Aline Rodney’s feelings on plunging through the broken ice into the
cold, black waves of the river may be better imagined than described.
A shiver of mortal cold and terror rushed over her as the icy current
came in contact with her warm, tender young body. She went down, down,
down, with a swift rush and a terrible sensation as of suffocation,
into the infinite depths of death, it seemed to her, and then arose
to the surface and felt the cold, sweet air in her face again with a
sensation of exquisite relief.
Aline had some little knowledge of swimming. She tried to hold herself
up in the water until relief should come. And a great horror came over
her at the thought of being whirled away under the ice and beyond all
hope of rescue. How terrible it would be to perish miserably under that
sheet of solid crystal, where but a little while ago she had sported
gayly and fearlessly, but which now rose between her and the world like
a glittering wall of destruction.
She made an effort to keep from drifting away from the wide, ragged
opening in the ice made by the falling through of her body. She knew
that if once swept beneath that terrible crust her death would be
certain. The sounds from above came to her faintly, deadened by the
ringing in her ears, and by the wild shrieks of her brother nearer
at hand. She was conscious of a vague anxiety over her mother, faint
wonder if any of those people who hated her would try to save her life,
and then a numbness induced by the fearful cold overcame her wholly,
her arms ceased to beat the waves in frenzied endeavor, and she felt
herself sinking again to rise no more.
It was at that awful moment that Oran Delaney sprung boldly into the
terrible death-trap, fearless of danger, and only intent on saving that
frail, weak girl from imminent danger.
When he first sprung into the river the little dark head was going down
beneath the waves. He was compelled to dive twice before he succeeded
in retaining a hold upon her. When, after a desperate struggle, he
succeeded in holding her above the water, he was almost exhausted
himself. He feared that he would succumb to the dreadful cold himself
before assistance could arrive.
The forethought of the man who had so fortunately brought ropes stood
him in good stead now. A little longer in the cold waves must have
exhausted his remaining strength.
He was frightened when they were drawn out of the water, and he saw
Aline’s face clearly. It was pinched and blue, and the parted lips
and closed eyelids looked like death. Had he been too late? he asked
himself, anxiously.
He saw the unconscious form placed in the vehicle, and driven away
toward home with a silent, speechless trouble in his heart. His
thoughts followed her, in fancy, to that little white chamber where her
parents and the old family doctor hung anxiously over her, trying to
infuse life into the chill and rigid form, that seemed as if it would
never breathe the warm breath of life again.
“Oh, that I had never taken her to that fatal river! She would not have
gone if I had not urged it!” cried poor Mrs. Rodney, wringing her white
hands in despair.
She remembered the old fortune teller’s strange words: “The clouds that
overhang your future are so dark and heavy I cannot pierce their gloom.
Perhaps the sun may shine for you again, perhaps never!”
“It was a true prognostication! That old crone did, indeed, read the
cards of fate truly! It was the shadow of death that hung over my poor
darling!” cried the anguished mother in mingled grief and wonder.
But she was wrong. The tangled thread of poor Aline’s life was not
broken yet. Her little feet were not done wandering yet through the
weary mazes of the world.
Insensibly a little warmth began to creep about the poor chilled body,
under the stress of their patient endeavors, a faint pulse fluttered
about her heart, and at length the black fringe of the lashes trembled
feebly against her cheeks. The old physician, standing anxiously over
her, with his hand upon the blue-veined wrist, looked up, and said,
kindly, to the distracted mother:
“Thank God, she revives! She will live!”