice nodded indifferently. It seemed,
somehow, a trivial thing. She was conscious of a sense of annoyance that
he should have rudely aroused her to tell her that it was breaking
daylight, and that they were close to shore. Her eyes closed slowly, and
her head sank onto the arm that lay numb and uncomfortable along the
gunwale.

The Texan was on his feet, eagerly scanning his surroundings that grew
momentarily more distinct in the rapidly increasing light. The farther
shore showed dimly and the man emitted a low whistle of surprise. "Must
be a good four or five miles wide," he muttered, as his eyes took in the
broad expanse of water that rolled between. He saw at a glance that he
was well out of the main channel, for all about him were tiny islands
formed by the summits of low buttes and ridges while here and there the
green tops of willows protruded above the surface of the water swaying
crazily in the current.

"Some flood!" he muttered, and turned his attention to the nearer bank.
The boat floated slug