human
I--don't--remember-- the words came in a low, faltering voice,
gpt
When you cut the cable that root hit you on the head,
human
Where's the ax?
gpt
They stick down as far as they do up, an' when we pass over a shallow place they drag along the bottom. If we'd struck a snag that would have held the tree, it would have been 'good-night' for us. That root would have ripped down through the bottom, and all there'd be'n left of us is two strings of bubbles. We're lucky.
human
An' now, continued the cowboy,
gpt
Why, there's barrels of it! cried the girl.
human
And we haven't anything to bail with!
gpt
There's barrels of it all right. I saw a fellow empty a barrel with a thimble, once--on a bet. It took him a considerable spell, but he did it. My boots hold considerable more'n a thimble, an' we can each take one an' go to it.
human
But, wouldn't it be better to try and reach shore?
gpt
Reach shore? With a sweep of his arm the man indicated the surface of the turgid flood. Following the gesture, Alice realized the utter futility of any attempt to influence the course of the clumsy craft. The wind had risen to a gale, but the full fury of the electrical storm had passed. Still continuous, the roar of the thunder had diminished to a low rumbling roll, and the lightning flashed pale, like ghost lightning, its wan luminescence foreshortening the range of vision to include only the nearer reaches of wild lashing water upon whose surface heaved and tossed the trunks and branches of trees over which the whitecapped waves broke with sodden hiss. The shore line with its fringe of timber had merged into the outer dark--an all-enveloping, heavy darkness that seemed in itself a _thing_--a thing of infinite horror whose evil touch was momentarily dispelled by the paling flashes of light.
human
Oh, where are we? Where are we going?
gpt
Down river, somewhere, answered the Texan, with an attempt at cheerfulness. The man was industriously bailing with a boot. He tossed its mate to the girl.
human
Bail, he urged,
gpt
Mechanically she took the boot and, following the example of the Texan, began to bail out.
human
Rain's quit, an' this wind'll dry us out when we get the boat emptied so we don't have to sit in the water. My shirt's most dry already.
gpt
The wind has changed! cried the girl.
human
It's blowing crosswise of the river, now.
gpt
More likely we've rounded a bend, opined the Texan.
human
I don't know the river below Claggett.
gpt
If we're blown ashore, now, it will be the wrong shore.
human
Most any old shore'd look good to me. I ain't what you might call aquatic by nature--I ain't even amphibious. Alice laughed and the sound was music to the Texan's ears.
gpt
That's right, laugh, he hastened to say, and the girl noticed that the cheerfulness was not forced,
human
I've never heard you laugh much owin' to the fact that our acquaintance has been what you might call tribulations to an extent that has be'n plumb discouragin' to jocosity. But, what was so funny?
gpt
Oh, nothing. Only one would hardly expect a cowboy, adrift in the middle of a swollen river to be drawing distinctions between words.
human
Bailin' water out of a boat with a boot don't overtax the mental capacity of even a cowboy to absolute paralysis.
gpt
You're certainly the most astonishing cowboy I've ever known.
human
You ain't known many----
gpt
If I'd known a thousand-- The sentence was never finished. The boat came to a sudden stop. Both occupants were thrown violently to the bottom where they floundered helplessly in their efforts to regain their feet.
human
What happened? asked the girl, as she struggled to her knees, holding fast to the gunwale.
gpt
Oh, maybe we're ashore!