e burning and yet seemed numb. Oh, if he could only wipe his palm and
that rim with a dry handkerchief! He tightened his slipping fingers
again and again. The muscles of his arm smarted as from a blow. He
tightened his lips--and that seemed to help.

Carefully, though his aching breast pounded against the limb, he brought
back his left hand, cautiously rubbed it against his khaki shirt, then
encircled it about the rim. For a moment the weight seemed manageably
light in the quick relief he felt.

Availing himself of the slight measure of refreshment he raised the
machine a trifle, a trifle more, squirmed about to get in better
position, bent, strained, got the bulky thing past his clutching legs,
exerted every muscle of chest and abdomen, which now could assume some
share of the strain, and by a superhuman effort of litheness and
dexterity and all the overwhelming power of physical strength and
frenzied resolution, he succeeded in slipping the wheel rim over the
stubby projection behind him.

If he had been running for ten miles he could not have been more
exhausted. His breast heaved with every spasmodic breath he drew. His
shoulder blades throbbed like an aching tooth. His dripping palm was
utterly numb. For a few brief, precious seconds he sat upon the limb
with a sense of unutterable relief, and mopped his beaded forehead. And
the sun's full, round face smiled approvingly upon him.

Meanwhile the minutes flew.

Hurrying now, he scrambled down the tree trunk where he had a better and
less discouraging view of the situation. He saw that _Uncle Sam_ hung
about five feet from the brink and just clear of the water. If the bank
on this side was less precipitous than on the other there would be some
prospect of rescuing his machine without serious damage. He could afford
to let it get wet provided the carburetor and magneto were not submerged
and the gas tank----

_The gas tank._ That thought stabbed him. Could the gasoline have flowed
out of the tank while the machine was hanging up and down? That would
bring the supply hole, with its perforated screw-cover, underneath.

He waded cautiously into the water and found to his infinite relief that
the submerged bank formed a gentle slope. He could not go far enough to
lift his machine, but he could reach to wiggle it off its hook and then
guide it, in some measure, enough to ease its fall and keep its
damageable parts clear of the water. At least he believed he could. In