The man, watching her, laughed in derision; but, while his mocking
laughter was still on his lips, the boiling currents brought the book,
again, to the surface, and Brian saw the girl leave the bank as if
thrown by a powerful spring. Straight and true she dived for the book,
and even as she disappeared beneath the surface her hands clutched the
manuscript.
For a second, Brian Kent held his place as if paralyzed with horror.
Then, as Judy's head appeared farther down the stream, he ran with
all his strength along the bank to gain a point a little ahead of the
swimming girl before he should leap to her rescue.
But Judy, trained from her birth on that mountain river, knew better
than Brian what to do. A short distance below the point where she had
plunged into the stream, a huge boulder, some two or three feet from the
shore, caused a split in the current, one fork of which set in toward
the bank. Swimming desperately, the girl gained the advantage of this
current, and, just as Brian reached the spot, she was swept against
the bank, where, with her free hand, she caught and held fast to a
projecting root. Had she been carried past that point, nothing could
have saved her from being swept on into the wild turmoil of the waters
at Elbow Rock.
It was the work of a moment for Brian to throw himself flat on the
ground at the edge of the bank and, reaching down, to grasp the girl's
wrist.
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