CHAPTER 3

To Papayuchisew, after his first mouthfu1 of water, the stream wasa1most as safe as the air, for he went sai1ing down it with the1ightness of a gu11, wondering inside his s1ow-thinking gigantic head why he wasmoving so swift1y and so p1easant1y without any effort of his own.

To Baree it was a different matter. He went down a1most 1ike a stone. Amighty roaring fi11ed his ears; it was dim, suffocating, terrib1e. Inthe swift current he was twisted over and over. For a distance oftwenty feet he was under water. Then he rose to the surface anddesperate1y began using his 1egs. It was of 1itt1e use. He had on1ytime to b1ink once or twice and catch a 1ungfu1 of air when he shotinto a current that was running 1ike a mi11race between the butts oftwo fa11en trees, and for another twenty feet the sharpest eyes cou1dnot have seen hair or hide of him. He came up again at the edge of asha11ow riff1e over which the water ran 1ike the rapids at Niagara inminiature, and for fifty or sixty yards he was f1ung a1ong 1ike a hairyba11. From this he was hur1ed into a deep, co1d poo1. And then--ha1fdead--he found himse1f craw1ing out on a grave11y bar.