The Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains by George Manville Fenn
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
A NARROW ESCAPE.
Bart laid down his rifle as he uttered this very feminine exclamation,and shading his eyes, gazed before him up the river.
For as he had been dreamily gazing before him at the shallow where thewater ran over a bed of the purest sand for about a hundred yards, itseemed to him that he had seen a dark something roll over, and then fora moment a hand appeared above the water, or else it was the ragged leafof some great water-plant washed out from its place of growth in thebank.
"It looks like--it must be--it is!" cried Bart. "Somebody has fallenin, and is drowning."
As he thought this a chill feeling of horror seemed to rob him of thepower of motion. And now, as he gazed at the glittering water withstarting eyes, he knew that there was no mistake--it was no fancy, fortheir was a body being rolled over and over by the stream, now catching,now sweeping along swiftly, and nearer and nearer to where the ladcrouched.
The water before him was shallow enough, and all clear sand, so withouthesitation Bart lowered himself down from the rock, stepped on to thesand with the water now to his knees, and was then about to wade towardsthe body, when he turned sharply and clutched the rough surface of therock, clinging tightly, and after a brief struggle managed to clamberback panting, and with the perspiration in great drops upon his brow.
He knew now what he had only partly realised before, and that was thefact that these beautiful, smooth sands, over which the swift currentpleasantly glided, were quicksands of the most deadly kind, and that ifhe had not struggled back there would have been no chance of escape.Another step would have been fatal, and he must have gone down, for noswimming could avail in such a strait.
But Bart, in spite of the shock of his narrow escape, had not forgottenthe object for which he had lowered himself from the rock, and gazingeagerly towards the shallows, he saw that it was just being swept offthen into the deep water that rushed round the buttress upon which hestood.
It was the work of moments. Reaching out as far as he could, he justmanaged to grip the clinging garment of the object sweeping by, and ashe grasped it tightly, so great was the power of the water, that he felta sudden snatch that threatened to tear the prize from his hand. ButBart held on fiercely, and before he could fully comprehend his positionhe found that he had overbalanced himself, and the next moment he hadgone under with a sullen plunge.
Bart was a good swimmer, and though encumbered with his clothes, he feltno fear of reaching the bank somewhere lower down; and, confident inthis respect, he looked round as he rose to the surface for the body ofhim he had tried to save, for as he struck the water he had loosened hishold.
There was just a glimmer of something below the surface, and taking acouple of sturdy strokes, Bart reached it before it sank lower, caughthold, and then guiding his burden, struck out for the shore.
The rocks from which he had come were already a hundred yards abovethem, the stream sweeping them down with incredible swiftness, and Bartknew that it would be folly to do more than go with it, striving gentlythe while to guide his course towards some projecting rocks upon thebank. There was the possibility, too, of finding some eddy which mightlead him shoreward; and after fighting hard to get a hold upon a pieceof smooth stone that promised well, but from which he literally seemedto be plucked by the rushing water, Bart found himself in a deep, stillpool, round which he was swept twice, and, to his horror, nearer eachtime towards the centre, where, with an agonising pang, he felt that hemight be sucked down.
Dreading this, he made a desperate effort, and once more reached thevery edge of the great, calm, swirling pool just as the bushes on thebank were parted with a loud rush, and the Beaver literally bounded intothe water, to render such help that when, faint and exhausted, they allreached a shallow, rocky portion of the stream a quarter of a mile belowwhere Bart had made his plunge, the chief was ready to lift out theobject the lad had tried to save, and then hold out his hand and helpthe lad ashore.
The next minute they were striving all they knew to try and resuscitatehim whom Bart had nearly lost his life in trying to save, theinterpreter joining them to lend his help; and as they worked, tryingthe plan adopted by the Indians in such a case, the new-comer told Barthow the accident had occurred.
His words amounted to the statement that while the speaker and the chiefhad been collecting sticks for a fire to roast a salmon they had spearedwith a sharp, forked stick, they had seen the Doctor busily rinsing thesand in a shallow pool of the rocks, well out, where the stream ranfast. They had not anticipated danger, and were busy over theirpreparations, when looking up all at once, they found the Doctor wasgone.
Even then they did not think there was anything wrong, believing thatwhile they were busy their leader had gone to some other part among therocks, till, happening to glance down the stream some minutes later, theBeaver's quick eyes had caught sight of the bright tin bowl which theDoctor had been using to rinse the sand in his hunt for gold, floatingon the surface a hundred yards below, and slowly sailing round and roundin an eddy.
This started them in search of the drowning man, with the result thatthey reached Bart in time to save both.
For after a long and arduous task the Doctor began to show signs ofreturning life, and at last opened his eyes and stared about him likeone who had just awakened from a dream.
"What--what has happened?" he asked. "Did--did I slip from the rocks,or have I been asleep?"
He shuddered, and struggled into a sitting position, then thoroughlycomprehending after a few minutes what had passed:
"Who saved me?" he asked quickly.
The Beaver seemed to understand the drift of the question, for hepointed with a smile to Bart.
"You?" exclaimed the Doctor.
"Oh, I did nothing," said Bart modestly. "I saw you floating downtowards me, and tried to pull you on a rock; instead of doing which, youpulled me in, and we swam down together till I got near the shore, andthen I could do no more. It was the Beaver there who saved us."
The Doctor rose and grasped the chief's hand, wringing it warmly.
"Where's Joses?" he said sharply.
No one knew.
"Let us go back," said the Doctor; "perhaps we shall meet him higherup;" and looking faint and utterly exhausted, he followed the twoIndians as they chose the most easy part of the valley for walking, theDoctor's words proving to be right, for they came upon Joses toilingdown towards the passage leading to the plain with six heavy fishhanging from a tough wand thrust through their gills.
They reached the chimney, as Bart christened it, just about the sametime as Joses, who stared as he caught sight of the saturated clothes.
"What! been in after the fish?" he said with a chuckle. "I got mine,master, without being wet."
"We've had a narrow escape from drowning, Joses," said the Doctor,hoarsely.
"That's bad, master, that's bad," cried Joses. "It all comes o' mygoing away and leaving you and Master Bart, there; but I thought a fewo' these salmon chaps would be good eating, so I went and snared 'em outwith a bit o' wire and a pole."
"I shall soon be better, Joses," replied the Doctor. "The accidentwould have happened all the same whether you had been there or no. Letus get back to the camp."
"Are we going to leave them beautiful fish the Beaver and oldSpeechworks here have caught and cooked?" asked Joses, regretfully.
"No," said the Doctor, sinking down upon a stone, "let us rest and eatthem. We shall not hurt out here in this bright sunshine, Bart, andwe'll wring some of the water out of our clothes, and have less weightto carry."
This speech gave the greatest of satisfaction, for the party wereravenously hungry, and the halt was not long enough to do any one hurt,for the broiled salmon was rapidly eaten. Then they started, and aftera rather toilsome climb, ascended once more to the level of the plain,and reaching the waggons learned that all was well, before proceeding tothe Doctor's quarters in his tent at the top of the mountain.