Page:Rowland--In the shadow.djvu/40

 water trickled past her face, Giles's body floated against hers, his head was awash, but the face was turned upward, clear of the water's rim.

Soon the beat of the great engine ceased. Dessalines arose; Virginia's feet sank and touched the ground; she arose to find herself chest deep. One of Dessalines' arms was thrown about Giles; the other he reached to the support of Virginia, but she edged away with a sudden shrinking. She was dimly conscious of an agonizing pain in her shoulder; then the river seemed to arise and flow about with an odd circular motion, the light grew dim, the heaviness left her limbs, and she sank softly into oblivion.

When she recovered she was lying on the sward with the sun blazing into her face; she stared at the sky; then turned her head weakly, and, with no clear perception of the spectacle, watched the negro who was kneeling at Giles's side, rhythmically moving his arms up and down. As she watched inertly, Giles's eyelids quivered, opened, and she saw the flash of his deep-blue eyes. 30