the branches behind him and
peering between the interlacing leaves that hid him, saw the crouching
figure of the woman creeping through the wood.

"His lips were parted to call her name, when she turned her listening
head in his direction, and his eyes fell full upon her face. Something
about it, he could not have told what, struck him dumb, and the woman
crept on.

[Illustration: "'IF A MAN FELL IN, AND THERE WAS NO ONE NEAR TO HELP
HIM?'"]

"Gradually the nebulous thoughts floating through his brain began to
solidify into a tangible idea, and the man unconsciously started
forward. After walking a few steps he broke into a run, for the idea had
grown clearer. It continued to grow still clearer and clearer, and the
man ran faster and faster, until at last he found himself racing madly
towards the lock. As he approached it he looked round for the watchman
who ought to have been there, but the man was gone from his post. He
shouted, but if any answer was returned, it was drowned by the roar of
the rushing water.

[Illustration: "HE BROKE INTO A RUN."]

"He reached the edge and looked down. Fifteen feet below him was the
reality of the dim vision that had come to him a mile back in the woods:
the woman's husband swimming round and round like a rat in a pail.

"The river was flowing in and out of the lock at the same rate, so that
the level of the water remained constant. The first thing the man did
was to close the lower sluices and then open those in the upper gate to
their fullest extent. The water inch by inch began to rise.

"'Can you hold out?' he cried.

"The drowning man turned to him a face already contorted by the agony of
exhaustion, and answered with a feeble 'No.'

"He looked around for something to throw to the man. A plank had lain
there in the morning, he remembered stumbling over it, and complaining
of its having been left there; he cursed himself now for his care.

"A hut used by the navvies to keep their tools in stood about two
hundred yards away; perhaps it had been taken there, perhaps there he
might even find a rope.

"'Just one minute, old fellow!' he shouted down, 'and I'll be back.'

"But the old fellow did not hear him. The feeble struggles ceased. The
face fell back upon the water, the eyes half closed as if with weary
indifference. There was no time for him to do more than kick off his
riding boots and jump in and clutch the unconscious figure as it sank.

"Down there, in that wa