and his companion's
rifle flashed. Making a last effort, he broke into a run and presently
came to the brink of a steep descent covered with thick brush and
scattered trees, with a wide reach of palely gleaming water at the foot
of it. It was the kind of place one would have preferred to climb down
cautiously, but there was a sharp snapping and crackling below and
Nasmyth knew that a hard-pressed deer will frequently take to the water.
If it crossed the river, it would escape; and that could not be
contemplated.

Holding his rifle up, he plunged madly down the descent, smashing through
matted bushes, stumbling over slippery stones. Once or twice he collided
with a slender tree and struck his leg against some ridge of rock; but he
held on, gasping, and the water rapidly grew nearer. He had almost
reached it when a dim shape broke out from a thicket at the bottom of the
slope. There were still some cartridges in his rifle cylinder, but he was
slipping and sliding down an almost precipitous declivity at such a rate
that it was impossible to stop and shoot. Indeed, in another moment he
fell violently into a brake and had some difficulty in smashing through
it, but when he struggled free he saw shingle and boulders in front of
him and Lisle bounding across them a few yards behind the deer. He
reached the stones, wondering why Lisle did not fire; and then he saw man
and deer plunge into the water together.

A few seconds later he was waist-deep in the swift icy current, savagely
endeavoring to drag the animal toward the bank, while Lisle stood near
him, breathing hard, with a red hunting-knife in his hand.

"Steady!" gasped Lisle. "You can't do it that way! Help me throw the
beast on his side. Now heave!"

They got the deer out, and Nasmyth sat down limply. All the power seemed
to have gone out of him; he did not want to move, though he was filled
with exultation, for they now had food. It was a minute or two before he
noticed that Lisle had left him; and then he saw him coming back with his
rifle.

"I dropped the thing," Lisle explained. "Couldn't snap a fresh shell in;
guess I bent the slide. I took the knife to finish it."

"In another moment or two you'd have been too late."

Lisle laughed.

"I don't know. It wouldn't have been decided until we'd reached the other
side."

"You would have swum across?" Nasmyth asked in astonishment.

"Sure," said Lisle simply. "Anyway, I'd have tried."

Nasmyth glanced at th