gh the silence, soft and very low:

"Pendant une anne' toute entiere,
Le regiment na Pas r'paru.
Au Ministere de la Guerre
On le r'porta comme perdu.

"On se r'noncait a r'trouver sa trace,
Quand un matin subitement,
On le vit r'paraitre sur la place,
L'Colonel toujours en avant."

I waited until the last note had died away in the darkness.

"Are those your thoughts?" I asked then, half turning.

"No," said Desiree, "but I want to kill my thoughts. As for them--"

She hesitated, and after a short pause her voice again broke into
melody:

"Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail
That brings our friends up from the underworld;
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more."

Her voice, subdued and low, breathed a sweetness that seemed almost to
be of another world. My ear quivered with the vibrations, and long
after she was silent the last mellow note floated through my brain.

Suddenly I became conscious of another sound, scarcely less musical.
It, too, was low; so low and faint that at first I thought my ear
deceived me, or that some distant echo was returning Desiree's song
down the dark tunnel.

Gradually, very gradually, it became louder and clearer, until at
length I recognized it. It was the rush of water, unbroken, still low
and at a great distance. I turned to remark on it to Harry, but
Desiree took the words from my mouth.

"I seem to hear something--like the surf," she said. "That isn't
possible, is it?"

I could have smiled but for the deep note of hope in her voice.

"Hardly," I answered. "I have heard it for several minutes. It is
probably some shallows. We must look sharp."

Another fifteen minutes, and I began to notice that the speed of the
current was increasing. The sound of the rushing water, too, was quite
distinct. Still the raft moved more and more swiftly, till I began to
feel alarmed. I turned to Harry:

"That begins to sound like rapids. See that the spears are fastened
securely, and stand ready with your oar. Sit tight, Desiree."

One thing was certain: there was nothing to do but go ahead. On both
sides the walls of the tunnel rose straight up from the surface of the
water; there was nowhere room for a landing-place--not even a foot for
a purchase to stay our flight. To go back was impossible; at the rate
the current