FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132  
133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   >>   >|  
im under, and it was only by virtue of a desperate clutch on the raft that he escaped drowning. Thrashing furiously, he struggled up from the water, and lay, totally blown, on the logs. It was then he first realized that his chance of life was no stronger than the rope which held them together. For swimming was out of the question, and one or two logs would never support his hundred and eighty pounds. The end which he lay on was well under water, and the waves splashed up between the bobbing logs. The current he was headed for swept down fifty yards offshore, which was a sixth of a mile to the little legs now thrust out behind and making a rhythmic flutter. He was off the island! Freedom and life were near! Though his teeth were chattering, his fingers crushed by the jarring logs, and his body utterly wretched, he grinned with joy as the stretch between him and the gloomy mass of the island slowly widened. * * * * * Then came the sun. The skies faded from gray into a delicate, cloud-flecked blue; slowly the air warmed, and the surface of the water seemed to calm under it. Though the sun was good on his body, Garth realized night was more friendly to him, for in the growing light his craft was all too conspicuous to the giant who would presently be following his tracks down to the beach. He chided himself for not having thought of camouflaging the raft with leafy branches. Doggedly, he forced it out. When at last he felt the pull of the current, he ceased his weary kicking and glanced up into the swiftly advancing dawn. There was a bird soaring through the keen air up there, gliding in easy circles with almost motionless wings. Garth gazed at it somewhat wistfully, envying its freedom and power of flight. And then he shut his eyes. He was very tired.... He must have dozed off for a moment, for he awoke to find himself slipping off. With a sudden jerk he regained his position--and that was what saved his life at that moment. For without warning, while he was nodding, plumed death struck from the skies. It dropped like a plummet, as was its manner. It had been circling above and judging its swoop, and by rights its curved talons should have arched deep into the unguarded back of the naked figure on the raft. But at the last second the figure moved aside--too late for the hawk to alter its swoop. The raft rocked under the impact; for a moment Garth Howard, dazed by the sudde
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132  
133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
moment
 

current

 

slowly

 

island

 

realized

 
figure
 
Though
 

Doggedly

 
freedom
 

thought


flight

 

camouflaging

 
envying
 

branches

 
wistfully
 

swiftly

 
advancing
 
glanced
 

kicking

 

ceased


circles

 

forced

 

gliding

 

soaring

 

motionless

 

arched

 

unguarded

 

talons

 

curved

 

circling


judging

 
rights
 

impact

 

rocked

 

Howard

 
manner
 

slipping

 
sudden
 

regained

 
position

struck
 

dropped

 
plummet
 
plumed
 

nodding

 

warning

 
warmed
 

pounds

 
splashed
 

eighty