Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/197

 river was very swift here but he thought he could make it, and began wading carefully across.

The water was up to his waist, and the current was much swifter than he had estimated. Yet even so he would have made it, but just at the middle of the stream his foot slipped on a stone made as smooth as ice by the rapid water, and he fell heavily, striking his head upon another stone which he had been trying to avoid. On land the accident would not have been of much importance, but in the rushing water where he had all he could do to keep his feet, it was fatal, for it stunned him so that he lost his footing completely and was rapidly carried down the stream towards the roaring falls. He had covered nearly half the distance to the fatal plunge when he recovered his senses and realized his terrible plight. Even so, he had just time and presence of mind enough left to catch at a partly covered stone which was immediately in his course. He had saved himself for a minute,