Afraid to go on! Who would admit it, when he put it that way?
"All right, Forshaw?"
"All right, sir!"
"Then push on, Donaldson!"
Donny squared his jaw and put the whip to the horses. They plunged forward, into the river.
In a moment the icy water reached the hub of the wheels; then the horses' bellies; then lapped over the floor of the trap; and surged around the breasts of the gallant leaders.
"Hup there, Sir John! Hup, Laurier! Hup there, Aberdeen!" shouted Donny.
The horses were swimming now, thrashing out desperately, in the middle of the river. The wagon floated after them, like a crazy barge, rocking to and fro and occasionally grounding on unseen boulders.
"Sit still behind," ordered Hector grimly, the water round his knees. "Sit tight and don't move!"
"If she turns over, we're done," said Kellett to Dunsmuir. "Don't do that, you fool. Think we want to be drowned because you're afraid of wetting your plutocratic hoofs? How deep is it hereabouts?"