Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/42

26 their fate, galloped down to the river, which was crossed by a bridge about a mile below. But alas! a storm had shattered the frail timber structure but a few days previously. There was nothing for it but to ride back to a point some two miles above his farm, where there was a shallow place, dangerous indeed, and fordable only when the water was low, but which he had been used to cross before the bridge was built. As he fled past his farm he could hear the cattle lowing and the horses neighing with anxiety. But he durst not stop for an instant to release the poor beasts. Already the advancing engines were so close that he could distinguish the tall funnels of the nearest against the light of the rising moon. On, on, and towards the danger.

The river now made two large bends, backward and forward like the letter S, the ford being just beyond the further one. There was he knew a hard trackway along the bank, but this would have greatly increased the distance he must traverse. Beyond this trackway was a wide impassable bog, beyond which again came the direct path which he intended to pursue, but which he now observed led almost up to the line of the