IN THE SHADOW
With an extreme effort he managed to shift his hold; then, gripping the slippery beam beneath Virginia's arm, he began to haul his way, hand over hand, along the weir by the sheer output of physical force opposed to that of the stream. Ten feet, perhaps, he gained in this way, bruised against projecting snags, torn and cut and buffeted, but fighting stubbornly for every inch. Perhaps by virtue of indomitable will coercing an unblemished physical machine he might have fought on so to the end of the obstruction and won his way clear; it is impossible to fix a limit to human endurance when the body is sound and the mind refuses to accept defeat. Had it been purely a matter of endurance one cannot say, but suddenly a plank beneath the water against which he had braced his foot gave way and before he could get a fresh foothold both legs were swept into the aperture and held as if in a vise, by the suction of the stream.
With this the calmness of despair settled upon Giles; he could not move, could scarcely support the strain necessary to hold his own and Virginia's head above the water. He realized that it was the end. It seemed to him that the day grew suddenly dark, and for the first time the icy chill of the water struck deeply into him. He turned his wild eyes to the girl who was whipped against the side of a rotten spile like a marsh lily gathered by the flood.
"Virginia," he gasped, "awfully sorry, but it's all—all up! My fault … darling"
Her pallid face was almost against his own, but all that he could see were her great hazel eyes staring at him appealingly. She was bewildered—could not understand—her trust in the invincibility of his strength was so
26
