h and fierce beyond its main channel. The
turbid waters made a dim, dusky gleam around him; soon the fences
disappeared, and the flood reached to his horse's body.

4. But he knew that the ford could be distinguished by the break in the
fringe of timber; moreover, that the creek bank was a little higher than
the meadows behind it, and so far, at least, he might venture. The ford
was not more than twenty yards across, and he could trust Roger to swim
that distance.

5. The faithful animal pressed bravely on, but Gilbert soon noticed that
he seemed at fault. The swift water had forced him out of the road, and he
stopped from time to time, as if anxious and uneasy. The timber could now
be discerned, only a short distance in advance, and in a few minutes they
would gain the bank.

6. What was that? A strange, rustling, hissing sound, as of cattle
trampling through dry reeds,--a sound which quivered and shook, even in
the breath of the hurrying wind! Roger snorted, stood still, and trembled
in every limb; and a sensation of awe and terror struck a chill through
Gilbert's heart. The sound drew swiftly nearer, and became a wild,
seething roar, filling the whole breadth of the valley.

7. "The dam! the dam!" cried Gilbert, "the dam has given way!" He turned
Roger's head, gave him the rein, struck, spurred, cheered, and shouted.
The brave beast struggled through the impeding flood, but the advance wave
of the coming inundation already touched his side. He staggered; a line of
churning foam bore down upon them, the terrible roar was all around and
over them, and horse and rider were whirled away.

8. What happened during the first few seconds, Gilbert could never
distinctly recall. Now they were whelmed in the water, now riding its
careering tide, torn through the tops of brushwood, jostled by floating
logs and timbers of the dam, but always, as it seemed, remorselessly held
in the heart of the tumult and the ruin.

[Transcriber's Footnote: careering--Path or course, as the moon through
the sky.]

9. He saw at last that they had fallen behind the furious onset of the
flood, but Roger was still swimming with it, desperately throwing up his
head from time to time, and snorting the water from his nostrils. All his
efforts to gain a foothold failed; his strength was nearly spent, and
unless some help should come in a few minutes it would come in vain. And
in the darkness, and the rapidity with which they were borne along, how