ch the
point from which I had taken the water. But this was a desperate
attempt; for at every step I had to find a safe footing at the upper
side of some stone, and then with all my strength to force myself
against the current. But often the stones gave way, and, loosening from
their bed, went rolling and rumbling down the rapid, and I was driven
back several feet, to recommence the same struggle. The river also was
still increasing, and the flat sand, which was dry when I left it, was
now a sheet of water. While I was thus wrestling with the stream, I saw
Dreadnought enter, not at his usual place in the pool, but at the tail,
just above the run of the stream in which I was struggling. He came
whimpering over, and crossed about a yard or two above me; but instead
of making for the bank, he turned in the water, and swam towards me. The
stream, however, was too strong for him, and carried him down. I called
and waved to the forest, and he turned and steered for its bank, but did
not reach the shelving sand till he was well tumbled in the top of the
rapid, out of which he only emerged in time to catch a little
back-water, which helped him on to the shore. The attempt of the dog to
reach me had passed while I rested: and when he gained the bank, I
resumed my effort to make the shallower water.

[Illustration]

Dreadnought's eye was turned towards me as he came dripping up the bank,
and seeing me move forward, he ran before me to the water's edge, at the
right entrance of the ford, whining, and howling, and baying, as if he
knew as well as I that it was the place to make for. In a few steps the
stones became less slippery, and the bottom more even, and I began to
think that I might gain it, when, at the rocky point above, I saw a
white mass of foam, loaded with brushwood, sticks, and rubbish, borne
along by a ridge of yellow curdling water, at least two feet higher than
the stream. I gathered all my strength, and made a struggle for the bank
opposite to where I was. The water was already above my belt, and
rushing between my arms as I bore up the guns. I felt myself lifted off
my legs; again I held the ground. The green bank was only a few yards
distant, but the deep water was close below, and the yellow foaming
flood above. As I staggered on, I heard it coming down, crumpling up and
crackling the dead boughs which it bore along. I stumbled upon a round
stone, and nearly fell backward, but it was against the stream which
f