About this time Gray began to suspect that the tide was bearing them

onward at a remarkable rate. In the somber depths of the cleft or

cañon it was difficult to discern stationary objects clearly enough to

obtain a means of estimating the pace of the stream. But the rapid

dying down of the hubbub among the savages gave him cause to think. He

asked Suarez to cease pulling. The canoes behind came crowding in on

the more solid boat, and an oar held out until it encountered some

invisible branch was rudely swept aside. In a word, they were being

impelled towards an unknown destination with the silence and gathering

speed of a mill-race.

An expert engineer, though his work may have little to do with sea or

river, cannot fail to accumulate a store of theoretical knowledge as to

the properties and limitations of water in motion. Gray knew that the

quickened impulse of the stream arose from the tidal force exerted in a

channel which gradually lessened its width. The boat was traveling at

sea level. Therefore, there could be neither rapids nor cataract in

front; but the steady rush of the current, now plainly audible, could

not be accounted for simply by the effort of the tide to gain a passage

through a mere by-way, as the boat was now nearly half a mile from the

estuary, and the velocity of the current was increasing each moment.

"We must endeavor to reach the bank and hold on to the branches of a

tree," he shouted in Spanish. "Down with your heads until the boat

strikes, and then try to lay hold of something."

There was no time for explanation. He seized an oar; a powerful stroke

swung the boat's nose round. By chance, he used the starboard oar.

All unknowing he spun a coin for life or death, and life won. They

crashed through some drooping foliage and ran into a crumbling bank.

Gray unshipped the oar and jammed it straight down. It stuck between

stones at a depth of three feet, and the life-boat was held fast for

the time. The canoes hurtled against each other, but were swept aside

instantly. When the noise ceased, they plainly heard the swirl of the

water. In their new environment, it had the uncanny and sinister hiss

of some monstrous snake.

"Everybody happy?" Gray demanded coolly.

"I am clinging to a tree trunk," answered Elsie.

"Bully for you. Make fast with a piece of rope. But be careful to

provide a slip-knot, in case we have to sheer off in a hurry. Can you

manage that?"

"Quite well."

Elsie was fully aware that the leadership of the expedition had gone

from her. She was not sorry; it was in strong hands. Suarez, too,

secured a stout branch, and passed a rope around it.




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