The utter, complete darkness hid from me all knowledge of
what I passed or what awaited me beyond.
The water, carrying me swiftly onward with its silent,
remorseless sweep, was cold and black; it pressed with tremendous
power against me; now and then I was forced beneath the surface
and fought my way back, gasping and all but exhausted.
I forgot Desiree and Harry; I lost all consciousness of where I
was and what I was doing; the silent fury of the stream and the
awful blackness maddened me; I plunged and struggled desperately,
blindly, sobbing with rage. This could not have lasted much
longer; I was very near the end.
Suddenly, with a thrill of joy, I realized that the speed of the
current was decreasing. Then a reaction of despair seized me; I
tried to strangle hope and resign myself to the worst. But soon
there was no longer any doubt; the water carried me slower and
slower.
I floated with little difficulty, wondering--could it be an
approach to a smaller outlet which acted as a dam? Or was it
merely a lessening of the incline of the bed of the stream? I
cursed the darkness for my helplessness.
Finally the water became absolutely still, as I judged by the
absence of pressure on my body, and I turned sharply at a right
angle and began to swim.
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