ore! Pitch her
in!"

The old coaster sent a quick, anxious look down the river, and saw at once
that there was no chance of reaching the bank. Below them, not three
hundred yards distant, was an archipelago of rocks, the _debris_ of fallen
precipices and pinnacles, through which, for half a mile or more, the
water flew in whirlpools and foam. They were drifting at great speed
toward this frightful rapid, and, if they entered it, destruction was sure
and instant. Only the middle of the stream showed a smooth current; and
there was less than half a minute in which to reach it. Without a word
Glover commenced paddling as well as he could away from the bank.

"What are you about?" yelled Thurstane, who saw Clara on the roof of the
Casa Grande, and was crazed at the thought of leaving her there. She would
suspect that he had abandoned her; she would be massacred by the Apaches;
she would starve in the desert, etc.

Glover made no reply. His whole being was engaged in the struggle of
evading immediate death.

One more glance, one moment of manly, soldierly reflection, enabled
Thurstane to comprehend the fate which was upon him, and to bow to it with
resignation. Turning his back upon the foaming reefs which might the next
instant be his executioners, he stood up in the boat, took off his cap,
and waved a farewell to Clara. He was so unconscious of anything but her
and his parting from her that for some time he did not notice that the
slight craft had narrowly shaved the rocks, that it had barely crawled
into the middle current, and that he was temporarily safe. He kept his
eyes fixed upon the Casa and upon the girl's motionless figure until a
monstrous, sullen precipice slid in between. He was like one who breathes
his last with straining gaze settled on some loved face, parting from
which is worse than death. When he could see her no longer, nor the ruin
which sheltered her, and which suddenly seemed to him a paradise, he
dropped his head between his hands, utterly unmanned.

"'Twon't dew to give it up while we float, Major," said Glover, breveting
the lieutenant by way of cheering him.

"I don't give it up," replied Thurstane; "but I had a duty to do there,
and now I can't do it."

"There's dooties to be 'tended to here, I reckon," suggested Glover.

"They will be done," said the officer, raising his head and settling his
face. "How can we help you?"

"Don't seem to need much help. The river doos the paddlin'; wis