ater. Hemmingway quickly caught the girl by the waist;
she clung to him instinctively, yet still laughing, as with a desperate
effort he succeeded in dragging her to the upper side of the slanting
cabin, and momentarily restoring its equilibrium. They remained for an
instant breathless. But in that instant he had drawn her face to his and
kissed her.

She disengaged herself gently with neither excitement nor emotion, and
pointing to the open door said, "Look there!"

Two of the logs which formed the foundation of their floor were quietly
floating in the water before the cabin! The submerged obstacle or snag
which had torn them from their fastening was still holding the cabin
fast. Hemmingway saw the danger. He ran along the narrow ledge to the
point of contact and unhesitatingly leaped into the icy cold water. It
reached his armpits before his feet struck the obstacle,--evidently a
stump with a projecting branch. Bracing himself against it, he shoved
off the cabin. But when he struck out to follow it, he found that the
log nearest him was loose and his grasp might tear it away. At the
same moment, however, a pink calico arm fluttered above his head, and a
strong grasp seized his coat collar. The cabin half revolved as the girl
dragged him into the open door.

"You bantam!" she said, with a laugh, "why didn't you let ME do that?
I'm taller than you! But," she added, looking at his dripping clothes
and dragging out a blanket from the corner, "I couldn't dry myself
as quick as you kin!" To her surprise, however, Hemmingway tossed the
blanket aside, and pointing to the floor, which was already filmed with
water, ran to the still warm stove, detached it from its pipe, and threw
it overboard. The sack of flour, bacon, molasses, and sugar, and all the
heavier articles followed it into the stream. Relieved of their weight
the cabin base rose an inch or two higher. Then he sat down and said,
"There! that may keep us afloat for that 'couple of hours' you speak of.
So I suppose I may talk now!"

"Ye haven't no time," she said, in a graver voice. "It won't be as long
as a couple of hours now. Look over thar!"

He looked where she pointed across the gray expanse of water. At first
he could see nothing. Presently he saw a mere dot on its face which at
times changed to a single black line.

"It's a log, like these," he said.

"It's no log. It's an Injun dug-out*--comin' for me."

* A canoe made from a hollowed log.

"Y