About this time Gray began to suspect that the tide was bearing them
onward at a remarkable rate. In the somber depths of the cleft or
cañon it was difficult to discern stationary objects clearly enough to
obtain a means of estimating the pace of the stream. But the rapid
dying down of the hubbub among the savages gave him cause to think. He
asked Suarez to cease pulling. The canoes behind came crowding in on
the more solid boat, and an oar held out until it encountered some
invisible branch was rudely swept aside. In a word, they were being
impelled towards an unknown destination with the silence and gathering
speed of a mill-race.
An expert engineer, though his work may have little to do with sea or
river, cannot fail to accumulate a store of theoretical knowledge as to
the properties and limitations of water in motion. Gray knew that the
quickened impulse of the stream arose from the tidal force exerted in a
channel which gradually lessened its width. The boat was traveling at
sea level. Therefore, there could be neither rapids nor cataract in
front; but the steady rush of the current, now plainly audible, could
not be accounted for simply by the effort of the tide to gain a passage
through a mere by-way, as the boat was now nearly half a mile from the
estuary, and the velocity of the current was increasing each moment.
"We must endeavor to reach the bank and hold on to the branches of a
tree," he shouted in Spanish. "Down with your heads until the boat
strikes, and then try to lay hold of something."
There was no time for explanation. He seized an oar; a powerful stroke
swung the boat's nose round. By chance, he used the starboard oar.
All unknowing he spun a coin for life or death, and life won. They
crashed through some drooping foliage and ran into a crumbling bank.
Gray unshipped the oar and jammed it straight down. It stuck between
stones at a depth of three feet, and the life-boat was held fast for
the time. The canoes hurtled against each other, but were swept aside
instantly. When the noise ceased, they plainly heard the swirl of the
water. In their new environment, it had the uncanny and sinister hiss
of some monstrous snake.
"Everybody happy?" Gray demanded coolly.
"I am clinging to a tree trunk," answered Elsie.
"Bully for you. Make fast with a piece of rope. But be careful to
provide a slip-knot, in case we have to sheer off in a hurry. Can you
manage that?"
"Quite well."
Elsie was fully aware that the leadership of the expedition had gone
from her. She was not sorry; it was in strong hands. Suarez, too,
secured a stout branch, and passed a rope around it.