the earl strove to head their horses against the 
boiling current, but, after the first plunge, the terrified horses 
stood amid the seething foam as if spell-bound. Lord Ruys- 
land, his teeth set, struck his own a savage blow with his whip. 
He sprang madly forward, leading the other in his wake. 

"Courage, Cecil courage !" the earl shouted. " We will 
ford this hell of  waters yet ! " 

But even as he spoke, at that instant she was unseated, and 
with a long, wild cry was tossed like a feather in the gale down 
straight to that awful precipice below. 

No mortal help, it seemed, could save her. Her father 
made frantic efforts to reach her, but in vain. Near, nearer, 
nearer to that frightful, hissing chasm, to be dashed to atoms 
on the rocks below. In the midst of the waters the earl sat his 
horse, white, powerless, paralyzed. 

" Oh, God ! " he cried, " can nothing save her ? " 

Yes ; at the last moment a wild shout came from the opposite 
bank, a figure plunged headlong into the river, and headed 
with almost superhuman strength toward her. 

" Cling to the rock for the wordnetdesire of God ! " shouted a voice 
through