In sudden terror, he dropped the fragment of the bush and dug in the toes of his heavy shoes, painfully trying to scramble back to safety. He grunted with the effort; but inch by inch the treacherous loose dirt gave way. A fearful glance over his shoulder, and he shut his eyes, dizzied by the hissing rush of the leaping rapids beneath his kicking legs. A rattle of stones; and then, with a despairing shriek, he plunged backward into the foaming falls!
The breath was knocked from his chest as he struck the seething surface of the giant pot-hole—the Devil’s Cauldron! Down, down he sank, freezing water filling his nose and open mouth and shutting off all chance of summoning help. The sunshine was far above him, seen dimly through a glassy green froth, and the roar of the rattling falls was drumming in his ears.
Desperately he kicked his leaden feet and fought his way upward, the blood hammering in his veins. One outstretched arm caught at the slippery edge of the hole and clung fiercely.
Upon his unsheltered head, battering drops fell like hailstones.
He had barely time to suck in a mouthful of air when the force of the spinning current tore his handhold loose, and again he dropped into the Cauldron’s depths. This time he felt weaker, chilled by the glacial stream and beaten by its pounding force. It was dark now. Dimly he wondered if they would ever find his body in that bottomless well....
An unseen hand was gripping him by the hair, hauling him upward toward light and life. Again the bullets of water struck his face and throat, but strong arms were about his shoulders. His chest scraped against the jagged margin of the pool; like a sodden bag of meal, he was pulled out of the clutch of that grim torrent.
He gasped, spat, and rolled over on his back. Somewhere above him, a bird was whistling. He opened one eye. Bending over him, with a serious look on his freckled face, was Brick Ryan.
“Are you alive, my lad? Gorries, say you’re all right!”
Dirk choked, and tried to sit up, but fell back weakly.
“I—I’m safe! It was horrible, down there——”