by force. He was not
sure but that the onus of this whole desperate undertaking would yet fall
upon him. Certainly it would fall upon his conscience if the end was
fatal. He had had proof of that in the long night of wakeful misery he
had just passed; a night in which he had faced the furies; in which this
inexorable question had forced itself upon him despite every effort on
his part to evade it.

Why had he, a humane man, consented to this attempt on the part of the
devoted Hazen? That his mind might be free to mourn his beautiful young
bride whose fatal and mysterious secret he was still as far from knowing
as in the hour he turned to welcome her to their first home and found her
fled from his arms and heart? Or had this suspense, this feeling of
standing now, as never before, at the opening door of fate, a deeper
significance, a more active meaning? Was this meditated test a crucial
one, because it opened to him the only possible releasement of soul and
conscience to the undivided care of one who had no other refuge in life
save that offered by his devotion? The horror of this self-probing was
still upon him as he followed Hazen's slight and virile figure across the
rocks, but it fled as he felt the spray of the tossing waters dash its
chilling reminder in his face.

The event was upon him and he must add to his former actions that of
a complete and determined opposition to the risk proposed or possibly
forfeit his peace of mind forever. Quickening his pace, he reached Hazen
and the lawyer just as the men awaiting them had advanced on their side.
Instantly he knew it was too late. There was neither time nor opportunity
for any weak protests on his part now. Older men were speaking; men who
knew the river, the danger, and the man, but even they said nothing to
him in way of dissuasion. They only pointed out what especial points of
suction were to be avoided, and showed him the chain they had brought for
his waist and how he was to pull upon it the very instant he felt his
senses or his strength leaving him.

He answered as a courageous man might, and making ready by taking off his
coat and shoes he gave himself into their hands for the proper fastening
on of the chain. Then, while the murmur of expectation rose from the
crowd on the river bank, he stepped back to Mr. Ransom and whispered
hurriedly in his ear:

"You have a good heart, a better heart than I ever gave you credit for.
Promise that in case I never com