point some distance above the Red Mill.

"If she is carried down two hundred yards farther, Tom, she will be swept
out into mid-stream," declared Ruth, still master of herself, though her
voice was shaking.

"And then--good-night!" answered Tom. "I know what you mean, Ruth."

"She will sink for the last time before the current sweeps her in near the
shore again," Ruth added.

"Oh, don't!" groaned Helen. "The poor girl."

Tom had driven the automobile until it was ahead of the struggling Hazel
Gray. An eddy clutched her and drew her swiftly in toward the bank.
Immediately Tom shut off the power and he and Ruth both leaped out of the
car.

A long branch from an adjacent tree had been torn off by the wind and lay
beside the road. Tom seized this and ran with Ruth to the edge of the
water; but he knew the branch was a poor substitute for a rope.

"If she can cling to this, I'll get something better in a moment, Ruth!"
he exclaimed.

Swinging the small and bushy end of the branch outward, Tom dropped it
into the water just ahead of the imperiled girl. Ruth seized the butt with
her strong and capable hands.

"Cut off a length of that fence wire, Tommy," she ordered. "You have