three sides there was the rushing flood; on the fourth the water,
broken into hundreds of little torrents, tearing among the trees.

What should he do?

His brain was active enough now, and, to a great extent, his strength
had returned; but he hesitated to move, till another sharp crack told
him that the wreck was really breaking up; and, with the wood quivering
beneath his feet, he sprang from rafter to beam till he reached one of
the trees which held the barn anchored, and was beginning to climb up,
when the wood before him tempted him to try if he could not pass from
tree to tree, clinging to them in turn till he could reach the slope,
where he would be safe.

The risk was terrible, for, as he held on to a tree-trunk and lowered
himself down into the water, it bore him off his feet; and, had he not
clung with all his might, he would have been whirled away and dashed
against the one beyond.

But, working himself round, he stood, with his breath catching, pressed
hard against the tree, and tried to think of what to do next and whether
he had not better climb back upon the pile of wood.

That question was soon decided, for a loud crackling sound came from the
place he had so lately left, and, to his horror, he saw the wreck
crumble away and begin to sink steadily beneath the surface, long
rafters raising their ends in the air and then diving down out of sight,
while several shot by him, one of which he seized and held on to, in
spite of the heavy drag of the water seeming to try and snatch it away.

The brain acts rapidly sometimes in moments of emergency, and Richard
Frayne had seen in that rafter which he seized the life-rail which would
help him to safety; for to have attempted to wade from place to place he
found would be madness, and his only chance would have been to let
himself go with the current--driven from tree to tree--while he strove
to move diagonally, getting farther towards dry land and safety at each
attempt. But he had no faith in this; and, feeling that a third battle
with the river must be fatal, he clung to the great rafter which was to
be his narrow road to safety.

He glanced once at the spot where the pile of wood had been, and
shuddered; then, calling up all the energy which remained--feeling, as
he did, that at any time the tree against which he was held might give
way--he wound his legs round it, gripping hard, and tried to pass the
rafter along till its end rested against the next st