steady bravery which had no fear of death.

Still the tempest rose and lashed itself into fury from the rocky coast
to the depths of the stream, and the little boat went plunging through
it, keeping the brave woman safe. The oars were useless as rushes in her
hands. The waves leaped upward as the wind lashed them, and at times
rushed entirely over her. It was a fearful sight, that noble woman, all
alone with the storm! so close to death and yet so resolute! Blacker and
nearer grew the clouds torn by whirlwinds, and shooting out lurid gleams
of lightning, that flashed and curled along the water like fiery
serpents chasing each other into their boiling depths. So great was the
tumult that another sound, which came like a smothered howl through the
storm, seemed but a part of it. Thus Mabel was unconscious of this new
danger, till a glare of lightning swept everything else aside, and
bearing directly toward her, she saw a huge steamer ploughing through
the tempest, on her downward course.

Scarce had she time to recoil with horror from the danger, when it was
wrapped in darkness again, and she could only guess of its approach by
the cabin windows that glared upon her nearer and nearer, like great
fiery eyes half blinded by the storm. Mabel nerved herself, and with a
desperate effort bent her strength upon the oars. But the heave of the
waters tore one from her grasp, and the other remained useless. Human
strength was of no avail now. She was given up to the tempest, and could
only cling to the reeling boat mute with horror, still with a thought of
those she loved vital at her heart. Another sheet of lightning, blue and
livid, rolled down the hills, and in it, standing upon a spur of rocks,
she saw James Harrington, either in life or in spirit, looking forth
upon the river. His figure took the deadly hue of the light. His
garments shook to the storm. The pale flame quivered around him a
moment, and he was engulphed in darkness again.

Mabel flung up her hands with a cry that cut through the storm like an
arrow.

"Save me! save me! oh, my God! my God!"

Her pale hands quivered in the lightning. The shrieks that rang from her
white lips were smothered in the fierce wind. The tortured boat seemed
flinging her out to utter despair.

A roar that was not of the elements, now broke through all the tumult.
There came a rush--an upheaving of the waters, which flung her high into
the darkness--a blow that made her little bark