The range, too, was decreasing, and with redoubled shouts the Arabs, thinking that the occupants of the boat were too busy to reply, sprang boldly from cover and, leaping from rock to rock, came as close to the water's edge as they possibly could. But Hugh was equal to the occasion. Ramming a handful of duck shot down the barrel of his musket he let fly at those of the Bedouins who were nearest to him. Maddened with the pain of a dozen slight wounds, three of the Arabs dropped their guns and literally danced, their shouts of anguish so alarming their companions that they bolted for cover. The precipitous sides of the gorge prevented further pursuit; but the aspect was alarming enough, for the craft, in spite of the trailing stone, was darting through the boiling water with the velocity of a torpedo boat. Bracing himself at the rudder, Reeves veered the lumbering boat as skilfully as he could, missing sharp, spray-flecked rocks by a handbreadth. Every now and then a vicious-crested wave would pour over the gunwale of the plunging craft, till the weight of water aboard began to make itself felt. "Bale for all you're worth!" gasped Reeves, who was wellnigh breathless with the strain of holding the steering oar. "And look out for the powder. Keep it dry at all costs." Gerald plied a wooden bowl as vigorously as he possibly could, while Hugh, holding on with difficulty, contrived to lift the bag of powder and place it on the small decked-in part of the bows. For nearly ten minutes the nerve-racking ordeal lasted--Reeves afterwards said that it was one of the tightest places he had ever been in--while the distance covered in that time could hardly have been less than six miles. But the end of the gorge was now in sight. The wearied steersman gave an exclamation of relief, when, with a strange shudder, the boat swung round like a top, and, broadside on, drifted upon almost the last rock of the cataract. By an almost superhuman effort Reeves succeeded in bringing the bows round; but it was just too late. The stern crashed upon the rock with a shock that threw the three occupants sprawling into the bottom of the boat, and the next thing they were aware of was that the craft was spinning slowly in the still agitated current, while the water was pouring in through the bottom or garboard strakes like a mill stream. "Come for'ard, both of you!" shouted the correspondent, and whipping out his knife he cut the sail from the yard. Hastily rolling the canvas, he placed it over the damaged planks, which had the effect of considerably checking the inrush of water. Then, rejoining his companions in the bows, he seized an oar, told Gerald to do the same, and kept the nearly water-logged craft on her course, while Hugh plied the baler.