People of the Lakes(329)

He inhaled then, realizing that he hadn’t been breathing.

Pearl worked to untie the rope.

The wood shifted under Black Skull’s feet, and he windmilled for balance as half of the raft broke away and went rushing toward the edge.

Peopje of the Lakes 761

Surveying his situation, Black Skull climbed down, immersing himself to the waist, letting the water push against him while his driftwood haven continued to disintegrate.

Here at water level, the river wasn’t quite so frightening, but then, a person couldn’t look over the edge of the falls. He waited, feeling, rather than seeing, another section of the raft break away. The rope washed up against him.

. Grabbing it with one hand, he started to climb up onto the perch—when the key log cracked and gave way. In that instant, as he fell, Black Skull wrapped the rope around his wrist, drawing a deep breath as the current savagely jerked him under.

Beneath the water, the river roar’s dropped to a low rumble, like a pack of panthers closing for the kill.

He grabbed for more rope and wrapped it around his arms as he swung toward the shore.

Suddenly, the terrible, deafening roar returned as he broke the surface … and was swept over the falls.

Pearl screamed when she saw Black Skull go over the edge. A moment later, the rope, ripped out of the water, snapping taut with enough force to blast a silver spray from the stretching fibers.

“Otter!” she screamed, running for the lip of the falls. “Otter, he’s still holding on! He has to be close. There was only enough rope … “

She fell on her knees at the water’s edge, and there, just out of her reach, she could see the rope that dangled Black Skull over the abyss. He hung in that crashing water, his body twisting and turning, straining under that awesome cascade.

Pearl lunged into the shallows, running, hating the pull of the current as the water deepened.

“Pearl! Wait!” Otter thrashed into the water behind her.

“Grab the rope!”

They both dove for it and grabbed on, straining muscle, back, and bone to pull it to the side, out of the brute force of the current.

“Hold! Rot you, hold!” Otter was screaming, his muscles bulging as they backed step by step into the shallows.

Pearl glanced up the length of the straining rope. If the knot gave, or if the slim maple pulled free, or if the rope parted, they’d all be swept into the boiling mist beyond the precipice.

. Side by side, she and Otter felt their way to the rocky lip, where Otter leaned out over the edge of the falls, struggling, heaving. Pearl looked back to shore where the woman and child stood dripping wet, watching in terror. She yelled, “Grab hold of the rope! Help us pull!”

They probably couldn’t hear her. Pearl waved toward the maple where the rope was tethered, and the woman seemed to wake from her dreadful sleep. She ran for the rope and grabbed it, throwing herself backward in an effort to help pull them to shore.

“We’re winning!” Otter shouted’. “We’re winning!”

Splashing and yelling, trampling each other, they fought their way back.

Still in the wash of the river, Otter flopped down, staring over the edge of the falls. “Pull! He’s not up yet! Come on, hurry!

I don’t know if he can breathe down there.”

Pearl glanced over the edge, seeing Black Skull hanging there, so limp, his arms wretchedly cut by the twining rope.

“Hurry!” she screamed.

The three of them braced there on the rock, each grunting and straining as they hoisted Black Skull up, bit by laborious bit. Otter whooped when he got a grip on Black Skull’s rope cut hands and dragged him up by brute strength, flopping him onto the shore.

“Is he alive?” Pearl shouted as she threw down the rope and bent over him.

“Get the rope off!” Otter was doing his best to unwind the thick rope, but his fingers were ineffectual, for the rope had cut deeply into the skin of the warrior’s arms. Black Skull’s broken face twisted in agony, and water was leaking out of his nose and mouth.

Pearl reached down to the trailing end and pulled it back, unwinding it gently from the crisscrosses that had tied Black Skull to his lifeline. ‘r Otter pointed to a frayed section of rope, grinning worriedly.

Peopje of the Lakes 763

“Must have been where it got hung up on the rocks! We came that close to losing you, Black Skull.”

As if in reply, the warrior coughed, water spraying. Another racking cough brought Catcher to lick his battered face. Black Skull’s eyes opened, and he managed the grimace that normally passed for a grin, or was it an expression of intense pain this time?

Pearl pulled the last of the rope free and bent down, aware of the woman taking Black Skull’s other arm to assess the damage.