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they would naturally expect to intercept her on her way toward the nearest shore,
and so she took this means of outwitting them, although it meant nearly double
the distance to be covered.
After swimming a short distance beneath the surface the girl rose and looked
about her. Up the river a few yards she caught the phosphorescent gleam of
water upon the prahu's paddles as they brought her to a sudden stop in
obedience to Ninaka's command. Then she saw the dark mass of the war-craft
drifting down toward her.
Again she dove and with strong strokes headed for the shore. The next time that
she rose she was terrified to see the prahu looming close behind her. The
paddlers were propelling the boat slowly in her direction--it was almost upon her
now--there was a shout from a man in the bow--she had been seen.
Like a flash she dove once more and, turning, struck out rapidly straight back
beneath the oncoming boat. When she came to the surface again it was to find
herself as far from shore as she had been when she first quitted the prahu, but
the craft was now circling far below her, and she set out once again to retrace her
way toward the inky mass of shore line which loomed apparently near and yet, as
she knew, was some considerable distance from her.
As she swam, her mind, filled with the terrors of the night, conjured recollection
of the stories she had heard of the fierce crocodiles which infest certain of the
rivers of Borneo. Again and again she could have sworn that she felt some huge,
slimy body sweep beneath her in the mysterious waters of this unknown river.
Behind her she saw the prahu turn back up stream, but now her mind was
suddenly engaged with a new danger, for the girl realized that the strong current
was bearing her down stream more rapidly than she had imagined. Already she
could hear the increasing roar of the river as it rushed, wild and tumultuous,
through the entrance to the narrow gorge below her. How far it was to shore she
could not guess, or how far to the certain death of the swirling waters toward
which she was being drawn by an irresistible force; but of one thing she was
certain, her strength was rapidly waning, and she must reach the bank quickly.
With redoubled energy she struck out in one last mighty effort to reach the shore.
The tug of the current was strong upon her, like a giant hand reaching up out of
the cruel river to bear her back to death. She felt her strength ebbing quickly--
her strokes now were feeble and futile. With a prayer to her Maker she threw her
hands above her head in the last effort of the drowning swimmer to clutch at even
thin air for support--the current caught and swirled her downward toward the
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