le limbs, when he uttered
an exclamation of horror. At the very moment Victor was gathering his
muscles for the leap, and when close to the edge, the dripping stone
caused his foot to slip. He fell sideways, let go of his rifle, which
shot over the edge, and desperately struggled to check himself. Had
there been five seconds at command he would have been saved. George,
who made the attempt, could have dashed forward and grasped a foot or
leg. Victor could have stopped, but the rock on which he had fallen
seemed to be covered with plumbago. While frantically clutching and
vainly trying to grasp some obstruction that would overcome his
momentum, he slid over the edge and dropped into the boiling cauldron
below. The accident was begun and finished, as may be said, in the
twinkling of an eye.

Wild with affright, George ran to the edge of the torrent and peered
over. He caught a glimpse of his brother a dozen yards away, spinning
down the torrent. He saw his head for a moment, and then his arms
thrown upward, as he disappeared, blindly but vainly struggling to save
himself. In an instant he was whirled round a bend in the canyon, his
body flung aloft by the resistless force of the torrent, but hurled
hither and thither, as helpless as a log of wood.

Frantic and hardly conscious of what he was doing, George dashed along
the edge of the canyon, which sped faster than he could run. One moment
he was on the point of leaping into the raging waters in the blind
effort to save Victor, but the certainty that that would only add
another victim held him in restraint, and he continued running,
stumbling and praying in agony for Heaven to intercede while it was yet
time.

Suddenly he saw a man standing on the other side of the canyon some rods
below, and staring wonderingly at him. George raised his voice so that
it pierced the uproar like the notes of a trumpet:

"Save him! Save him! He fell into the water!"

CHAPTER XXV.

JACK HALLOWAY AGAIN.

The man was quick-witted. The words and the frenzied gestures told a
story which he understood. Standing close to the edge of the stream, he
peered into it and caught sight of a white face, loosely flapping limbs
and the helpless drift of a human being, borne toward him with the
speed of a race horse. The top of the bank was so near the surface that
the man dropped on his face, so as to be able to reach forward and
downward to the foaming torrent.

He saw the body coming, an