nd more passed through his brain in those frightful minutes as
the men tugged hard at the oars, and they kept on parallel with the
great descending sheet of water.

Now and then, as if divided by a puff of air which did not reach them,
the rolling mist opened and displayed piled-up natural piers of rock,
towering above their heads and dividing the curtain of gleaming
descending waters; but for the most part the falls were hidden from them
by an impenetrable veil, and at last they were upon the outskirts of
this mist as they rowed on.

At first Brace believed that his eyesight was dimming, and he shuddered,
for the faces of his fellow-sufferers appeared to him to be strangely
distorted and indistinct; but he grasped the reason, and knew now that
in a few minutes more they would pass on to their death.

But no one else seemed to be affected by the surroundings. To a man,
with fixed staring eyes and set teeth, the sailors dragged at their
oars, waiting till their officer at the tiller should bid them cease,
while his face seemed to have become set to a stony solidity which never
changed, for Lynton was ready to meet the worst and, determined to help
till the water beat them down, he breathed hard and thrust in the
regular seaman's swing.

Suddenly Brace felt more than saw that the yard above them swung
slightly, and no doubt creaked; but no sound save the deafening roar of
the waters could reach to his ear, and he just glanced upward, to feel
for the moment that the canvas darkened their position, and it seemed to
him that the time had come, for the sail was like one of the wings of
death beating over them, and a curious feeling of resignation made him
calm.

He had not felt anything like fear during the last few minutes: he was
only aware in a rapt dreamy way that something was about to happen--that
something which was the end of everything on earth: and he felt sorry
for his brother, who would take it terribly to heart that he did not
return. But, directly after, his brain was intent upon the efforts he
was making to help the rower in front.

Then the mist became very thick around them, and as the boat was gliding
faster and still faster through the water the already moistened sail
seemed to be struck a violent blow which nearly capsized the boat, as
she heeled over to port and did not recover.

"We're going down," thought Brace, and he closed his eyes and threw back
his head till his face was towards the sky,