Page:Moving Picture Boys and the Flood.djvu/180

170 impaled motor boat gave a lurch, and pulled partly away from the raft. She was filling rapidly with water, and the great weight of that, as well as the weight of the motor, was dragging down the hapless Clytie.

"Come on! Jump!" urged the actor to Mr. Ringold and Blake, who were aboard the sinking boat. "No time to lose."

Blake paused only long enough to grab up a light rifle, and some cartridges, vhich were in the cabin, and then he leaped to the raft.

He was followed by Mr. Ringold, and none too soon, for, a moment later, with a rending of planks, the motor boat pulled away from the jagged ends of the raft on which she was impaled.

A second's hesitation, and she sank with a gurgling, bubbling sound beneath the muddy, swirling waters of the Mississippi.

"Good-bye, Clytie!" said Blake, softly, and it was as though he was saying farewell to some dear friend.

"Well, I guess we've seen the last of her," murmured Mr. Ringold.

They stood silent for a minute, huddled together, a wet, miserable group on the big raft that was racing down stream. Then, as he gazed at his companions, and then at the pile of their possessions, C. C. Piper remarked: