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 coat; there came a sound of tearing and splintering, the upper part of the stake was twisted bodily from the beam, the long, rusted spikes protruding from its end giving evidence of the power which had wrenched it loose; its splintered lower fragment, as it rose, showed where it had been torn bodily away.

"Good!" said the voice, "that is better; now I can get through."

Again the black head sank, to reappear a moment later on the down-stream side of the weir.

"Now let me have him," rumbled the deep voice. "My word, but this water is cold—" Two great arms, disproportionately long, reached for Giles's inert frame and drew him gently into the water.

"If madam will now place her hand upon my shoulder——" "But you cannot swim with us both!" cried Virginia.

The answer was a quick flash of two even rows of glittering white teeth; a flash so quick and dazzling and unexpected that she was startled, even while fascinated.

"Madam is not so heavy—" The coaxing voice was such as one would use to reassure a frightened child. "It is most necessary to make haste."

Virginia glanced at Giles, then with a shudder slipped back into the swirling water. For a moment she clung to the beam, away from which the trend of the current carried her; then, with a gasp, her hand fell upon the shoulder of the black, and it seemed to her as if she had placed it upon a corrugated iron post

"Cling to my coat—" came close in her ear, in what seemed the gurgle of the river. Beneath the light fabric she could feel the massive muscles swell and harden; the 29