The current swept him about as though he had been a chip. It buffeted him this way and that. But with three or four strong strokes he came to the surface, and popped up out of the water like a cork.
Then the strong current seized him and bore him rapidly downstream. He did not try to breast it, but lay floating for at least a minute, trying to get his breath and his senses back, and to determine what to do. Then as he lay in the total darkness with this unknown river bearing him rapidly away from the bridge, a thought came to him that filled him with such dismay and grief as he had never felt before in his whole life. For a moment it paralyzed him so that he could not even think.
In his great haste to save his own life he had forgotten Joie. Faithful, loving
