The Argosy, August 1905 — page 83: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oth to their | feet. Si Asien Cole, E ho had ee farther up the clearing, also turned, and all three ran toward the bank. There one glance explained the entire situation to the major’s eyes, sharpened as they were by many campaigns and surprises. May Farrar and Imbarak had beached their raft on the east bank and had started across the wide strip of white, moist sand toward the higher ground. They had not taken a dozen steps when both had sunk to the knees in the treacherous footing. The groom had at once recognized the nature of the danger and had tried to throw himself face downward on the sand, but his feet were already too deeply embedded. May, not compre- hending, had struggled to free herself, with the inevitable result that she sank at once to the waist in the white, shifting sands. Imbarak’s agonized face and his gasp of “ Quicksands!” told her the full story of her peril, and she cried wildly for aid. Ralph Mohun, on the opposite bank, had for.the moment turned his eyes from the newly - landed explorers and was watching a gnarled tree floating down-stream, but May’s ery had scarcely reached his ears when his coat, waist- coat and shoes were tossed off and he had leaped into the icy, waters of the Jordan. With long, overhand racing-stroke he battled his way across the swift stream, aiming for a point higher up in order to counterbalance the effect of the current. Fach stroke carried the upper half of his body out of the muddy torrent. Logs, branches and _ other floating débris buffeted him cruelly, but he managed to keep his head clear of any of these obstacles, and each cleaying stroke carried his muscular body nearer the quicksands. The major, Sir Arthur-and the sery- ants, meantime, were rushing aimlessly along the western bank in the vain search for a boat, and bellowing foolish advice to the imperiled girl. Imbarak had ceased to struggle, and his brown face took on a stoical, dull _ eee the intense Setalivme of the 77 am , : Hast having laid hold upon his brain and nerves. May, however, her straining eyes fixed on the alternately rising and sinking face of the swimmer, continued to struggle fiercely as she felt the quick- sands drawing her deeper and deeper into its grip. The Jordan, at no point wide, is barely two hundred feet from bank to bank at the spot where tourists usually camp. It was thus but the work of a minute for so expert a swimmer as Ralph Mohun to reach the place where the raft was beached. Scrambling on it, he bent his full strength to the task of ripping off the broad boards that formed its deck. , The raft was old, the nails rusty, and in a moment he had torn four of the boards free. Throwing them, two by two, upon the sands he sprang across them to where May, buried almost to the shoulders, awaited him. The wide surface of the planks withstood the suc- tion of the treacherous sand. Luckily, in quicksand it is almost as easy to draw forth an object embedded as it is for that object to sink in. Therefore a single tremendous pull of Ralph’s powerful arms sufticed to lift May from the moist, quaking grave into which she had so nearly jost her life, and to place her, trembling and exhausted, on the planks beside him. His arm still encircled her, and for one brief, pregnant instant rescuer and rescued looked into each other's eyes. In that look a knowledge, a wonder- ful certainty, passed from one to the other, Through her exhaustion the girl felt a wave of color surge to her face. The man’s eyes glowed and _ darkened. Neither spoke. A cheer from the little group on the opposite bank and the spell was broken. Picking her up lightly in his arms, Ralph Mohun carried May to the wreck of the raft, set her down there, and bounded back to where Imbarak waited, Wresting the luckless Syrian from the clinging sands less gently than he had lifted May from them, Mohun deposited the limp, nerveless body on the planks. “Come!” he said sharply. “* Brace eo - vw ~ she ey . Tees. c+ Si’ Me i i a ——— yw ge oe comicbooks.com