em, about nine feet
away.

But every time he tried the piece was dragged down by the rushing water
foaming between the trunks, and twice over he nearly lost it, while once
he was within an ace of going with it through the wood.

He saved it, though, and held on, panting, beaten as he was by the
enormous power of the water, which acted on the end as if it were the
lever with which the poor puny human being was to be dislodged.

For a few minutes he was in despair, for he felt that it was impossible
to get the square piece of quartering resting from tree to tree, and
that he might as well give it up and try to climb.

Then the way to succeed came like a flash, and he wondered that he had
not thought of it before. It was to hold the rafter as firmly as he
could, and, instead of thrusting it sideways across the stream, to push
it straight upwards, guiding it so that the water only pressed upon its
end.

This he tried, and passed it backwards--holding it tightly beneath his
arm--farther and farther, till there was only another yard. Then, he
felt the long end begin to move: the stream had caught it, and in a few
seconds it was swept down, he forcing it outward the while and feeling
it checked by the tree he wished to reach. Then there was a short
struggle, and he had fixed his end between his chest and the tree to
which his legs clung, and there was a rail for him to cling to as he
tried to pass on.

He did not pause now. The rafter was pressed tightly against the trees,
but it looked terribly unsafe, bending ominously in the middle. But it
seemed to be his only chance, and, seizing it firmly, he began to work
himself along, his legs being swept away directly, and the force of the
current so great that he could hardly stir.

He succeeded, though, for the distance was short, and in a couple of
minutes was pressed against the second tree, holding on again with his
legs, and working the other end of the rafter free for it to be swept
downward, and once more nearly snatched from his grasp.

This time he managed better, working it under his left arm, end to the
current, keeping it as straight as possible, and guiding it so that he
had less difficulty when the point began to sway round and, in turn, was
swept against the next tree, while he passed the near end over his head
and dropped it between him and the trunk.

The passing along it, too, he managed more easily, though he shuddered
as he felt how it bent when h