"Look!" he cried simply, pointing up the stream.
I did. A girl in a canoe was coming down toward the falls, screaming, her paddle broken and useless. My heart leaped into my mouth. It was Elaine!
"Come," he panted eagerly to me. "I can save her. You must do just as I say."
He pointed to an overhanging rock near-by and we ran to it.
By this time Elaine was almost upon us, each second getting nearer the veritable maelstrom above the falls.
From the rock overhung also a tree at the very edge of the water.
There was nothing to do but obey him. Above, though we did not see them, Del Mar and his man were gloating over the result of their work. But they were gloating too soon. We came to the rock and the tree.
"Here," cried the new-found friend, "I'll get hold of the tree and then hold you."
Instantly he threw himself on his stomach, hooking his leg about the tree trunk. I crawled out over the ledge of slippery rock to the very edge and looked over. It was the only chance.
The old naturalist seized my legs in his hands. I slid down the rock, letting myself go.