tensely alive, Io tautened it and felt the jerk of Ban's
signal. With expert hands she made it fast, shipped the oars, twitched
the cord thrice, and, venturing as far as she dared into the deluge,
pushed with all her force and threw herself over the stern.

The rope twanged and hummed like a gigantic bass-string. Io crawled to
the oars, felt the gunwale dip and right again, and, before she could
take a stroke, was pressed against the far bank. She clambered out and
went to Banneker, guiding herself by the light. His face, in the feeble
glow, shone, twisted in agony. He was shaking from head to foot. The
other end of the rope which had brought her to safety was knotted fast
around his waist.... So he would have followed, as he said!

Through Io's queer, inconsequent brain flitted a grotesque conjecture:
what would the newspapers make of it if she had been found, washed up on
the river-bank, and the Manzanita agent of the Atkinson and St. Philip
Railroad Company drowned and haltered by a long tether to his boat, near
by? A sensational story!...

She went to Banneker, still helplessly shaking, and put her firm, slight
hands on his shoulders.

"It's all right, Ban," she said soothingly. "We're out of it."

CHAPTER XIV

"Arrived safe" was the laconic message delivered to Miss Camilla Van
Arsdale by Banneker's substitute when, after a haggard night, she rode
over in the morning for news.

Banneker himself returned on the second noon, after much and roundabout
wayfaring. He had little to say of the night journey; nothing of the
peril escaped. Miss Welland had caught a morning train for the East. She
was none the worse for the adventurous trip. Camilla Van Arsdale, noting
his rapt expression and his absent, questing eyes, wondered what
underlay such reticence.... What had been the manner of their parting?

It had, indeed, been anti-climax. Both had been a little shy, a little
furtive. Each, perhaps feeling a mutual strain, wanted the parting over,
restlessly desiring the sedative of thought and quiet memory after that
stress. The desperate peril from which they had been saved seemed a
lesser crisis, leading from a greater and more significant one; leading
to--what? For his part Banneker was content to "breathe and wait." When
they should meet again, it would be determined. How and when the
encounter might take place, he did not trouble himself to consider. The
whole universe was moulded and set for that event. M